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Kevin Anderson Christopher Anvil David Brin
Eric Flint Alan Dean Foster David Drake
Dave Freer Brian Herbert LE Modesitt
C.L. Moore John Ringo Clifford Simak
Schmidt Mark Twain Van Vogt
Voltaire David Weber H.G. Wells
Where can you find all these great authors (and many, many more) in one place? Jim Baen's Universe, that's where!
As you may or may not know, Baen's Books is one of the best SF&F publishing houses out there. It's a medium-sized company that has a disproportionate number of the best authors around today, particularly if you limit the field to the 'harder' side of the SF genre. One of the things that got them where they are today is the ability and the willingness to take risks, and a firm belief in the merits of the Web.
A few months ago, they started a SF e-zine, with stories by some of the best names in science fiction. With none of the paper publishing costs, they can pay their writers more (i.e. enough to make it attractive even to Big Name Authors) and still have more stories per issue than a regular paper SF magazine. The goal for each issue is 120,000 words, about half again as much as you would find in a regular paper SF&F magazine. Here's how that is broken down:
Five science fiction stories
Four fantasy stories
Two serials
Three introducing slots (i.e. completely new authors getting their first break)
One classic story
One fact article
Three columns, two by Eric Flint and one "open" slot.
Each story has at least one new piece of artwork; some have as many as three.
There are six issues per year, and the cost is only $30 total. That's five bucks an issue, which is a pretty good price for that much stuff. (BTW, the first few issues are considerably larger than the amount shown here.) The first three issues are already available, with the fourth scheduled to go up in December. People with special needs (i.e. blind, severely handicapped, military on active duty, students, people in developing countries) will get a steep discount once they get the software tweaked to handle that; they're hoping that'll be done by the end of the year.
Folks, this magazine is running right now on a trial basis; if they're going to continue it, they need more subscriptions. I would be extremely disappointed to see this magazine fail because it's got some absolutely great stuff in it. So go out and pick yourself up a subscription, or buy one for a friend/loved one for Christmas! Or both! (Yes, this is a shameless advertisement. It's for a good cause.)
In addition to the fact that there's great stories and articles available for a very good price, short stories have always been extremely important to the SF&F genre. They provide a place for new authors to start out, hone their craft, and build an audience as professional writers before switching to the cut-throat world of novels, and they provide a place for Big Name Authors to experiment with new stuff without risking a full novel on it. But as everyone knows, the traditional genre magazines have been struggling for the past few decades. This is an effort to counteract that. If you love SF&F, if you love the written word, please help support this magazine! And spread the word!
Eric Flint Alan Dean Foster David Drake
Dave Freer Brian Herbert LE Modesitt
C.L. Moore John Ringo Clifford Simak
Schmidt Mark Twain Van Vogt
Voltaire David Weber H.G. Wells
Where can you find all these great authors (and many, many more) in one place? Jim Baen's Universe, that's where!
As you may or may not know, Baen's Books is one of the best SF&F publishing houses out there. It's a medium-sized company that has a disproportionate number of the best authors around today, particularly if you limit the field to the 'harder' side of the SF genre. One of the things that got them where they are today is the ability and the willingness to take risks, and a firm belief in the merits of the Web.
A few months ago, they started a SF e-zine, with stories by some of the best names in science fiction. With none of the paper publishing costs, they can pay their writers more (i.e. enough to make it attractive even to Big Name Authors) and still have more stories per issue than a regular paper SF magazine. The goal for each issue is 120,000 words, about half again as much as you would find in a regular paper SF&F magazine. Here's how that is broken down:
Five science fiction stories
Four fantasy stories
Two serials
Three introducing slots (i.e. completely new authors getting their first break)
One classic story
One fact article
Three columns, two by Eric Flint and one "open" slot.
Each story has at least one new piece of artwork; some have as many as three.
There are six issues per year, and the cost is only $30 total. That's five bucks an issue, which is a pretty good price for that much stuff. (BTW, the first few issues are considerably larger than the amount shown here.) The first three issues are already available, with the fourth scheduled to go up in December. People with special needs (i.e. blind, severely handicapped, military on active duty, students, people in developing countries) will get a steep discount once they get the software tweaked to handle that; they're hoping that'll be done by the end of the year.
Folks, this magazine is running right now on a trial basis; if they're going to continue it, they need more subscriptions. I would be extremely disappointed to see this magazine fail because it's got some absolutely great stuff in it. So go out and pick yourself up a subscription, or buy one for a friend/loved one for Christmas! Or both! (Yes, this is a shameless advertisement. It's for a good cause.)
In addition to the fact that there's great stories and articles available for a very good price, short stories have always been extremely important to the SF&F genre. They provide a place for new authors to start out, hone their craft, and build an audience as professional writers before switching to the cut-throat world of novels, and they provide a place for Big Name Authors to experiment with new stuff without risking a full novel on it. But as everyone knows, the traditional genre magazines have been struggling for the past few decades. This is an effort to counteract that. If you love SF&F, if you love the written word, please help support this magazine! And spread the word!
