Quantum Visions
My writers group, Orange County Science Fiction Writers Orbit, has wanted to showcase their writing for some years now. After the success of my WFC chapbook, Travels Elsewhere, (see previous post) I volunteered to edit our first chapbook.
A month later I had accepted 9 stories, designed a cover, written an introduction, crossed my fingers, and used the room party at LosCon my daughter set up as a memorial to Jim Young to hold a release party for Quantum Visions.
Quantum Visions
A production of
Orange CountyScience Fiction Writers Orbit
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Table of Contents
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| Introduction:
Writers And Friends |
Jude-Marie Green, Editor |
i |
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| Spamhead | Jim Young | 1 | |
| The Enchanted Hatrack | Jamie Cassidy-Curtis | 5 | |
| Again, The Last Step | Robin Walton | 8 | |
| Event | Camden Parish | 11 | |
| Farewell To The Master | Chrome Oxide | 13 | |
| Colorado River Redeemed | Timothy Cassidy-Curtis | 16 | |
| Naked Prey | David R. Moore | 21 | |
| Honey From
Rube Engill’s Apiary |
Will Morton |
24
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| Moonlight,
Reflected In Dewdrops |
Shauna Roberts |
32 |
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| Author Biographies | Appendix | ||
And it was a stunning success! Lots of happy writers and readers (plus a continuous loop showing of Nazis At The Center of The Earth, Jim’s last movie) combined for many chapbook sales.
And now I have here, exclusively for you, some few remaining hard copies of the chapbook before we publish this electronically. For a $5 payment you can own your own 44 page copy, gorgeously-designed, thick with stories.
Here’s the cover:
Travels Elsewhere
As part of my World Fantasy Convention project in Toronto this year, I put together a chapbook of 3 stories: Slim and Benny-Be-Damned Take It On The Lam, Compass Rose, and Hellbend For Leather.
My idea was to have something to sign at the autographing session at WFC. And people bought them! And asked me to sign them! And even paid me for them! I am very pleased. I mean, I love my stories, but that doesn’t mean anyone else would.
Slim and Benny-Be-Damned Take It On The Lam was originally published in K.C. Ball’s 10Flash Quarterly. This is a very short zombie story contemplating the differences between slow zombies and fast zombies.
Compass Rose is a previously unpublished short story about physics, pirates, and parenthood.
Hellbend For Leather is a fun longer story originally published on Defenestration. As I see it, if you can’t make fun of the devil, who can you make fun of?
So there you have it. If you’d like a copy, you can contact me and I’ll send you one for a minimal payment of $5; or you can wait until I have the energy to create an electronic version.
Magazine Spotlight – James Gunn’s Ad Astra
http://adastra.ku.edu/issue-1/
James Gunn wrote “The Listeners,” a novel which bears a lot of resemblance to Sagan’s “Contact.” He is one of the OG sf writers, is professor at Kansas State University, Lawrence (Got Chalk Jayhawks!), and was named Grand Master of Science Fiction by SFWA a couple of years back. He has a series of books outlining the history of science fiction, “The Road To Science Fiction,” which qualifies as required research for our field. And he has a how-to-write book, “The Science of Science Fiction Writing,” which served me well in my more-formative years as a writer.
And now he is debuting this gorgeous magazine.
The premier issue is themed “Communications & Information.” The idea: poetry, short fiction, and scholarly articles (but not dry reading, oh no) about communicating with aliens. Even if those aliens are us (those mostly, the aliens addressed here are not.)
I’ve attended several Gunn workshops in Lawrence, plus the attendant Campbell Conferences (if you don’t know what those are, you should find out.) So, I know Professor Gunn, I know Chris McKitterick, and I know the authors of some of the articles and short fiction and poetry. I’m terrible at reviews, I am always too gushy and enthusiastic, and if I told you my opinion of the material presented here, you’d agree: too gushy by far. But these are good solid stories (look for a fun ride with Adrian Simmons’ story, and W.C. Roberts’ poetry shows up in all the best places) and good, well-researched articles (Jean Asselin’s article about Human Evolution As A Framework for the Themes of Science Fiction is a gas, and Sheila Finch throws in an article about mythology.)
This is a good venue for those of us writing fiction, but also intriguing, engrossing reading.
jude-marie green 