science fiction | J.R. Johnson

Posts Tagged ‘science fiction’

The Drabble, with Examples

Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, #amwritingscifi, adoption, constraint, drabble, Luna Station Quarterly, on writing, science fiction, short stories, speculative fiction, writing, writing process, writing tools on March 18, 2021| 9 Comments »

There are a lot of ways to write, and a lot of types of writing. Fiction alone comes in novels, of course, but also novellas, novelettes, short stories, screenplays, etc. I happen to have a soft spot for the drabble.

A drabble is a piece of fiction that is exactly 100 words long, excluding title. Explore the history of it at that link if you like, but for me the important part is the constraint.

One hundred words, no more, no less.

It’s an easy number of words to produce, of course, but there’s something I find so satisfying about trying to build a story within the confines of such a concrete target. The limits inspire creativity, make finishing feel not only possible but inevitable, and provide a sandbox to play in, if you will.

It’s also a terrific way to dip your toes in the rapids of fiction. My first two publications were drabbles (thanks, Luna Station Quarterly!):

“Ray of Light.”
“The Witch.”

Go ahead, try it for yourself. And have fun!

* * *

This is my latest drabble, “Adoption Papers.”

I was sixteen when I found the receipt. My receipt.
“What the hell, Dad?”
The paper was old and faded, one tattered corner poking from a manila folder marked “Family Records.” There were maybe ten lines on the page, with a stamp at the top that read “Beta: Final Sale.”
Dad shrugged, like it was no big deal.
“Are you pissed that you’re a bot, or that you didn’t cost more?”
I hadn’t even noticed the total.
“Twelve and a half bucks? Seriously?”
He smiled. “We always said you were special.”
“Not on special!”
I blinked.
“Wait, I’m a what?”

* * *

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2020 Nebula Award Finalists

Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, #fuelforwriters, #Nebulas2021, free fiction, Murderbot, Nebula Awards, science fiction, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, short stories, writing on March 16, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Here we are, folks, with the final list of Nebula finalists! Uncanny Magazine did great, my good buddy Murderbot is here (yay!), and I love seeing the good people at Diabolical Plots recognized as well.

Links to full text, excerpts, or reviews for shorts, novelettes and novellas included where (easily) accessible. Because I’ve got things to do, people, not least of which is to read these stories!

2020 Nebula Award Finalists

Novel

Piranesi, Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)
The City We Became, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey)
The Midnight Bargain, C.L. Polk (Erewhon)
Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga)
Network Effect, Martha Wells (Tordotcom Publishing)

Novella

“Tower of Mud and Straw,” Yaroslav Barsukov (Metaphorosis) Tower of Mud and Straw I – Yaroslav Barsukov – Metaphorosis Magazine
Finna, Nino Cipri (Tordotcom Publishing) Read the First Two Chapters From Nino Cipri’s Finna | Tor.com
Ring Shout, P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom Publishing) Review: ‘Ring Shout,’ By P. Djèlí Clark : NPR
“Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon,” Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora, Aurelia Leo) Ife-Iyoku, Tale of Imadeyunuagbon – Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki
The Four Profound Weaves, R.B. Lemberg (Tachyon) Gary K. Wolfe Reviews The Four Profound Weaves by R.B. Lemberg – Locus Online
Riot Baby, Tochi Onyebuchi (Tordotcom Publishing) Read an Excerpt From Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi | Tor.com

Novelette

“Stepsister,” Leah Cypess (F&SF 5-6/20) Free novelette – STEPSISTER
“The Pill,” Meg Elison (Big Girl, PM Press)
“Burn or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super,” A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny 5-6/20) Burn or The Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super – Uncanny Magazine
“Two Truths and a Lie,” Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com 6/17/20) Two Truths and a Lie | Tor.com
“Where You Linger,” Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam (Uncanny 1-2/20) Where You Linger – Uncanny Magazine
“Shadow Prisons,” Caroline M. Yoachim (serialized in the Dystopia Triptych series as “The Shadow Prison Experiment,” “Shadow Prisons of the Mind,” and “The Shadow Prisoner’s Dilemma,” Broad Reach Publishing + Adamant Press) Shadow Prisons of the Mind – Lightspeed Magazine

Short Story

“Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse,” Rae Carson (Uncanny 1-2/20) Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse – Uncanny Magazine
“Advanced Word Problems in Portal Math,” Aimee Picchi (Daily Science Fiction 1/3/20) Daily Science Fiction :: Advanced Word Problems in Portal Math by Aimee Picchi
“A Guide for Working Breeds,” Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Made to Order: Robots and Revolution, Solaris) https://www.tor.com/2020/03/17/a-guide-for-working-breeds-vina-jie-min-prasad/
“The Eight-Thousanders,” Jason Sanford (Asimov’s 9-10/20) Q&A with Jason Sanford – From Earth to the Stars
“My Country Is a Ghost,” Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 1-2/20) My Country Is a Ghost – Uncanny Magazine
“Open House on Haunted Hill,” John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots 6/15/20) DP FICTION #64A: “Open House on Haunted Hill” by John Wiswell – Diabolical Plots

The Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction

Raybearer, Jordan Ifueko (Amulet)
Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking, T. Kingfisher (Argyll)
A Game of Fox & Squirrels, Jenn Reese (Holt)
Star Daughter, Shveta Thakrar (HarperTeen)

Game Writing

Blaseball, Stephen Bell, Joel Clark, Sam Rosenthal (The Game Band)
Hades, Greg Kasavin (Supergiant)
Kentucky Route Zero, Jake Elliott (Cardboard Computer)
The Luminous Underground, Phoebe Barton (Choice of Games)
Scents & Semiosis, Sam Kabo Ashwell, Cat Manning, Caleb Wilson, Yoon Ha Lee (Self)
Spiritfarer, Nicolas Guérin, Maxime Monast, Alex Tommi-Morin (Thunder Lotus Games)

The Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Drama Presentation

Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, Christina Hodson (Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Entertainment)
The Expanse: “Gaugamela,” Dan Nowak (Amazon)
The Good Place: “Whenever You’re Ready,” Michael Schur (NBC)
Lovecraft Country Season 1, Misha Green, Shannon Houston, Kevin Lau, Wes Taylor, Ihuoma Ofordire, Jonathan I. Kidd, Sonya Winton-Odamtten (HBO Max)
The Mandalorian: “The Tragedy,” Jon Favreau (Disney+)
The Old Guard, Greg Rucka (Netflix)

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How We Talk About the Future

Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, Nebula Awards, science fiction, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, words on March 15, 2021| Leave a Comment »

The SFWA is about to announce this year’s candidates for the Nebula Awards, but that’s not happening until tonight. Until then, you might be interested in checking out the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction.

How we talk about the future shapes our ideas of what’s possible, and shapes our approach to getting there. (“Cyberspace” wasn’t a term until William Gibson thought it up, and it moved from the page to the everyday.) Started by a (now former) editor at the Oxford English Dictionary, this site has been spun off into an updated, standalone resource.

Want more background information?

A Dictionary of Science Fiction Runs From Afrofuturism to Zero-G

(Just want to browse classic pulp magazines? You can do that too, at the Pulp Magazine Archive.)

* * *

“One of the basic rules of the universe is that nothing is perfect. Perfection simply doesn’t exist… Without imperfection, neither you nor I would exist.”
― Stephen Hawking

The dictionary is still a work in progress. It’s not comprehensive and doesn’t always reflect the diverse nature of science fiction. Want to help it do a better job of representing all of sci-fi?

Editor Jesse Sheidlower is looking for volunteers.

* * *

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No Pressure, Right?

Posted in Likes, Other, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, free fiction, Heinlein, Lightspeed, Nancy Kress, Nature abhors a cheat code, science fiction, short stories, speculative fiction, time, time anxiety, weekend on March 13, 2021| Leave a Comment »

It’s been a good Saturday morning, even with all the usual laundry and smoothie and house stuff on the menu. I’m getting things done but still had the feeling at the back of my mind that I should be doing more, making better use of my time by… something. My mind was a maelstrom of possibility, alive with whatever idea caught my attention in that moment.

Would I be a better me, I wondered, if I were more focused?

It’s a version of what’s called “time anxiety,” the feeling that there’s never enough time, or that you aren’t making the most of the time you have.

“Am I creating the greatest amount of value with my life that I can? Will I feel, when it comes my time to die, that I spent too much of my time frivolously?”
— Time anxiety: is it too late? – Ness Labs

No pressure, right?

This clock is definitely judging me.
Photo by Krivec Ales on Pexels.com

* * *

But between “Getting started with Arduino” and finding the date for the announcement of the Nebula Award finalists (March 15th fyi), I came across a Nancy Kress short story that spoke directly to the moment.

End Game – Lightspeed Magazine

It’s a great story, full of concrete science with well-structured ideas that still have heart. It’s also something of a cautionary tale, but I often like those because they are like signposts from the future, showing us what to be aware of, and what not to do. (Such stories are also safe, because you leave the bad things behind when you finish the story. I like that part too.)

If I had to summarize the core theme of this story in just a few words? Nature abhors a cheat code.*

So you know what? I’m going to take a breath, step back, and enjoy the weekend. Learn, read, build, bake, clean, think, and otherwise do. Here’s to making the ~~most~~ best of the day.

* * *

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
— Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

* * *

* Technically, it might be more precise to say that “no cheat code goes unpunished” or “be careful what you wish for,” but I liked the image of Nature in the background shaking her head as she pressed the “fine, you asked for it” button;)

* * *

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Variation on a Theme

Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2021, free fiction, Kintsugi, Nature's Futures, science fiction, The Grinder, writing tools on February 11, 2021| Leave a Comment »

You may remember a recent post about Kintsugi, or the art of repairing broken things. In that same vein, I came across this story from Nature’s Futures section and thought I’d share:

Kintsugi for a broken heart

* * *

Nature is a great venue for writers who put interesting, concise twists on the potential futures of science. It has high standards but pays well, responds in weeks rather than months or years, and publishes often. For more details and a link to the Guidelines, I recommend my favorite (free!) authorial tracking site, The Grinder.

Enjoy!

* * *

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This Is How We Win

Posted in Holidays, Likes, tagged #ThingsILike, hope, inspiration, science fiction, Thoughts on May 4, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Always.

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The 2019 Nebula Award Finalists!

Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged #FreeFiction, #ThingsILike, Fiction, genre fiction, science fiction, sff, short stories, speculative fiction on February 22, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Oh hey, just when I was running out of high-quality sci-fi, the universe gives me (drum roll please)… The 2019 Nebula Award Finalists!

Free links where available. Enjoy!

Novel

Marque of Caine, Charles E. Gannon (Baen)
The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Alix E. Harrow (Redhook; Orbit UK)
A Memory Called Empire, Arkady Martine (Tor)
Gods of Jade and Shadow, Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey; Jo Fletcher)
Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tor.com Publishing)
A Song for a New Day, Sarah Pinsker (Berkley)

Novella

“Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom”, Ted Chiang (Exhalation)
The Haunting of Tram Car 015, P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com Publishing)
This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (Saga; Jo Fletcher)
Her Silhouette, Drawn in Water, Vylar Kaftan (Tor.com Publishing)
The Deep, Rivers Solomon, with Daveed Diggs, William Hutson & Jonathan Snipes (Saga)
Catfish Lullaby, A.C. Wise (Broken Eye)

Novelette

“A Strange Uncertain Light”, G.V. Anderson (F&SF 7-8/19)
“For He Can Creep”, Siobhan Carroll (Tor.com 7/10/19)
“His Footsteps, Through Darkness and Light”, Mimi Mondal (Tor.com 1/23/19)
“The Blur in the Corner of Your Eye”, Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny 7-8/19)
Carpe Glitter, Cat Rambo (Meerkat)
“The Archronology of Love”, Caroline M. Yoachim (Lightspeed 4/19)

Short Story

“Give the Family My Love”, A.T. Greenblatt (Clarkesworld 2/19)
“The Dead, In Their Uncontrollable Power”, Karen Osborne (Uncanny 3-4/19)
“And Now His Lordship Is Laughing”, Shiv Ramdas (Strange Horizons 9/9/19)
“Ten Excerpts from an Annotated Bibliography on the Cannibal Women of Ratnabar Island”, Nibedita Sen (Nightmare 5/19)
“A Catalog of Storms”, Fran Wilde (Uncanny 1-2/19)
“How the Trick Is Done”, A.C. Wise (Uncanny 7-8/19)

The Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Book

Sal and Gabi Break the Universe, Carlos Hernandez (Disney Hyperion)
Catfishing on CatNet, Naomi Kritzer (Tor Teen)
Dragon Pearl, Yoon Ha Lee (Disney Hyperion)
Peasprout Chen: Battle of Champions, Henry Lien (Holt)
Cog, Greg van Eekhout (Harper)
Riverland, Fran Wilde (Amulet)

Game Writing

Outer Wilds, Kelsey Beachum (Mobius Digital)
The Outer Worlds, Leonard Boyarsky, Megan Starks, Kate Dollarhyde, Chris L’Etoile (Obsidian Entertainment)
The Magician’s Workshop, Kate Heartfield (Choice of Games)
Disco Elysium, Robert Kurvitz (ZA/UM)
Fate Accessibility Toolkit, Elsa Sjunneson-Henry (Evil Hat Productions)

The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

Avengers: Endgame, Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (Marvel Studios)
Captain Marvel, Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck & Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Marvel Studios)
Good Omens: “Hard Times”, Neil Gaiman (Amazon Studios/BBC Studios)
The Mandalorian: “The Child”, Jon Favreau (Disney+)
Russian Doll: “The Way Out”, Allison Silverman and Leslye Headland (Netflix)
Watchmen: “A God Walks into Abar”, Jeff Jensen & Damon Lindelof (HBO)

*** pew pew! ***

Photo by Nathan Duck on Unsplash

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The 2019 Hugo Award Winners

Posted in Writing, tagged arts, awesome, books, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, Hugo Awards, Hugos, inspiration, Murderbot, science fiction, sff, speculative fiction, writing, yay on August 19, 2019| Leave a Comment »

The folks over at Boing Boing have listed last night’s 2019 Hugo award winners, complete with links:

Best Novel: The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
Best Novella: Artificial Condition, by Martha Wells (Tor.com publishing)
Best Novelette: “If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again,” by Zen Cho (B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog, 29 November 2018)
Best Short Story: “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies,” by Alix E. Harrow (Apex Magazine, February 2018)
Best Series: Wayfarers, by Becky Chambers (Hodder & Stoughton / Harper Voyager)
Best Related Work: Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Best Graphic Story: Monstress, Volume 3: Haven, written by Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda (Image Comics)
Best Professional Editor (Short Form): Gardner Dozois
Best Professional Editor, Long Form: Navah Wolfe
Best Professional Artist: Charles Vess
Best Semiprozine: Uncanny Magazine
Best Fanzine: Lady Business
Best Fancast: Our Opinions Are Correct
Best Fan Writer: Foz Meadows
Best Fan Artist: Likhain (Mia Sereno)
Best Art Book: The Books of Earthsea: The Complete Illustrated Edition, illustrated by Charles Vess, written by Ursula K. Le Guin (Saga Press / Gollancz)
Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book: Children of Blood and Bone, by Tomi Adeyemi (Henry Holt / Macmillan Children’s Books)
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer: Jeannette Ng
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, screenplay by Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman, directed by Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey and Rodney Rothman (Sony)
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: The Good Place: “Janet(s),” written by Josh Siegal & Dylan Morgan, directed by Morgan Sackett (NBC)

So excited to see my favorite Murderbot and the Wayfarers series get some love, and I’m looking forward to checking out some of the others on the roster. For more reading material, check out Tor.com’s full list of nominees. Enjoy!

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High Spirits

Posted in Writing, tagged #ThingsILike, finishing, genre fiction, persistence, science fiction, sff, short stories, space, speculative fiction, Thoughts, writing, yay on April 11, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Hooray, my space pirate draft is complete! At almost 18,000 words, it’s the longest “short” story I’ve written to date. Ok, fine, it’s a novella and I’m ok with that.

I’ll need to go back over it, check a few things, get a degree in orbital mechanics (not really) and answer that age-old question, “Do donuts stay fresh longer in space?” Inquiring minds want to know! In the meantime, the draft is on its way to beta readers.

I like it, hope they do too!

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

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The 2018 Nebula Award Finalists

Posted in Entertainment, Likes, Writing, tagged #ThingsILike, Fiction, free, genre fiction, Nebula Awards, science fiction, sff, short stories, speculative fiction, writing on March 5, 2019| Leave a Comment »

Looking for new reading material? Good news! The Nebula Award finalists have been announced, so it’s time to pad those To Read lists, people. Here is the complete list, some with links to reviews, previews, and full text where available (and I felt like it:).

What looks interesting to you?

***

2018 Nebula Award Finalists
Novel
The Calculating Stars, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor) [review]
The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)
Blackfish City, Sam J. Miller (Ecco; Orbit UK)
Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik (Del Rey; Macmillan)
Witchmark, C.L. Polk (Tor.com Publishing)
Trail of Lightning, Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga) [review]

Novella
Fire Ant, Jonathan P. Brazee (Semper Fi) [preview]
The Black God’s Drums, P. Djèlí Clark (Tor.com Publishing) [review]
The Tea Master and the Detective, Aliette de Bodard (Subterranean) [preview and review]
Alice Payne Arrives, Kate Heartfield (Tor.com Publishing) [excerpt]
Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach, Kelly Robson (Tor.com Publishing) [review and review]
Artificial Condition, Martha Wells (Tor.com Publishing) [excerpt]

Novelette
“The Only Harmless Great Thing”, Brooke Bolander (Tor.com Publishing)
“The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections”, Tina Connolly (Tor.com 7/11/18)
“An Agent of Utopia”, Andy Duncan (An Agent of Utopia)
“The Substance of My Lives, the Accidents of Our Births”, José Pablo Iriarte (Lightspeed 1/18)
“The Rule of Three”, Lawrence M. Schoen (Future Science Fiction Digest 12/18)
“Messenger”, Yudhanjaya Wijeratne and R.R. Virdi (Expanding Universe, Volume 4)

Short Story
“Interview for the End of the World”, Rhett C. Bruno (Bridge Across the Stars)
“The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington”, Phenderson Djèlí Clark (Fireside 2/18)
“Going Dark”, Richard Fox (Backblast Area Clear)
“And Yet”, A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny 3-4/18)
“A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies”, Alix E. Harrow (Apex 2/6/18)
“The Court Magician”, Sarah Pinsker (Lightspeed 1/18)

Game Writing
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, Charlie Brooker (House of Tomorrow & Netflix)
The Road to Canterbury, Kate Heartfield (Choice of Games)
God of War, Matt Sophos, Richard Zangrande Gaubert, Cory Barlog, Orion Walker, and Adam Dolin (Santa Monica Studio/Sony/Interactive Entertainment)
Rent-A-Vice, Natalia Theodoridou (Choice of Games)
The Martian Job, M. Darusha Wehm (Choice of Games)

The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
The Good Place: “Jeremy Bearimy”, Written by: Megan Amram
Black Panther, Written by: Ryan Coogler and Joe Robert Cole
A Quiet Place, Screenplay by: John Krasinski and Bryan Woods & Scott Beck
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Screenplay by: Phil Lord and Rodney Rothman
Dirty Computer, Written by: Janelle Monáe and Chuck Lightning
Sorry to Bother You, Written by: Boots Riley

The Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction or Fantasy Book
Children of Blood and Bone, Tomi Adeyemi (Henry Holt; Macmillan)
Aru Shah and the End of Time, Roshani Chokshi (Rick Riordan Presents)
A Light in the Dark, A.K. DuBoff (BDL)
Tess of the Road, Rachel Hartman (Random House)
Dread Nation, Justina Ireland (Balzer + Bray)
Peasprout Chen: Future Legend of Skate and Sword, Henry Lien (Henry Holt)