Dr. J. Berg Esenwein, in Writing for the Magazines, his 1916 manual for writers, gives us a peek into the minds of editorial assistants from 92 years ago. And aside from the fact that gender seems frozen and does not allow for the possibility of female editors, not much has changed.

Here’s how that assistant editor would have been looking at your manuscript: (more…)

Publisher extraordinaire Pete Crowther has just announced the complete contents of Postscripts #15, which will debut in two months at the Denver Worldcon.

Contributors to the double-sized, all science-fiction issue will include such heavyweights as Arthur C. Clarke, Brian Aldiss, Ray Bradbury, and Michael Moorcock, multiple stories from featured author Paul McAuley, plus tales from Terry Bisson, Jack Dann, Brian Stableford, Robert Reed, Ian McDonald, and many others—including me, with a story titled “A Very Private Tour Of A Very Public Museum.” (I’ve already shared a word cloud for that story here.) This will be my second short story to appear in Postscripts magazine.

The cover will be by classic EC Comics writer, artist, and editor Al Feldstein.

For a complete list of stories and writers for this special issue, click on the link above.

I’ve always loved George Carlin, starting before he was considered a satirist, back when he was just a comedian who did characters like the hippy-dippy weatherman, who’d make predictions on the Merv Griffin Show along the lines of “Tonight’s forecast—dark, continued mostly dark tonight turning to widely scattered light in the morning.” His material and his delivery always cracked me up.

But with his routine “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television,” Carlin transformed himself into a modern-day Lenny Bruce (Bruce was then one of my gods), and that love became adoration.

So back in the early ’70s, when I heard that he would be doing a show at Brooklyn College, I went with a friend, and we roared with laughter the entire time. When Carlin mentioned from the stage that he’d be appearing a few days later at the Bitter End in the Village, we decided right then that we had to be there.

We’d pretty much made fools of ourselves at that second show. Carlin had recently begun doing a bit in which he enthusiastically sang the theme from the Raisin Bran commercial (I can’t really explain why that was funny; you’d have to see it), and so when we went to the Bitter End, we gift-wrapped half-a-dozen boxes of Raisin Bran, and brought it to the show along with a card we’d made in the shape of a giant raisin inside of which we’d written dozens of very bad punning raisin jokes. After that show, Carlin allowed us back stage to so we could give him this very weird gift (hey, we were teenagers!), and then talked with us in his dressing room for what seemed like at least an hour. (more…)

So it’s 1916, and you’ve just finished (or think you’ve finished) your latest short story—now what? Well, before you send it to market, eminent editor Dr. J. Berg Esenwein suggests that you ask yourself several questions.

Here, taken from an appendix to his instructional book Writing for the Magazines, are his “Points for Self-Criticism in Fiction Writing”: (more…)

I dreamt this morning that I was at Readercon, walking down a hallway toward the hotel restaurant. I have no idea whether it was time for lunch or dinner. When I stepped through the entranceway, all of the tables were occupied, and the joint was jumping. I surveyed the room in search of a table of friendly faces into which I could insert myself.

As I checked out the restaurant, I realized that I knew everyone there, which wasn’t so unusual, at least not for a Readercon. But what was unusual was that I saw Eric M. Van sitting at one table as part of a group, and then I also saw Eric M. Van sitting at the next table with a different party, and then at the next table as well!

And the next, and the next, and the next …

In fact, there wasn’t a table without one of him. There were dozens of Eric M. Vans scattered throughout the restaurant, each one taking part in a lively conversation.

How did he do that?, I wondered. In my dream state, I didn’t think this impossible. I was just … curious.

As I stood there, unable to decide at which table I wanted to try to squeeze in, I woke. I guess I won’t get to have a meal at Readercon until Readercon itself.

When I left the house this morning at 9:00 a.m., I found this turtle around 100 yards down the road trying to get from one side to the other. I leapt from the Jeep, and before I moved it off the asphalt into the low grass—which I hope ended up being the side of the road toward which it was heading, otherwise I’d just set him back several hours—I snapped this picture.

While I was kneeling there, someone else came barreling along, and if they had been less cognizant (or caring) than I, the poor thing could have gone splat had I not been there blocking part of the road.

For those of you who have been following my recent wildlife encounters, this was not the same turtle we spotted earlier this month. This one was a couple of inches larger, around eight inches, which is supposed to be the maximum size for an Eastern Box Turtle.

Based on its shell shape and eye color, I think this is a female—but I’m sure that will be along soon to set us all straight.

In celebration of Entertainment Weekly‘s 1000th issue, the staff has put together various lists of what they consider “New Classics,” that is, their picks for the best movies, TV shows, albums, books, and more of the past 25 years.

As I ran down their list of the top 100 movies, of which these are the top 10—

1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
2. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03)
3. Titanic (1997)
4. Blue Velvet (1986)
5. Toy Story (1995)
6. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
7. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
8. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
9. Die Hard (1988)
10. Moulin Rouge (2001)

—I felt pretty good about my cultural literacy, for it turns out that I’d seen 62 of the 100 movies listed. (more…)

Using Wordle, I’ve created a tag cloud for my short story “A Very Private Tour of a Very Public Museum,” which will appear soon in the special WorldCon issue of Postscripts.

I have no idea whether this distillation makes the story seem more or less interesting to potential readers, but being able to see the bare bones of my story is certainly intriguing to me.

The latest issue of SCI FI Magazine hit newsstands today, and will remain on sale through August 18.

This time around, we cover the upcoming films The Dark Knight, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (along with that movie’s accompanying TV series), and Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D.

This issue also includes features devoted to the new seasons of SCI FI’s Stargate Atlantis, Eureka, and Charlie Jade.

Plus there are our usual departments devoted to DVDs, books, games, and more.

I’m currently hard at work on this issue after this, which will be our special Fall Preview issue.

The schedule for the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con International will be the size of a phone book, with thousands of program items and dozens of tracks. On the other hand, the agendas for the first comic-book conventions I attended barely filled a single sheet.

I don’t think I saved the schedule from my first con in 1970, but I still have the program from Phil Seuling’s 1971 July 4th Comic Art Convention, which I attended when I was 16. It consisted of one 8 1/2″ by 11″ sheet of paper, and was folded in half to form a slim four-page pamphlet.

You already know what I looked like in the audience at that convention, but this is what I was watching up on the stage. There was a single track of programming, and looking at the listed items, I realize that I attended every one. (more…)