Wow, what a week. Besides attending a friend’s book launch – see yesterday’s blog for Brian Lux’s Loppy Lugs; my birthday on Monday, my daughter’s birthday tomorrow; I have the pleasure of co-launching Escape Velocity. This is the first science fiction magazine I’ve co-edited. For over a year Robert Blevins in Seattle, USA and me in Chester, UK have swapped multiple e-mails daily over stories to accept or reject, articles, interviews, poems, images, page formatting, printers, prices and much more. Odd because I’d breakfast while tapping at my e-mails while Robert reciprocated at his supper time. A truly cross-planet cooperation. The focus was to provide a vehicle for mostly unknown but talented writers of hard science fiction. It is a learning process for us, but we hope the magazine is the first of many. It will probably lose us money as most magazines do in their early issues, but we are exhilirated by the process and good wishes for its success.
There are at least three scoops I am delighted with for this issue #1.
1 – I spent a day with contemporary master science fiction author, Jon Courtenay Grimwood at last years Annual Writers’ Conference in Winchester and I’ve distilled a flavour of his wisdom in an article in this issue.
2 – Maria Ayres (a friend I made through Jessie Lilley in Hollywood) works at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Maryland. She runs the payroll for the guys and gals running the Hubble orbiting telescope! So I persuaded her to spend her precious time writing an article on what it is like rubbing shoulders with real astronauts and other insights such as what is going on with the new James Webb telescope. Terrific stuff.
3 – I’m not much of a poet, but I’ve always admired the lateral-thinking output from Magdalena Ball, and she kindly allowed us to use one of her powerful poems from her Quark Soup collection. Thanks, Maggie, for widening our hard-nosed sci fi into poetry.
You must know a family member who loves science fiction. Christmas is coming so grab them a copy or three of Escape Velocity here.
Congrats on the launch of Escape Velocity! I’m a big fan of hard sci-fi and it’s great to hear that you’re supporting some of the less-known authors in this genre.
Thanks Barb.
If you are, who I think you are, then we have an academic meteorological background in common — interesting going from having our heads in the clouds to.. erm, having more of our heads in the clouds! hah.
I hope you enjoyed our Escape Velocity. Maybe you could pen a short sci fi / met story for our next issue?
Geoff
Congratulations on a worthy effort to include unknown and unpublished writers. Unfortunately, not my thing and I don’t know anyone who reads that genre. But I will keep your publications in mind in case anyone expresses interest.
With so much to do, do you ever go to bed? I rather think you must have quiet nods while you are biking down hills! Of course not — that is where you get inspired for stories. Oh well, maybe you dose while you’re computing. (Like others ‘drop off’ while they are commuting?)