This month's CSFF tour is focusing on Wayfarer's Journal, an e-zine published by Terri Main - professor extraordinaire, and one of my most valued professional contacts. I could say we were colleagues, or even friends, but our connection has been mostly "in the biz". Often I have vastly appreciated her wise words in blog articles and mailing list posts. We both belong to the Lost Genre Guild, a group of writers dedicated to Christian speculative fiction. Do yourself a favour and Google it :)
Being a sci-fi freak, I am immensely grateful for the existence of this zine. Fantasy's okay, and I read a fair bit of it too, seeing as it comes with the spec-fic territory. But, except for Lewis and Lawhead, it doesn't make my spirit fly like good SF does. Of course, L&L both wrote SF too. Hang on, I'm getting off track.
As Mike Lynch said in his post, Christian sci-fi has often been the unwanted stepchild of Christian publishing. It's so hard to get anywhere with this genre. I'm glad at the recent wave of fantasy successes, but the Trekkie in me still wonders when SF will have its day in the sun.
Sites like this can only help the cause. Sure, as a new venture, there are still things to work out. The dynamic nature of a webzine takes some getting used to, but don't go thinking you've seen the whole site at one glance. There's more to it than that.
I encourage all writers of SF to contribute to this paying publisher. And even if your story is only slightly SF, you can still try, as Steve Rice said. Terri took my story, although there was only a passing mention of aliens. However, she is very mainly interested in hard sci-fi.
check out what the other bloggers are saying, too:
Brandon Barr Jim Black Justin Boyer Amy Browning Jackie Castle Carol Bruce Collett Valerie Comer CSFF Blog Tour D. G. D. Davidson Chris Deanne Jeff Draper April Erwin Marcus Goodyear Andrea Graham Jill Hart Katie Hart Michael Heald Jason Joyner Kait Carol Keen Mike Lynch Margaret Rachel Marks Melissa Meeks Rebecca LuElla Miller Mirtika or Mir's Here John W. Otte John Ottinger Rachelle Steve Rice Cheryl Russel Ashley Rutherford Hanna Sandvig James Somers Steve Trower Speculative Faith Jason Waguespac Laura Williams Timothy Wise
4 comments:
Grace, nice to hear from someone who knows Terri on a professional basis.
As I mentioned in a comment on another site, one of the things I like so much about featuring a webzine on CSFF blog tour is that not only draws attention to that site but also to the contributing authors. It's like a two-for-one, or maybe a 20-fo-1, depending on how many authors are represented. ;-)
Becky
I agree with Becky. I'd be interested to hear Terri talk about the relationship between her professorship and the ezine.
I especially like your call for submissions. I'm thinking about it. I'm thinking about it.
Thanks for the good words. This is still a work in progress. I will be taking time in January for reflection and prayer for direction. But I do feel that sometimes even with Christian Speculative fiction that Science Fiction has been treated as secondary to Fantasy. Probably because of the influence of Tolkien and Lewis without a comparable high profile model of Christian oriented science fiction.
For Mark, I won't be responding to new submissions until February 1 because I'm taking time off to rest, recover and refresh. But in February, I'd love to see whatever you have.
I don't know much about the relationship between being a college professor and a part-time ezine editor. I am considering proposing a magazine article writing class, but not a fiction writing one. We already have several good writers at the college very capable of teaching those.
However, taking a broader perspective of being an academic, I think it does affect my approach. For instance, one of my degrees is in literature. So, I come to reading the submissions with a sensitivity that has been honed by the study of the great wordsmiths of the English language. Perhaps the one area where it makes me a major critic is with regard to rhyming poetry.
Poetry is not just about rhyme but also about rhythm. If you are going to write rhyming poetry, then pay attention to the rhythm as well. I find myself tapping out the accented and unaccented syllables and wincing like a music teacher over every 'clinker.'
In terms of science fiction, since my major teaching duties involve teaching oral communication including argumentation or reasoned discourse, I think the discipline of logic helps.
I have been trained to set aside for a time my opinion and my emotional response to things and evaluate them according to standards which are external to my own whims. I have published stories which honestly were not my personal favorites, but they were well written, had strong characters, good plots and I knew a significant portion of my readers would enjoy them. By own taste is irrelevant. I think my academic training and particularly my training in logic has helped me there.
Actually, this is a very good question. I'll be writing the LGG blog for Friday, maybe I'll bring some of this to that article.
I've said it before and I'll say it again.
I truly believe that Terri is paving the way. That Science Fiction will be the thing in Hollywood and in Christian book houses.
Great review, Grace!
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