Free IGMS Reading

Another hearty congratulations to Greg Siewert, whose story, "The Absence of Stars" won this year's WSFA award for Best Story of 2008. "The Absence of Stars" is a novelette that was published in two parts, in issues 10 and 11.

Also, congratulations to James Maxey, whose story "Silent As Dust" from issue 7 was one of the other finalists for this year's award. James' story was also selected for inclusion in The Year's Best Fantasy and Science Fiction 2009 edited by Rich Horton.

To celebrate, IGMS is making both of these stories free for everyone to read until the end of 2009. Dive in and enjoy! Just go to the IGMS homepage, click on the announcement at the top of that page, and get reading.

IGMS Story Wins WSFA Award for Best Short Story of 2008

Congratulations (again) to James Maxey, who got an Honorable Mention at the WSFA Small Press Awards for his story "Silent As Dust," and an extra-large congratulations to Greg Siewert, who was the winner for "The Absence of Stars - Part One." There was an ongoing humorous bit after the award was handed out, when people kept asking Greg when he was going to write part two. I say humorous, because the story was already complete; I sent the whole thing in to the committee when I nominated it. But because part one was published in the last issue of 2008 (the year being considered for the award) and part two was published in the first issue of 2009, the award was officially given to part one. After a while (a very short while, to tell the truth) we got tired of explaining it and started having fun with people, making silly stuff up. Greg was a great guy and it was a pleasure to meet him in person.

Personally, I was particularly happy with the win (even if all I got was a certificate, when last year they gave the author AND the editor an engraved crystal thingamabob for their efforts). Partly it was because John Joseph Adams had two stories nominated from an anthology he edited, and IGMS had two stories nominated, so we made up more than half of the finalists between us and had been ribbing each other on and off throughout the convention about who was and wasn't going to win. But mostly I was happy because it was the first outright win for an IGMS story. We've had stories nominated for awards before, but this was the first time one of my authors went home with some hardware (and a nice check, too). So a great big thanks to Greg for getting IGMS over that hump and into the winner's circle.

CapClave 2009

Heading up to Rockville, MD for CapClave; Oct. 16 - 18. It's a great literary SF convention -- no games, no costumes, no TV or movie stuff; just authors, editors, publishers, and the occasional agent. Also home of the WSFA's small press award ceremony, for which there are two IGMS stories on the list of finalists for best short story of 2008. For full convention details, see the CapClave website.

My own schedule is as follows:

Capclave 2009

Fri 7pm Plaza ‐ Alternate Dogcatchers

Participants: Jim Freund (m), Harry Turtledove, Tom Doyle, Michael Flynn, Edmund Schubert

What makes a good alternate history work and bad ones fail? What points of depature do you change?

How do you build a good alternate history? What alt histories aren't done that we would like to see?

Fri 8:30pm Twinbrook ‐ Reading: Edmund Schubert

Sat 12am Randolph ‐ Writers Workshop

Participants: Allen Wold (m), Davey Beauchamp, Edmund Schubert

Allen Wold and friends will help you become a better writer. Bring paper and a writing implement. All

else will be explained at the beginning of the session

Sat 1pm Randolph ‐ Writers Workshop

Participants: Allen Wold (m), Davey Beauchamp, Edmund Schubert

(part 2 of writers workshop)

Sat 3pm Montrose ‐ Save the Magazines!

Participants: Edmund Schubert (m), Scott Andrews, C. Alen Loewen, Karen Newton, George Scithers,

Shelia Williams

What can be done to save the magazines? Asimov's circulation, once 100,000 is down to 17,000 F&SF

even fewer. Is it worth saving? Are magazines doomed? Can Internet save the magazines? What will

replace them?

Book signing schedule

Saturday

10am Harry Turtledove and Shelia Williams

11am Ed Lerner and Michael Flynn

12pm Andrew Fox and C. Alan Loewan

1pm Dan Danvers and Michael Swanwick

2pm Mindy Klasky, A.C. Crispin, and James Morrow

3pm Alan Smale, Eric Choi, and James Maxey

4pm Lawrence Watt Evans, Catherine Asaro and Donald Walcott (after their concert)

5pm Diane Arrelle, Dr. Lawrence Schoen, and Edmund Schubert

Sat 9pm Plaza ‐ Small Press Award

Participants: WSFA and the nominees

Who will win the annual WSFA small press award? Come and see. Celebrate with cake.

Sun 11am Plaza ‐ Paranormal Versus Urban Fantasy

Participants: Scott Andrews (m), Catherine Asaro, Karen Newton, Edmund Schubert, Jean‐Marie Ward,

Diane Weinstein

Is paranormal romance just another name for urban fantasy? If not, what is the distinction? How do

writers determine the right balance between paranormal and romance? Is it just classic boy meets girl or

does a paranormal being make it different.

Sun 2pm Randolphh ‐ Online Fiction

Participants: Brenda Clough (m), Diane Arrelle, Edmund Schubert, J.J. Smith, Sean Wallace

Is the fiction published in online magazines different from that in the print magazines and if so, how?

What online fiction sources are the best? How do readers and writers find out about online sources?

Pretidigitation - by Philip Powell - IGMS issue 14 audio

Prestidigitation - A Tale of Stolen Fingers

Written by Philip Powell

Illustration by Tom Barker

Performed by Philip Powell, Tommy Trull, Melanie Wallace, Jim McKeny, Billy Christiansen, Tom Barker

Verse bored me. It was my dirty little secret. E-Gads! My snobby friends would have shunned me. By randomly quoting snippets of Moliere I avoided their suspicion. But internally, verse made my eyes roll.

Until, I read "Le Bete" by David Hirson, wonderful play written in the late 80's that had rhyming verse. What was different? It was a modern playwright who had written something for a modern audience. I had been fooled all those years when reading Shakespeare or similar. I thought it was the verse that I didn't care for. But come to find out, the problem was all the anachonistic language. It got in the way of my comprehending the text. Once I actually understood what was being said, verse and I became fast friends.

This piece started out as a script for a NYC 24 hour film contest. The story had to be about a clown, at a party…oh…and it had to be in rhyming verse. So, I ripped out a few verses…but we ultimately went in a different direction. There it sat on my desktop for two years. Until a tag line hit me out of the blue one day. “A tale of stolen fingers” I mused “who would have to the most to lose if his fingers were stolen?” A magician I suppose. Hmmm..that sounds a bit like that piece I started a few years back.” The rhyming verse was already in place so I just went with it.

I learned a lot during the process. The confines were good, as I had to think very carefully about what I was doing. Every word was precious. I had 12 syllables per line, all of their accents had to hit the beat, it had to rhyme…oh, and manage to be funny. Prose never seemed so liberating.

* * * *

Prestidigitation - A Tale of Stolen Fingers

Written by Philip Powell

Performed by Philip Powell, Tommy Trull, Melanie Wallace, Jim McKeny, Billy Christiansen, Tom Barker

is available now in issue 14 of Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show