Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Transcript: Science Fiction & Fantasy Writer's Chat with John Joseph Adams

2:00 amshadowflame1974:Show time! Welcome @johnhosephadams! #sffwrtcht

2:01 amsffwrtcht:Welcome to Science Fiction Fantasy Writer?s Chat. #sffwrtcht

2:01 amsffwrtcht:Our goal is to talk w/ writers, editors, & others abt the craft of writing, specifically related to writing speculative fiction. #sffwrtcht

2:02 amsffwrtcht:Our format is round table discussion but pls restrict questions to writing craft, business of writing & the works of the guest. #sffwrtcht

2:02 amsffwrtcht:It?s up to the guest whether the question time will run longer than our allotted hour slot. #sffwrtcht

2:02 amsffwrtcht:Please wait until your question gets answered to ask another & use the hashtag #sffwrtcht for all questions and comments.

2:02 amshadowflame1974:@johnhosephadams could you tell us a bit about yourself? #sffwrtcht

2:03 amelizabethkarr:RT @BryanThomasS Welcome to Science Fiction Fantasy Writer?s Chat. #sffwrtcht #sffwrtcht < Wish I could be there! #amproducing Have fun!


2:04 amjohnjosephadams:Hi all. John Joseph Adams here. I'm editor of the online mags Lightspeed & Fantasy as well as anthos such as Brave New Worlds. #sffwrtcht

2:04 amsffwrtcht:Currently the editor of both Lightspeed and Fantasy Magazines, @johnjosephadams has also edited a dozen anthologies. #sffwrtcht

2:04 amsffwrtcht:His latest are ?The Way Of The Wizard? from Prime Books and ?Brave New Worlds? out from Night Shade Books in January. #sffwrtcht

2:05 amsffwrtcht:?The Way Of the Wizard? offers spellbinding tales about magic fr authors lk George RR Martin, Robert Silverberg and @ResnickMike. #sffwrtcht

2:05 amsffwrtcht:?Brave New Worlds? tells dystopian stories abt what happens when civilization invades and dictates every aspect of your life?#sffwrtcht

2:06 amsffwrtcht:@johnjosephadams Thanks for joining us. Would you like to tell us a little about 'Way Of The Wizard" and "brave New Worlds?" #sffwrtcht

t2:06 amjohnjosephadams:Although it's officially a January release, Brave New Worlds is actually in stores now. The website is live 2: http://7tlf.sl.pt #sffwrtcht

2:07 amcharlesatan:RT @shadowflame1974: Show time! Welcome @johnhosephadams! #sffwrtcht

2:07 amsffwrtcht:@johnjosephadams Oh, that's great, an early release. Awesome. #sffwrtcht

2:11 amjohnjosephadams:@BryanThomasS Brave New Worlds collects the best dystopian short fiction all in one volume. First of its kind I believe. #sffwrtcht

2:11 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams That's great. Reprints and new stories both? #sffwrtcht

2:12 amjohnjosephadams:@BryanThomasS Brave New Worlds is all reprints. My first antho with no originals, I think. All the others 1 original sneak in. #sffwrtcht

2:12 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams Was "Brave New Worlds" something you pitched or did Night Shade approach you with the idea? #sffwrtcht

2:13 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams Still, collecting them all in 1 place is a great idea and will help a lot of ppl see the stories who might not #sffwrtcht

2:13 amjohnjosephadams:BNW includes stories by Bradbury, Vonnegut, Shirley Jackson, Ellison, Bacigalupi...all the classics plus some future classics. #sffwrtcht

2:13 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams That's quite a list. #sffwrtcht

2:14 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams How long does it generally take you to put an anthology together? #sffwrtcht

2:14 amjohnjosephadams:After the success of Wastelands, Brave New Worlds was the next thing I pitched to NSB. Other projects kept cutting in line tho. #sffwrtcht

2:14 amsffwrtcht:Hey, all, feel free to pitch in your questions anytime. #sffwrtcht

2:15 amjohnjosephadams:I tried, as I usually do, to balance the classic (maybe obvious) stories with stuff not everyone would be already familiar with. #sffwrtcht

2:15 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams Were the stories you reprinted things you were mostly familiar with prior to BNW? #sffwrtcht

2:15 amRedstoneSF:RT @johnjosephadams: Although it's officially a January release, Brave New Worlds is actually in stores now. The website is live 2: http://7tlf.sl.pt #sffwrtcht

2:16 amjohnjosephadams:It takes a couple of months to assemble an anthology, generally; it depends how familiar I am with the theme before I begin. #sffwrtcht

2:17 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams But that doesn't include time waiting for and editing submissions, does it? #sffwrtcht2:17 amSheikYurbouti:What was the theme you were least familar with? #sffwrtcht @johnjosephadams

2:17 amjohnjosephadams:For Wastelands, I picked 95% of the TOC off the top of my head in 2-3 days b/c I knew the genre really well. #sffwrtcht

2:18 amjohnjosephadams:3-4 months for a reprint anthology I guess, though I sometimes work on more than one at the same time so it's hard to say exactly #sffwrtcht

2:18 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams I'm sure that's a great advantage. "Way of The Wizard" has more of a mix of originals and reprints, right? #sffwrtcht

2:19 amcharlesatan:@johnjosephadams what's the "hardest" anthology so far? #sffwrtcht

2:19 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams including a story that's already been chosen for Rich Horton's Years Best next Summer. #sffwrtcht

2:19 amjohnjosephadams:(1/2) For an original project it would take longer, obviously, since original stories have to be written. #sffwrtcht

2:19 amjohnjosephadams:(2/2) Tho much of that time I'm not really "working" on the antho. #sffwrtcht

2:19 amBryanThomasS:@charlesatan @SheikYurbouti Thanks for joining us #sffwrtcht :)

2:21 amjohnjosephadams:@SheikYurbouti I did the most research for BY BLOOD WE LIVE b/c there's just SO MUCH vampire fiction out there I hadn't read yet. #sffwrtcht

2:21 amjohnjosephadams:@charlesatan Brave New Worlds was probably the hardest in securing permissions; I ran into a lot of complicated rights situations #sffwrtcht

2:23 amjohnjosephadams:@BryanThomasS For BNW I'd guess I was familiar with maybe half the stories prior to starting my research. #sffwrtcht2:23 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams So how do you approach research? Read a lot of other mags/anthos, etc? Ask other editors? #sffwrtcht

2:24 amshadowflame1974:@johnjosephadams do you ever get opinions from those who are well read in an area you are not as familiar with? #sffwrtcht

2:24 amcharlesatan:@johnjosephadams how many anthos do you think you can realistically work on in a year (w/ your other duties)? #sffwrtcht

2:25 amjohnjosephadams:For research, I solicit recs online, talk to other editors, and target certain authors who I suspect have stories that fit. #sffwrtcht

2:26 amjohnjosephadams:Or I'll just email some authors I've worked with & tell them about the antho & see if they have anything I should consider. #sffwrtcht

2:26 amSheikYurbouti:@johnjosephadams In the Cdn media, there's been some declaration that zombies are 'done'. Would you weigh in? #sffwrtcht

2:26 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams I am curious if it's any different approach to editing a Mike Resnick or Robert Silverberg vs a beginner? #sffwrtcht

2:27 amspecficdb:RT @johnjosephadams: For research, I solicit recs online, talk to other editors, and target certain authors who I suspect have stories that fit. #sffwrtcht

2:27 amBryanThomasS:@SheikYurbouti Ha ha ha That's a dangerous thing to ask. #sffwrtcht

2:27 amSheikYurbouti:@BryanThomasS I'd love to hear what others have to say as well. My intuition is that you can't keep zombies down. #sffwrtcht

2:28 amjohnjosephadams:@shadowflame1974 Sure! I'm not afraid to ask for help from experts. #sffwrtcht

2:28 amjohnjosephadams:@charlesatan I don't know...3 or 4? Next year might test that and give us a definitive answer. #sffwrtcht

2:28 amBryanThomasS:@SheikYurbouti Mine too. No worries. I'm only teasing #sffwrtcht

2:29 aminkhaven:@johnjosephadams Wastelands is post-apocalyptic, and BNW is dystopian--for those who don't know, want to explain the difference? #sffwrtcht

2:29 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams I take it that means you have a lot of things lined up then? besides editing two ezines #sffwrtcht

2:29 amjohnjosephadams:@SheikYurbouti Everyone keeps saying that, but my Living Dead anthos keep selling, so it doesn't seem done to me. #sffwrtcht

2:29 amGanymede_mj:RT @johnjosephadams: Although it's officially a January release, Brave New Worlds is actually in stores now. The website is live 2: http://7tlf.sl.pt #sffwrtcht

2:29 amjohnjosephadams:Plus The Walking Dead is a huge TV series right now. I think we can expect zombies to stick around as long as that does at least. #sffwrtcht

2:29 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams At least the writers will have one person to send Zombie stories to anyway then. LOL #sffwrtcht

2:30 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams I'd agree. Walking Dead will certainly stimulate the market. #sffwrtcht

2:30 amBryanThomasS:@SheikYurbouti The dead must walk on. #sffwrtcht

2:31 amBryanThomasS:@inkhaven Good question. #sffwrtcht

2:31 amjohnjosephadams:(1/2) Well, I haven't edited originals by Resnick or Silverberg as of yet ... #sffwrtcht

2:31 amshadowflame1974:lol the dead just won't die! #sffwrtcht

2:31 amjohnjosephadams:(2/2) But sure, I think you probably edit with a lighter touch when working with established pros. #sffwrtcht

2:31 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams Showing my ignorance: so reprints run as is without editing then? #sffwrtcht

2:33 amMosesSiregar:#sffwrtcht It's alive!!!

2:33 amjohnjosephadams:@inkhaven sometimes post-apoc and dystopian overlap but not necessarily. post-apoc is about the end of civilization as we know it #sffwrtcht

2:35 amSheikYurbouti:@johnjosephadams In terms of retail success, how do anthologies measure up to novels? Or short story collections by same author? #sffwrtcht

2:35 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams I've been reading "Way Of The Wizard" Great stories. What factors besides tone do you use in selecting stories? #sffwrtcht

2:36 amjohnjosephadams:@inkhaven whereas dystopian is all about oppressive societies and whatnot. Hard to explain in a tweet. #sffwrtcht

2:36 amjohnjosephadams:@inkhaven But the book's intro sums it up pretty well. :) http://7z60.sl.pt #sffwrtcht

2:36 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams I think you did a pretty good job actually #sffwrtcht

2:36 amjohnjosephadams:@BryanThomasS indeed--off the top of my head, I'm not even sure how many different things. lol. #sffwrtcht

2:37 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams Can you tell us anything about some future anthologies ur working on? #sffwrtcht

2:38 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams Have you ever find stories for anthologies via the F&SF or Lightspeed queues? #sffwrtcht

2:39 amjohnjosephadams:@SheikYurbouti generally anthos/collect don't sell as well as novels but I think it depends on theme & hitting at the right time. #sffwrtcht

2:40 amsffwrtcht:@johnjosephadams Do you create the list of invitees as part of pitching an anthology or does the publisher do that? #sffwrtcht

2:40 amjohnjosephadams:@BryanThomasS I always like to showcase a range of what the theme is capable of encompassing, so variety is important. #sffwrtcht

2:40 amwinnie3k:There's a chat going on with the awesome @johnjosephadams! Ask him good questions! #sffwrtcht

2:40 amRickNovy:@johnjosephadams For 2020 Visions I only touched the title for David Gerrold's, for others I requested rewrite after acceptance. #sffwrtcht

2:41 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams Variety is definitely a better read. #sffwrtcht

2:41 amRickNovy:@johnjosephadams Gerrold's title was a year and I wanted something closer to the title. He obliged. #sffwrtcht

2:41 amjohnjosephadams:I'm doing a Cthulhu reprint antho for NSB. None of the others I've got in the hopper can be discussed publicly yet I'm afraid! #sffwrtcht

2:42 amRickNovy:@johnjosephadams Not Sheila Finch though. Her prose was very clean. #sffwrtcht

2:42 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams Ah ok, yeah, I saw the Cthulhu one announced. No problem. #sffwrtcht

2:43 amjohnjosephadams:I haven't yet, at least I don't think so, but I do keep my eye on that. #sffwrtcht

2:43 ameruditeogre:@johnjosephadams the link btwn post-apoc & dystopian can vary; is it because post-apoc is often "the end" where dystopia is not? #sffwrtcht

2:43 amjohnjosephadams:@BryanThomasS Tho there's a story in my mad scientist antho for Tor that may have been subbed to me originally 4 LS but not sure #sffwrtcht

2:44 amTheMidnightOil:I'm loving reading the #sffwrtcht tweets - it's like eavesdropping on a conversation between people much smarter than I. :)

2:44 ameruditeogre:@johnjosephadams meaning that dystopia is part of the process of civilization, the rise and fall, that can lead to a bad end. #sffwrtcht

2:44 amBryanThomasS:@TheMidnightOil LOL Thanks. #sffwrtcht

2:44 amjohnjosephadams:@sffwrtcht The anthologist creates the list of invitees, gets commitments from them, then pitches the antho to a publisher. #sffwrtcht

2:45 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams Is that something you need to avoid? A good story doesn't fit everywhere necessarily. #sffwrtcht

2:45 amwinnie3k:@eruditeogre An apocalypse can involve dystopia, but they aren't necessarily connected. #sffwrtcht@johnjosephadams

2:45 amjohnjosephadams:@eruditeogre right, well, for dystopian fic you need a SOCIETY, and often post-apoc is the absence of society. #sffwrtcht

2:46 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams Is ur first issue of Fantasy in the new year or has did it come out already? #sffwrtcht

2:46 aminkhaven:RT @TheMidnightOil: I'm loving reading the #sffwrtcht tweets - it's like eavesdropping on a conversation between people much smarter than I. :)

2:47 ameruditeogre:@johnjosephadams it seems that dystopia can have a much broader meaning than post-apoc, & be turned to many more narrative ends. #sffwrtcht

2:48 amjohnjosephadams:@eruditeogre sure, sometimes dystopias lead to the apocalypse & vice versa, but sometimes there r dystopias w/ no apoc in sight. #sffwrtcht

2:49 amjohnjosephadams:@eruditeogre many people use dystopia incorrectly, to encompass anything that's a dark future. it has a more specific meaning tho #sffwrtcht

2:49 amSensawunda:RT @johnjosephadams: @eruditeogre many people use dystopia incorrectly, to encompass anything that's a dark future. it has a more specific meaning tho #sffwrtcht

2:49 amjohnjosephadams:My first issue of Fantasy (featuring my editorial selections) is March 2011. I'm already working on the backend, of course. #sffwrtcht

2:50 ameruditeogre:@johnjosephadams indeed. I think those dystopias that are not narratively bound tightly, are much more interesting & thoughtful. #sffwrtcht

2:50 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams Does the change in editors have much effect on the types of stories selected? Besides taste obviously? #sffwrtcht

2:50 amjohnjosephadams:@eruditeogre But yes, certainly broader meaning that post-apocalyptic. I think BNW has much more variety than Wastelands frex. #sffwrtcht

2:51 amjohnjosephadams:@BryanThomasS Besides editorial taste? I'm not sure. I guess we'll see after I get some issues under my belt. :) #sffwrtcht

2:52 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams LOL Thought it might be too early to ask. Fair enough. #sffwrtcht

2:52 amjohnjosephadams:If I neglected to answer a question, please do RT it or something, as I probably missed it while answering something else. #sffwrtcht

2:53 amsandrawickham:@johnjosephadams Hi guys! Just popping in to say hi. *waves* #sffwrtcht

2:53 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams Which has been your best selling anthology? #sffwrtcht

2:53 amBryanThomasS:@sandrawickham Hey! Welcome! #sffwrtcht

2:53 amjohnjosephadams:I don't know for sure, I get the impression I'm doing more soliciting than Cat was, so that might be the kind of thing you mean. #sffwrtcht

2:54 amjohnjosephadams:And of course now Fantasy will be using half as much original fiction since we're doing 50/50 originals/reprints like LS. #sffwrtcht

2:54 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams When stories from your anthologies get selected for recogntn, like Years Best, do u submit the anthos 4 consid? #sffwrtcht

2:54 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams Oh right. I'd forgotten that bit. #sffwrtcht

2:54 amjohnjosephadams:The Living Dead, by far, has been my bestselling book. I'm told to never expect any other antho I edit to ever do that well. #sffwrtcht

2:55 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams Guess you struck a chord with it. That's great. #sffwrtcht

2:55 ameruditeogre:@johnjosephadams that was my next question :-). How much more variety do you see in dystopian tales? What new paths to they take? #sffwrtcht

2:55 amSensawunda:@johnjosephadams Are you soliciting for the reprint side or the original fic side mostly? #sffwrtcht

2:56 amsffwrtcht:5 minutes left. Good time for final questions, everyone #sffwrtcht

2:56 amwinnie3k:@johnjosephadams Could you pick a favorite out of your anthos? #sffwrtcht

2:56 ameruditeogre:@johnjosephadams having edited both WASTELANDS and BNW, you seem to be in a great position to reflect on the two types of story. #sffwrtcht

2:57 amjohnjosephadams:@Sensawunda I'm soliciting for both. Though I think all of the reprints have been solicited; not many get submitted tho. #sffwrtcht

2:57 amjohnjosephadams:@BryanThomasS You mean, do I send them to the Year's Best editors? #sffwrtcht

2:58 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams YEs #sffwrtcht

2:58 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams sorry 14o character limit is hard sometimes on clarity #sffwrtcht

2:59 amcharlesatan:@johnjosephadams how many copies of your books do you buy? (for promo, event sale, etc.) #sffwrtcht

3:00 amjohnjosephadams:@charlesatan Do I buy personally? I don't buy any, but I usually get 30-40 free copies. #sffwrtcht

3:00 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams Wow, what a great chat. JJ thanks for agreeing to sit in. We really appreciated the chance to chat with u #sffwrtcht

3:00 amjohnjosephadams:Yeah, I make sure that the Year's Best editors get copies of the anthologies, and I provide them with word counts to help out. #sffwrtcht

3:01 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams Feel free to continue as long as you'd like and to come back any time. Next week we have @atfmb & @JohnAnealio #sffwrtcht

3:01 amBryanThomasS:They're from Functional Nerds podcast #sffwrtcht

3:01 amjohnjosephadams:@winnie3k Hard to pick a favorite. At the moment, Brave New Worlds is the one I'm most proud of, I guess. #sffwrtcht

3:02 amMerc_hyn_di:Enjoying "listening in" on the #sffwrtcht tonight.

3:02 amjohnjosephadams:@charlesatan and I usually get another case each time there's a new printing, so I end up with plenty of copies. :) #sffwrtcht

3:02 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams That's a sweet deal. #sffwrtcht

3:03 amBryanThomasS:@Merc_hyn_di Thanks for sitting in. #sffwrtcht

3:03 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams I look forward to reading BNW #sffwrtcht

3:04 amjohnjosephadams:Bestselling: Living Dead, Wastelands, Sherlock Holmes, By BloodWe Live, Living Dead 2, Federations, BNW, Way of the Wizard, Seeds #sffwrtcht

3:04 amjohnjosephadams:@BryanThomasS Sorry, that last tweet, went out before without the tag. #sffwrtcht

3:04 amBryanThomasS:@johnjosephadams And so far I own three of those but I know I'll be getting more. #sffwrtcht


3:04 johnjosephadams:Thanks @BryanThomasS for hosting #sffwrtcht and for having me on. And thanks to everyone who was reading and asking questions!

3:05 amsffwrtcht :Come back for the Functional Nerds next week. @atfmb and @JohnAnealio are very entertaining. #sffwrtcht

No comments:

Post a Comment

New comments are not being accepted since the blog has been closed and moved to www.bryanthomasschmidt.net. Please visit us there to comment. The posts have all been transferred. And thanks much for taking time to visit!

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.