HOW YOU CAN HELP, IN LIGHT OF ON SPEC'S CANADA COUNCIL FUNDING CUT

THE FOLLOWING POST WAS WRITTEN BY DIANE WALTON, Managing Editor of On Spec Magazine, and Jen Laface, Publisher's Assistant, but it represents all of us on the On Spec team in regards to our thoughts about the Canada Council's decision to cut On Spec's grant funding. If you feel moved to help the magazine, if you wish to support speculative fiction in Canada, you might consider the following suggestions.

TO ALL OF OUR FRIENDS, READERS, AND FOLLOWERS, thank you for your moral and financial support. We really appreciate it.

We’ve asked our supporters and ourselves, “what should we do?” There are many avenues available for continuing to publish great speculative fiction stories. One idea suggested to us at Calgary’s When Words Collide convention, was for us to ask our supporters to send letters to their MPs advising them of Canada Council’s cut to On Spec’s funding.

If you wish to let your feelings about the funding cuts to On Spec  be known to public officials as well as to the Canada Council, below you will find a list of names and addresses. Remember to cc your letter to your local Member of Parliament.

We aren't providing a form letter, because those tend to get ignored by the intended audience. Instead, look below for some salient points to our argument. Feel free to put them in your own words and use for your letters.

Here’s a guide to the points below:

• Reasons why the Minister of Canadian Heritage should know about On Spec’s loss of the Canada Council grant.
• Points related to how On Spec contributes to Canadian culture and values, and the economy.
• Concerns about the recent cut in Canada Council funding to On Spec.
• What On Spec is doing to deal with the cut in funding.
• Who to contact with addresses below.

How can telling the Minister of Canadian Heritage about the loss of the Canada Council grant help On Spec?

The Honourable Shelly Glover will be aware of On Spec’s importance to Canadian culture, as offering a distinct voice in a genre of fiction. As the Minister of Canadian Heritage, she sets directives and policy on the promotion of Canadian culture, including funding.

What points to communicate regarding On Spec’s contribution to Canadian culture and economy:

• On Spec Magazine is a multiple Aurora award-winning publication, and the Aurora is Canada’s main prize for excellence in  the genre of science fiction and fantasy.
• The Copper Pig Writers’ Society, a non-profit organization, has printed On Spec for over 25 years, showcasing Canadian talent in science fiction, fantasy, and other speculative fiction. The magazine publishes short stories and poetry, including non-fiction.
• On Spec recognizes the importance of well-written genre fiction for the Canadian economy. Genre fiction is popular as a commercial genre as well as a literary genre, which is observed with the current popularity of science fiction and fantasy movies, books, games, and other forms of entertainment. The commercial genre produces writers employed in different industries (video game development, television and movie screenplays, novels).
• On Spec provides writers of genre fiction a starting place to be recognized. Genre writers in the commercial field in Canada generate taxable revenue and require a significantly smaller investment than many other industries, leading to a higher return on investment and additionally the promotion of an industry that is environmentally friendly. In the case of On Spec, that investment is $20,000. It is important to note that most of these writers support themselves through other taxable employment in addition to developing their skills.
• On Spec celebrates Canadian values. We’ve published stories and artwork by Canadians from diverse backgrounds, including minorities, First Nations, women, LGBT, youths, and more. The magazine was started in 1989 in response to several Canadian speculative fiction authors receiving rejection letters from American publishers, which stated the stories were “well-written” but had a “different voice” that was too distinct for their markets.
• On Spec has printed established and emerging Canadian writers recognized in Canada and beyond, including award-winning novelist Robert J. Sawyer, co-founder of PopCap Games Jason Kapalka, and novelists Peter Watts, Charles de Lint, Leah Bobet, Cory Doctorow, and many more authors. For many of On Spec’s writers, their first publications were in On Spec Magazine. On Spec provided a place for their voices to be heard in publishing, and several have gone on to publishing novels and works in other fields, including film and game writing.
• On Spec showcases artwork by Canadians, including Aaron Paquette, First Nations painter, writer, keynote speaker, and workshop facilitator.
• The On Spec story “Beach Head” by Daniel LeMoal was selected and printed in Best Horror of the Year, Volume 1, by award-winning editor Ellen Datlow. Stories appearing in On Spec  receive Honorable Mentions in several “Year’s Best” anthologies.
• On Spec’s editors are volunteers, devoting time to On Spec as a labour of love to showcase Canadian talent. The editors come from a variety of backgrounds, including educators, biologists, and more. Since the magazine’s inception in 1989, there has been a strong women’s voice in the publication that was unusual in science fiction and fantasy.

 Concerns about the recent cut in Canada Council funding:

• The shortfall of $20,000 will make it difficult for On Spec to operate and cover production costs. On Spec must find other options to continue showcasing Canadian writers and artists, and sharing Canadian content with our readers. The amount represents about 30% of On Spec’s total budget.
• The lack of an appeals process with the Canada Council jury decision. The finality of the decision is legislated without offering an opportunity for another review and perspective. This makes it difficult for On Spec and other arts organizations to find an avenue to engage Canada Council on how to meet the jury’s criteria for following years. In the City of Edmonton, the Edmonton Arts Council established an appeals process for non-profit Arts Operating Grants.
• Canada Council only provides summary information without measurable goals and reviews to help arts organizations keep on track from jury warnings. The comments are provided in a vacuum without providing On Spec and other organizations with the opportunity to show improvement and engage Canada Council on better meeting the jury’s requirements.

How On Spec is dealing with the cut in Canada Council funding:

• On Spec Magazine will continue publishing well-written speculative fiction short stories and poetry, with a focus on showcasing voices from Canadian writers with diverse backgrounds.
• The editorial staff and other members of On Spec will discuss and determine new directions for the magazine, with the goal to continue providing our subscribers with well-written fiction.
• On Spec will concentrate on promoting our digital editions of our publication and subscriptions, with the plan to extend to online distributors such as Kobo. Currently the digital edition can be found on Weightless Books:
• A Patreon account has been set-up to encourage sustainable monthly donations from On Spec supporters.

Please feel free to send the reasons why you support On Spec Magazine to have your voice heard by the Minister of Canadian Heritage, The Honourable Shelly Glover (Min.Glover@pch.gc.ca). You can also cc the Chair of Canada Council, Director and CEO Simon Brault (director@canadacouncil.ca).

Sending separate letters to your Member of Parliament, the culture critics Pierre Nantel (NDP) and Stephane Dion (Liberal), and Elizabeth May of the Green Party, allows your voice to be heard.

Note that letters sent to Ministers or MPs at Parliament Hill do not require a stamp. Addresses are available online: http://www.parl.gc.ca/SenatorsMembers.aspx?Language=E

The Honourable Shelly Glover

Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages

For regular mail:

The Honourable Shelly Glover

Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages

House of Commons

Ottawa, Ontario

Canada

K1A 0A6

Simon Brault

Director and CEO

Canada Council for the Arts

150 Elgin St

P.O. Box 1047

Ottawa, Ontario  K1P 5V8

Thank you for your support. We appreciate it takes many voices to be heard.

The On Spec Team.

INTERVIEW - ON SPEC'S SILVER ANNIVERSARY ANTHOLOGY with TYCHE BOOKS

Cover by Herman Lau

THIS SATURDAY (JUNE 14th) at 1:00 PM MST, I'LL BE IN A LIVE GOOGLE+ INTERVIEW with Diane Walton, Managing Editor of On Spec, and Ryah Deines of Tyche Books. (The interview is now featured on YouTube.)  We'll be talking about On Spec's upcoming Silver Anniversary Anthology, soon to be released this summer at When Words Collide in Calgary. The gorgeous cover to the left, created by Herman Lau, features visual elements taken from all twenty-four stories and poems in the collection. For me, some of these stories were new. On Spec purchased them during a time when I took a hiatus from the magazine, so I was thrilled to read them for the first time. As for the others, it's been a joy to read them again, many of which are still my personal favorites. I hope you'll forgive the effusiveness, but this is one terrific anthology. I am proud to be associated with it, with the writers who contributed to it, with my fellow editors, and with Tyche Books. As well as the Table of Contents below, I've included links to the authors' websites, blogs, books, and what-have-yous, so you can see what other great things they're doing. I've also added a line or two to describe each story or poem. Here's the line-up:


Happy Eating on Ugrath 3 by Jason Kapalka (On Management's home planet, the Happy Eating fast food galactic franchise isn't happy with Urgath 3's franchise, anymore.)
Star-Seeing Night (poem) by Alice Major (where the clouds part for one night in the year, so we might see the stars.)
The Reality War by Bob Boyczuk (When her castle drops unexpectedly in the path of a royal road crew, Lady Miranda knows there's no gain without a little pain.) 
Casserole Diplomacy by Fiona Heath (Edna serves up some Newfoundland hospitality to alien newcomers. Her tuna casserole is a big hit everywhere.)
Jubilee by Steven Mills (Reverend Dave witnesses miracles as the Universe grows up.)
No Such Thing as an Ex-Con by Holly Phillips (Emily, a psychic and wrongly accused ex-con, does what she must to solve a murder and make things right.)
Closing Time by Matthew Johnson (Gao must cook for his father's ghost who isn't ready to leave for the afterworld. But what makes for a proper funeral party? The food or the company?) Matthew's story is also featured in his collection Irregular Verbs and Other Stories, to be released June 17th, through ChiZine.
Foster Child by Catherine Macleod (Once forged, Claire finds the bonds of motherhood are never broken.)
More Than Salt by Elaine Chen (Cordelia loves King Lear 'more than salt', a fool comforts an old wino, and despite the tragedy of uncomfortable truths, love endures.)
Where Magic Lives by Sue Bolich (Ray officiates at the funeral of a beloved author and finds the guests are more than he thought.)
The Black Man by A.M Arruin (When the folks of Bergamot View realize they are too 'vanilla' a community, they diversify with interesting results.)
Pizza Night by Laurie Channer (What happens when the pizza delivery box doesn't hold pizza?)
Boys’ Night Out by Rob Hunter (In the gated community of Sur la Mer the wives hide unmentionable things under garden toads.)
Mourning Sickness by Robert Weston (When elephants turn up, grief is evident.)
Sticky Wonder Tales by Hugh Spencer (Two brothers share letters about their contributions to their respective scientific communities, and how it all went wrong.)
Emily’s Shadow by Al Onia (Sandy and Emily rebuild a Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle. In the process, they also build something else.)
The Resident Guest by Sandra Glaze (A receptionist becomes friends with the hotel's resident ghost, only to learn what keeps him there, and what turns him away.)
Come From Aways by Tony Pi (When a linguist encounters what might be a medieval welsh king washed up on Newfoundland's shores, she finds both the past and the future mix.)
Still by Greg Wilson (When Mr. Leaf breaks Still's violin, she can't live with the consequences and runs away. Eventually she finds herself, and helps other puppets find themselves, too.)
Asheville Road by Corey Brown (In a world connected by rail, Devin learns of loss, of death, and what it is to be a railman.)
Buddhist Jet Lag (poem) by Christian McPherson (what happens when living in the 'now' slips a bit....)
A Taste of Time by Scott Overton (For Gabby, the past comes back to life through a little girl and her love of blueberries.)
Penultimate (poem) by F.J. Bergman (why chase eternal youth, when eternity is already yours?)
Pilgrim at the Edge of the World by Sarah Frost (In order to come of age and take his place among his people, Kaainka must journey through desert and danger to reach the site of his ancestors.)

The anthology is set for release this August. If you have some time tomorrow and can tune in to the interview, please join us!

WANT TO SUPPORT ON SPEC and SPECULATIVE WRITERS HERE IN CANADA AND ELSEWHERE?

THOSE OF YOU WHO READ THE I READ ON SPEC FACEBOOK PAGE, have already seen the following post by Diane Walton, Managing Editor of our magazine. It looks as if the Canada Council has once again cut our funding, so she is appealing to folks to support On Spec through additional subscriptions and/or donations. Diane writes:

THERE'S A NUMBER OF ON SPEC FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS IN THIS GROUP, and I am really hoping they all have like-minded friends. This will be the first of probably many posts on the same topic. Most of you know that On Spec is a small, non-profit journal. It depends heavily on support from granting bodies like Canada Council for the Arts and the Alberta Multi-Media Fund. That's a reality in Canada. Magazines, especially the arts and cultural journals, need help to reach their audience.

There was a time when we could depend on the annual grants increasing as our related costs of production and distribution increased, so we could remain afloat and plan for each year. Ending the year with a small surplus was always a blessing. Recently, the opposite is true. Grants have decreased as much as $5,000 from one year to the next, and there is always the threat of being cut off from funding completely, as we were when they unexpectedly changed the eligibility rules for the Canadian Magazine Fund grant. And believe me, it hurt. We've made spending cuts in as many places as we could, without sacrificing the quality of the magazine. The time has come when we've tightened our belts as much as we can.

We are basically treading water right now, trying to promote On Spec with next to no budget, often with the editors paying their own way to conventions outside Edmonton. Making sure we can pay our bills is an ongoing challenge. We need to ask for your support. A gift of cash is certainly appreciated, but what helps us more is sustainable income, such as that obtained from a strong subscriber base, or revenue from repeat advertising. So now, more than ever, we ask you to tell as many people you know about our little magazine. Encourage them to subscribe. Buy gift subscriptions for your friends and family. Spread the word about our e-reader versions. We need your help to get through the lean times. And we need more readers!

Our new website will be up and running soon, and there will be a page for making donations, and buying subscriptions. Please visit there, and encourage anyone with a taste for engaging, intelligent literature to drop by for a visit. We'd love to meet them.

- Diane Walton.

Susan, again: And just so all of you know, we editors used to be paid an honorarium for our work with the magazine. Nearly two years ago, when we were faced with dwindling resources, we all chose to stay on with the magazine without expecting any recompense for the work we do. For us On Spec has been, and continues to be, a labour of love - something we do for free. As readers and subscribers, any support you give the magazine goes solely to the writers and artists who help make On Spec the exceptional magazine it is.

Brent Jans, one of our new editors and also webmaster, is currently working behind the scenes to re-vamp On Spec's web page. Included on it will be a link for a free trial e-issue. I'll post about the e-issue once it's available. In the meantime, if you'd like to subscribe to On Spec, please go to the On Spec website here.

On behalf of all of us at On Spec, thank you for your support.

- Susan.

FROM THE MAIL #2

On Spec cover by Chuck Bazaar

A SHORT TIME AGO, A WRITER LEFT A NOTE ON SUZENYMS asking, among other things, to consider walking readers through the On Spec submissions process. I asked Diane Walton, our Managing Editor, if she would tackle those questions, as she's the best person to field them. This is what she wrote: HI, ALL. DIANE, HERE. Susan has asked me to respond to this reader’s questions, and I am glad to do it. 

Are there more submissions now? The short answer is, yes. There are more submissions now—many more. In the olden days, when we’d go to the post office and empty our box every week, there would be anywhere from five to twenty large brown envelopes (or horribly stuffed business-sized white envelopes) shoved in the box, or (when we were using an arbitrary quarterly deadline) piled in the overflow bin on the floor behind it. 

When we finally joined the 21^st century and announced we’d be accepting e-mailed submissions, our gmail account was flooded overnight. It’s as if writers around the world were waiting with their index fingers poised over their keyboards, ready to hit SEND as soon as those doors opened. In that first rush, there were so many manuscripts that we were forced to close the floodgates for a few months until we could sort through them all. Lesson learned. 

Since then, we have controlled the submissions process even more, by announcing from time to time, that we’d be accepting submissions during a six to eight week period. And only during that period—with the exception of poetry, which we accept on an ongoing basis. In our recent window for submissions, we received over five hundred stories, many of which were in the 5,000 to 6,000 word category.  

How are the stories divided up for review? This process is purely arbitrary. The slush is divided as evenly as possible among the editors who are available to read at any given time. The editor becomes the First Reader for that batch of stories and is also responsible to write the rejection notes for those stories not deemed publishable. For a mild-mannered control freak like me who used to read EVERY STORY in the On Spec slush, this was a leap of faith. On Spec has excellent editors. I trust their judgement. 

We currently use a process for submissions that allows us to select and use an automated form rejection letter, a real time saver. There is a space for comments, where the editor can write a brief critique or some helpful constructive hints for improving the story if they so choose. It’s not a guarantee, although we try our best to find something useful to tell writers who don’t make the cut. 

How many make it through the first pass, the second, then to Fight Night and so-on? There are no hard and fast rules, here. A batch could hold a dozen pretty decent stories, or it could have less than a handful. Each story is evaluated on its own merit. Some stories get to the second pass, simply because they aren’t to a particular editor’s taste but—to be fair to the writer—he or she wants the others to have a look. Getting to Fight Night isn’t a guarantee of a good story—sometimes we do it because the story is so obscure that there must be some deep literary significance that one editor simply isn’t “getting”. 

Once each editor finishes a batch and sends on their short-listed stories, all the editors dive in and give those stories a fresh look. Fight Night will occur on a designated date, once we have made our choices about the stories we will champion, and the ones we’ll argue against.  

Of the stories On Spec receives, how many are finally published? In general, no more than four or five stories from every one hundred received will ultimately reach the stage where we are prepared to offer a contract. This hasn’t changed radically over time.  

How have the submissions fared over time in terms of quality? This can go both ways, actually. The good stories that we end up buying have been improving in quality, and it isn’t even related to the publication history of the writer. We do, of course, enjoy buying new stories from writers we have published before, but we are also thrilled when we make a new discovery. 

The not-so-good stories, on the other hand, have not improved. People used to actually proofread their own work, and it was a real commitment to use the paper, envelopes, and postage to send out a mailed manuscript. If a writer had been to at least one lecture or workshop on the techniques of writing, more care was usually taken to check spelling, punctuation, and so forth. Now, it is just too easy to hit Spell Check and expect it will actually catch every error (it won’t). 

Another error made by inexperienced writers is trying to write to suit a trope and ignoring the characters in the story. They’ll send “a vampire story”, or a “space battle story”, or “a ghost story” and it shows in the telling. After we read it, we may be able to tell you where the vampire came from, but we won’t remember what the protagonist’s main character trait (or flaw) was, or why he/she was caught up in the situation in the first place. 

All in all, the discussion of what we don’t want in an On Spec story is a never ending one. The fact remains we know what we like and that translates to what our readers like. What we do want are engaging stories about vibrant people. Even green, multi-tentacled creatures can be vibrant characters if you do it right.  And remember: if you open your story in a bar or a tavern, you probably do so at your peril. The editor reading it will mentally leap ahead to the scene where the vampire appears to seduce the hapless protagonist, or where the thief is offered gold to steal something magical, and so forth. 

Then it’s time to go to the kitchen and make a cheese sandwich. 

- Diane. 

(Thank you, Diane. - S.)

NEW EDITORS AT ON SPEC MAGAZINE

Cover by Lynne and Steve Fahnestalk

WE'VE BEEN EXPANDING at ON SPEC MAGAZINE. With the switch to Submittable software to handle the mountain of slush we received during our last submission's window, I'm happy to announce we've taken on four new editors at On Spec. Please join me in welcoming Brent Jans, Laurie Penner, Constantine Kaoukakis, and Eileen Bell!

 Brent Jans is a lifelong, unapologetic sci-fi and fantasy geek. He's that guy you know who re-reads The Lord of the Rings every year, yes, including The Silmarillion. When not copy-editing, proofing, or dipping his toe into the slush pile for On Spec, he freelances as an editor for independent game publishers (such as Mystic Ages Publishing's Foreign Element RPG). If you have ever read, loved, or hated a Tweet from @OnSpecMagazine, Brent wrote it so blame/praise him. Being able to learn on the job from some of the best writers and editors in Canada is why Brent feels fortunate to work with the folks at On Spec.

Full-time desk jockey Laurie Penner pushes papers around for the Alberta government during the day and proofreads for On Spec Magazine at night. Somehow, she also finds time to volunteer for the Millwoods Bread Run, play way too many video games, and attempt to find the best bowl of bo kho in Edmonton. 

Constantine Kaoukakis was born and raised in Montreal. His interests include comic books (Marvel & DC), Sherlock Holmes, Star Trek, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Greek mythology, Doctor Who, British murder mysteries, ancient history, and literature. He has degrees in Education, English, and Classics which have enabled him to teach Latin, ancient and modern Greek, ESL, English literature, ancient Greek and Roman literature at the high school, college and university levels: Concordia University (Montreal), Queen’s University, and other minor colleges. Not only is he a former member of The Bimetallic Question - the Sherlock Holmes Society of Montreal, but he has also founded The Wisteria Lodgers - the Sherlock Holmes Society of Edmonton.

Eileen Bell has written most of her life (usually as an antidote to whatever day job she had) and has had short fiction published in magazines and several anthologies, including the double Aurora Award winning Women of the Apocalypse. Recently, she and three other writers had a collaborative novel, The Puzzle Box, published through EDGE Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing. In 2014, she will have her own paranormal mystery, Seeing the Light, published through Tyche Books. When she’s not writing or editing or thinking about writing, she’s living a fine life in her round house (even if it is in a perpetual state of renovation) with her husband, two dogs, and a gold fish.

Of course, we couldn't function without the talents of Isaac Calon, our Proofreader,  Cat McDonald, our Production Editor, or Jen Laface, our Publisher's Assistant. I would also like to bid a fond farewell to Robin Carson, who we will miss greatly as a fellow editor, and who knows he can return to us any time, once his day job isn't so demanding. 

And while I'm on the subject of the On Spec staff, I may as well include links for those of us who make up the old guard. If you want to know more about what Ann, Barb, Diane, Barry, or myself are looking for in manuscripts, you can find that information below:

For Ann Marston:
For Barb Galler-Smith:
For Barry Hammond:
For Diane Walton:
And for Susan MacGregor: 

So welcome, Brent, Laurie, Constantine, and Eileen! And a big thank you to all of you who support us at On Spec Magazine.

ROMANCING THE CRONE, PART TWO...

LAST POST, I TALKED ABOUT HYBRID BOOKS, The Tattooed Witch, my debut novel that spans both speculative fiction and paranormal romance, and my frustration with the Big Five NY publishing houses that insist that fantasy and romance genres remain within strictly defined guidelines. (Thank heavens for my publisher, Five Rivers Publishing, which diverges from the traditional publishing model and allows its authors an authentic voice.) I went on to criticize some of the traditional romance formulas, which include a dominant alpha male hero and a tolerance for rape. Shortly after I posted Romancing the Crone on Suzenyms, there was a lot of discussion on my Facebook Timeline about the romance memes, why romance writers adhere to them, and how readers don’t necessarily think the same way writers do. Diane Walton, friend and fellow editor at On Spec, sent me this e-mail (slightly edited, so as to protect identities). She wrote: I asked two acquaintances to read your post about romance writing, since they write romances and paranormal romances. Here’s what one of them said: 

“As much as I agree with her (meaning me) about romance writing, we still have a publisher's formula to follow. In fact, we tried to write a thoughtful, exciting, and historically accurate romance novel, and a lot of it was edited out…as new authors, we are at the mercy of editors' and readers' preferences. If these formula novels were not popular, they wouldn't be selling.”

This note started me on a very interesting back and forth with the writer in question. I suggested to her that perhaps I’d been a bit harsh in my criticisms. I asked her if I could share our correspondence, to which she agreed, as long as we maintained her anonymity. She was worried about offending her publisher. I find what she writes very illuminating:

“I don't necessarily think the formula is a good thing, and for some women who are far more educated and sophisticated in their reading habits, they still love romance, but not the ‘old style’ romance. Many are shifting to historical lit with romance stories built in to get better stories with more depth and richness. I got into romance on the whim of my publisher—the book I co-authored was written as historical lit. She changed it and edited it to fit the romance cube.

If you hate formula romance, you will also hate this one, I think. We had a damn good book until the publisher and editors took out all our careful research and wonderful plot and had my co-author, who took over the rewrites during editing for the experience, insert some hackneyed, horrible ‘sensual scenes’  that are stilted and awkward. (I already had experience working with editors and publishers so I wanted her to have the opportunity.) I’m not putting down my co-author—being a new writer she was intimidated and obeyed—but I wish I’d known. She had to insert love scenes where they didn't belong. I didn't know what was going on until it was too late. It was my mistake. I should have taken over the editing process with the editors and publisher of  this book. 

Frankly, I'm on a mission to change the ‘formula’ and make romance into an intelligent, sophisticated, thoughtful, and exciting genre, instead of the same old crap that’s being pumped out there. If I have to write romances for this publisher, I want them to be good stories. From what I hear, most women readers are shifting towards this as well, but the romance industry is simply not listening.”

She goes on to point out the romance book industry accounts for 68% of overall book sales in North America (I haven't verified this number and I've seen other stats that differ, but the percentage is substantial.) With regards to women romance readers wanting to see a shift in terms of what the industry offers them, she said this is what she continually hears on discussion panels. 

So, how do we change publishers' minds in terms of what readers might rather see in romance novels or hybrid books? We speak up. We offer differing opinions, whenever and wherever we can. We encourage our readers to do so, too. 

WOW! THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR YOUR TERRIFIC RESPONSE!

AFTER MY LAST POST - AN APPEAL FOR On Spec Magazine - I talked with Diane Walton, our Managing Editor, about the fabulous response we received. To all of you who tweeted, or shared, or re-posted my appeal for subscriptions, thank you. The numbers blew me away - I was overwhelmed. It's great to know we're appreciated, that you value what On Spec brings to the SF scene. You've reaffirmed my belief that we are an amazing and unique community, no matter where we live on the globe. 

Diane wanted me to let folks know that it isn't just about money or subscriptions. There are other ways you can help us (with promotion, for example). Want to become more involved with On Spec? Here's how you can: 

1. Bloggers can blog about On Spec to their followers. Post a photo of yourself reading a copy of On Spec on your Facebook page. 

2. Anyone with a website can add On Spec to their Links page, or ask us for a banner ad they can display. 

3. Anyone going to a SF convention or literary event in a city too far away for us to travel to, can ask us to send some promotional materials they could take with them and hand out to interested folks. We'd be happy to send them to you. (In the past, we've often wished we had local reps. Want to be one? We'd like to talk to you.) 

4. Many cities have local creative writing courses or groups who meet regularly. Bring these groups to our attention, and we can arrange a Google chat or Skype visit with our editors and local writers, students, or library patrons. We're happy to talk on any number of topics.

5. Consider buying an On Spec subscription for libraries and schools in your area. Some libraries even  have programs for this, where a charitable receipt can be provided.

6. Lobby your politicians and tell them you really care about the arts, and about sustainable public support for the arts  through grants and foundations. 

Thanks, Diane, and everybody! Once again, I wish you all a wonderful holiday season, and a happy, creative, and prosperous 2014.

AN APPEAL FOR ON SPEC MAGAZINE

AS WE COME INTO THE HOLIDAY SEASON, Diane Walton, our Managing Editor at On Spec, and Jen Laface, our Business Manager, have suggested to folks that a subscription to On Spec would be a great gift idea. They always sound upbeat when they make this appeal. I can understand why; it's embarrassing to look as if we're asking for your support. So please bear with me, as I do.

EVEN THOUGH THE MAGAZINE HAS been going for 25 years, On Spec has always been in an precarious financial position. The magazine exists almost entirely on government grants through the Canada Council for the Arts and the Alberta Multi-Media Fund. Over the past three years, we were guaranteed that our AMMF grant would only slip by 15% each year. Year Three is now looming; we don't know what will happen. As for the Canada Council, we’ve been given two ‘warnings’ that we need to become more literary. I find this surprising, given that in terms of speculative fiction, we publish quality work (in the past, we’ve actually been accused by others of being too literary). It's clear to me that we're running into the same old bias that SF writers face everywhere: genre fiction is less worthy of receiving government funding. 

In Canada, On Spec is an SF institution. Although we’ve been a venue for many SF writers (Canadian and otherwise) who are happy to see their work appear in our pages, we are supported only minimally by our subscription base. I've never spoken on behalf of the magazine before, but perhaps now is the time. If you’ve been published in On Spec but don’t have a subscription, please think about getting one. If you have friends or family who enjoy reading SF, why not buy them a subscription as a gift? We can’t know what the future holds, but as an SF community, I think it’s important that we support one another. I’d like to see On Spec continue to be part of the SF scene for a long time to come. I hope you do, too. 

What does a subscription cost? An annual one costs less than five Eggnog Latte Grandés at Starbucks - only $24.00 Canadian, $25.00 US or $35.00 overseas. If an e-subscription is more your thing, we also offer them through Zinio. 

Here’s the link to our On Spec Subscription Page. Thanks so much for your support! On behalf of myself and On Spec, have a wonderful holiday season! 

ON SPEC'S NEW SUBMISSION PROCESS

Cover Artist: Robert Pasternak

AS MOST OF YOU LIKELY KNOW, ON SPEC has now opened a new window for submissions. We're accepting original speculative fiction work, short stories (6000 word limit) and poetry from now until December 31st, 2013. I asked Diane Walton, our Managing Editor, if she might bring everyone up to date as to what we're doing with our new submission process using Submittable.com. Here's what she had to say:

THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE BEEN SENDING STORIES to On Spec over the years know we were originally a "snail-mail manuscripts only" magazine, even when other publications were embracing the email submissions process. We read stories year-round, with arbitrary cut-off dates, after which we evaluated the stories received by the date, and held onto the others until after the next cut-off.

Then we changed, and opened the floodgates to email submissions. Stories began to arrive daily, and the numbers pretty much paralyzed us. So we closed the doors, until we had gone through a painfully long process of sorting, reading, evaluating and responding to about 400 manuscripts. In an attempt to manage things better, we next set an "open window" for receiving emailed stories. That seems to have worked best. In six weeks, we get around 300 submissions, and that is more manageable for the editors, most of whom have writing careers of their own, and families they'd like to see once in a while. We were using a dedicated gmail address, and were able to assign labels to the email submissions from authors, so that we more or less knew a current status of a story, or at least which editor was assigned to it.

We knew, but the authors didn't know.

So we also had to read and respond to those "did you get my story?" queries, and the "have you made a decision yet?" emails. Some months ago, we became aware of a rather elegant product, a manuscript submission manager called Submittable.com. For the current On Spec submission period, that is the process for sending us your work.  If you have used Submittable already, you know pretty much how it works.

Behind the scenes, we will still be dividing up the slush for editors to read, and we still have a six week window for sending us your work, after which the evaluation process will begin. Each editor becomes First Reader for a portion of the manuscripts received. Each editor is responsible for the rejection letters to authors of stories that don't make the first cut. Each editor will then identify the remaining stories in their batch, for reading by the other On Spec editors, and for eventual discussion at our Fight Night. Often we get together for a day to discuss the stories over coffee, tea, food and occasionally wine. We may also use other technology like Skype or Google hangouts, especially when weather and other commitments make travel difficult for some of us.

We can't promise any faster turnaround time for the manuscripts. Each editor devotes what time they can to this volunteer job, and we are grateful for the patience of our writers. If you submit your manuscript to us, you can check on its status from time to time, and you can be assured that we did receive it, and that it will be given a fair reading.

(THANKS, DIANE, AND ON A FINAL NOTE, I'd like to point out that although On Spec is required by its granting agencies to publish 60% Canadian work, we also receive and publish excellent work from writers all over the world. Which goes to show, great speculative fiction knows no boundaries. Happy writing everyone, and the best of luck. I'm looking forward to seeing what you've sent us in the slush. - Susan.)

PURE SPECULATION CONVENTION, HOW IT ALL GOT STARTED: GUEST POST by DIANE WALTON (Plus, the PANELS I'M ON, by Yours Truly....)

November 16-17, 2013

Ramada Conference Centre Edmonton

20,000 Leagues Under the Spec!

THIS WEEKEND, I'LL BE ATTENDING one of the annual SF conventions I never miss, the Pure Speculation Festival held every November, here in Edmonton. With Arthur Slade and Gail Carriger as our GoHs, I'm looking forward to it. I also want to credit Diane Walton, our Managing Editor of On Spec Magazine, for it was she who brought the literary side of the convention to life. I asked her to comment on Pure Spec's beginnings, why she got involved, and why she continues to be an instrumental force.

ON SPEC (and I) BECAME INVOLVED WITH THE PURE SPECULATION FESTIVAL as a vendor, the first year Pure Speculation ran in a huge, cold, hotel convention space. It had come to my attention through social media, although I did not know any of the organizers, especially Brent Jans, whose dream it was to revive the convention tradition in Edmonton. Back in the 1980's and 90's, I was heavily involved with the annual NonCon Science Fiction convention, and I made dozens of good and long-lasting friends, many of whom I would only see once a year. A new convention on the block was something I could welcome with open arms. I immediately offered our services to enhance a comics and gaming event with some literary content. On Spec had a moderate budget for marketing and promotions, and so we agreed to sponsor the festival by paying the costs to have a Canadian author guest. Pure Speculation operates on a sponsorship model, so a business, group, or individual who wants to have a specific guest is more than welcome to subsidize the travel and accommodation costs, and be included in the planning for the festival.

I head the team that decides on the Literary stream of Pure Speculation programming, and I have made a point of including members of the academic community as well as writers and poets. We are blessed in having a strong writing community in Edmonton, and it is fun to stretch them a bit by offering new challenges in programming topics. The joy of Pure Speculation is that we tackle topics ranging from the serious (racism and discrimination in the SF community), to the educational (panels about the techniques of genre writing), to the absolutely outrageous (great discussion about exactly how you'd get a woman's underwear off when writing a Victorian or Regency sex scene). Anything goes!

People who read and enjoy science fiction, fantasy, horror and the like, are often solitary in this pursuit, but nothing compares to the joy you find when you are in a room full of people who instantly know the answer to the Ultimate Question about Life, the Universe, and Everything. Cheers!

(Thanks, Diane. And if you'd like to read Diane's Bio, you can find the link to it here, on the post she wrote for Suzenyms on the Geek Girl Con held in Seattle.)

AS FOR ME, I'M ON THE FOLLOWING PANELS:

On Saturday, November 16th, at 3:15 PM: Writing Slipstream or Cross-Genre Fiction, with writers Marty Chan, Natasha Deen, and Sandra Wong.
On Sunday, November 17th, at 11:30 AM: Pure Spec Idol, with writers Billie Milholland, Barb Galler-Smith, and Sandra Wong.
...then on Sunday at 3:00 PM: Writing History Based Fantasy Fiction, with On Spec co-editors/writers Barb Galler-Smith and Ann Marston.

If I'm not participating in or attending a panel or reading, I'll be at the On Spec booth, where I'll be representing both On Spec and Five Rivers Publishing. Copies of The Tattooed Witch, among other Five Rivers' titles, will be available for purchase.

If you're attending Pure Spec, I hope to see you there!

REPORT ON GEEK GIRL CON: GUEST POST by DIANE L. WALTON

BEFORE SHE LEFT FOR SEATTLE, I ASKED DIANE WALTON if she'd kindly give me a report on her impressions of the Geek Girl Con which ran over the October 19/20th weekend. It sounds like a worthwhile and fascinating event, one that I'd  like to attend in the future. (For now, I'll content myself with living through her experience vicariously - but next year, who knows?)

IT HAS BEEN A FEW DAYS SINCE I RETURNED from my first Geek Girl Con, and my brain is still processing all the interesting and occasionally disturbing things I heard through the weekend. GGC was formed two years ago with a simple mandate - to support geeky women, with no need for anyone to have to prove their “geek cred”. 

 

Wait a minute. GEEK CRED? If you are not part of the community, this may not mean much to you. Here’s an example. Geeks are generally assumed to be young and male. But there are girls who identify as geeks too, lots of us, because we love the culture. Heck, I’ve been involved in the Science Fiction and Fantasy community since my first convention in 1978. I don’t ever remember a man or boy telling me that I was not geeky enough to belong to his precious club. If he had, I probably would have laughed out loud. Sadly, it isn’t a laughing matter now. 

Somehow, somewhere along the way, that boys’ club became a place where girls were not very welcome. Girls, it seems, were a threat when they wanted to play with the boys’ toys and games.  And then some guy named Tony Harris went on a Facebook rant in which he voiced his disdain for the women who attend the big comic expo events clad in the often scanty costume of a female comic superhero and they probably haven’t even read the comic! How dare they? How dare a person of colour dress as a white comic book or RPG character? How dare a woman want to enjoy an online role-playing game with men, without being subjected to rape jokes? How dare an Asian person NOT dress as someone from manga? How dare a woman cross-dress as a man in cosplay? How dare a female author write a story with a strong female protagonist who doesn’t need a man to rescue her? How dare a plus-size person cosplay as a superhero? There was a powerful moment during the Q&A at one panel, when a woman stood up and said something like,"I appreciate what you are all saying about women and gays and people of colour being harassed and how wrong it is, but what about the fat girls? We seem to be the only group that nobody jumps up to defend when we get ridiculed for a costume or just for our appearance." And these are all accusations fans and pros have faced, in person and on-line. "Don't be a jerk," was the strongest message of the weekend.

Nobody told me there’d be an entrance test. Nobody told me that my geek cred wasn’t sufficient to get the respect of those guys who paid their dues by buying and memorizing every available issue of The Walking Dead. Oh well. So it goes. 

But we are in the age of social media and instant communication, and oh yes, trolls. Anita Sarkeesian, one of the guests at Geek Girl Con, is an example of how ugly the backlash can be when someone muses that an examination of gender tropes  in video games just might be useful. 

Here are some of the panels I attended: Deconstructing the Mary Sue Myth; Labour of Love: Women Writing Transformative Works (referring to fan fiction, among others); Changing Culture in Mainstream and Alternative Spaces; Creating Inclusiveness in the Geek Community; Towards a Universe of Equals: Gender Equality, Past, Present and Future; Fan Studies: Academic Studies of Fandom; Comedy as a Tool of Social Change; Bullying and Cosplay; Feminism and Pop Culture; and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Fan Phenomena.  There were at least a dozen more sessions I could have gone to, but cloning was not an option. 

All in all, I applaud the organizers for putting on such a powerful and uplifting weekend event, which brought together such a diverse bunch of people often marginalized by the gatekeepers of popular culture. Not just women, but people of colour, people in the LGBTQ community, cross-dressing cosplayers—all have experienced their own personal brushes with ignorance, fear, and hatred from the so-called “real” geeks. Oh yeah, and the “old white guys”, to quote one woman at a panel, who was talking about trying to inject some new ideas into a traditional SF convention in her home city. One panelist spoke of starting a gaming convention specifically for LGBTQ gamers. When he was criticized for creating this ghetto, and told he should stay with the bigger conventions and try to make change from within, he simply said, “Why can’t I do both?” 

And that is where Geek Girl Con comes in. I am willing to bet that many of those young women I saw last weekend will also go to a Comic Con, or a Gaming convention where they may face harassment, ridicule, or worse. I am also willing to bet they will be much stronger for having spent a weekend with 4,000 avowed feminists at a convention made just for them.

The Doubleclicks were part of the featured entertainment, and they closed the weekend with this lovely anthem for geeks. Repeat after me: I've Got Nothing to Prove. 

 

Diane's Bio: Diane Walton currently serves as Managing Editor for On Spec, and coordinates the Literary stream of programming for the Pure Speculation festival in Edmonton. She's been attending conventions since 1978, and is  proud to be both a feminist and a geek. She also seems to be a magnet for stray cats, but hopes to never be a Crazy Cat Lady.

(Thanks, Diane. I definitely want to go next year.)