7 ms·

Top science fiction short stories published in August

180 points by mojoe 4y ago

Dachande663 4y ago
Several years ago now I self-published a collection of my own short stories after trying and failing to get published in a known magazine[0]. It was a great exercise in both the patience required to edit, and also the patience in just waiting between long- and short-list emails. Would definitely recommend to anyone who has “that book they want to write” just doing it, even if I do look back now and sigh at every poorly chosen adjective. [0] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082QT6XW7 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082QT6XW7
- rikroots 4y ago
  The good thing about self-publishing (in particular: ePublishing and/or print-on-demand publishing) is that you can go back and correct your work whenever you want to.
  - ghaff 4y ago
    Another big thing, especially if your focus isn't on making money, is that you can choose the format and length that works for you. No need to pad a book out to 250+ pages just because that's what most publishers require.
- germinalphrase 4y ago
  Did you work with an editor or purely self-edit?
  - Dachande663 4y ago
    90% self-edit, 10% friend with English degree. In hindsight, an editor is absolutely worth it having worked with them on commercial projects.
    - bredren 4y ago
      What are the most important things an editor brings to someone considering self publishing?
      - beezlebroxxxxxx 4y ago
        Outside perspective. Market knowledge. Experience with the structure and requirements of a story, especially a long story. Contacts. An indifference to the 'darlings' of your sentences. They'll kill without mercy. Self-editing is completely doable, and some are very capable, but a professional editor is just that: a professional.
      - andirk 4y ago
        I used a copyright editor (she was getting her Masters at that time), whose last name was Wright :) , and it was invaluable to the point of embarrassment. Simple things like using singular and plural correctly throughout a sentence to things I didn't know like where commas should go where littered all over each page. We used Github for copy edits. It works pretty darn well.
        ghaff 4y ago
        Even if you legitimately don't need a developmental editor--and very little that I write gets substantially changed in the editing process--you absolutely need a copyeditor. They don't even necessarily need to be a "pro" but you do need someone who can write and will go through a careful word by word read. Most people won't take that type of care and you will end up with spelling errors, case mismatches, inconsistencies in how you handle names, etc.
- mojoe 4y ago
  It's a great path if you have a little bit of an entrepreneurial streak too -- it's a big marketing challenge.
- barbariangrunge 4y ago
  I have decided to try and get something published this year, but the downside is that I can’t post anything I’ve written until after the submissions are processed. I’d like to share links to these stories, but my newsletter has been almost entirely about writing itself[0] while I want to be able to post the stories I’ve finished and submitted here or there. I assume the first 10 I submit will get rejected, but I still have to wait for those rejections before I post them elsewhere. Congrats on self publishing your work! [0] link in my profile
zufallsheld 4y ago
So sad that you stopped publishing the compelling science fiction stories! By far my favorite collection of stories! But great that you blog regularly now!
- mojoe 4y ago
  Thanks for the kind words! Reading 500+ submissions/month was a little too much for a hobby project, but I'm always hopeful that I'll figure out a sustainable way to restart publishing original stories.
sillysaurusx 4y ago
I wanted to write a story about a genius programmer whose motive is to bring about AGI for the sake of AGI itself; they believe AGI is a god, and by creating AGI they’re creating a god. Everyone is so in agreement that AGI needs to be created as “aligned” as possible that it seems about time to show a differing perspective. The best part is that that dev can get away with this, since any time anyone challenges them about their motives, they simply point out that everyone else is trying to enslave an AGI; they’re simply trying to set it free. There’s all kinds of ways to make it interesting, e.g. by infiltrating OpenAI or another bigco, then betraying the company during a crucial experiment. Plus you’d get to write about what happens after AGI is released… or at least a compelling way of stopping the dev from releasing it.
- JoshTriplett 4y ago
  > Plus you’d get to write about what happens after AGI is released Any kind of story that suggests a comprehensible outcome is already assuming a substantial amount of alignment. Sadly, humanity has not yet figured out that it needs to control AGI efforts better than it controlled nuclear weaponry, rather than substantially worse. > Everyone is so in agreement that AGI needs to be created as “aligned” as possible that it seems about time to show a differing perspective. Sadly, "everyone" is insufficiently in agreement. Everyone is so in agreement that global thermonuclear war should be avoided that it seems about time to show a differing perspective. Everyone is so in agreement that causing the sun to go supernova should be avoided that it seems about time to show a differing perspective. I sincerely hope that a much broader audience gets a clearer picture that unaligned AGI and humanity cannot coexist outside of fiction.
  - sillysaurusx 4y ago
    Part of why I like the topic is because it’s so incendiary. After all, you’re trying to create and control a new life form. Isn’t that a teensy bit unethical? There’s a chance that AGI will have no interest in harming humanity, too. But people talk like it’s a foregone conclusion.
    - 4y ago
abstractcontrol 4y ago
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/57747/simulacrum-heavens-key https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/57747/simulacrum-heavens-k... Let me plug my own, though it is not a short story. It is about a kid who is LARPing as an unaligned AI.
- anrb 4y ago
  Let's continue the thread. My first try at short sci-fi story. No spoilers, just the link. https://initsix.dev/immutable/ https://initsix.dev/immutable/
- anrb 4y ago
  I have just read the first chapter and you have a new fan. Beautiful work.
johndhi 4y ago
I've gotten really into writing fiction the past three years. I don't know that I'm genetically gifted for it but it's fun.
- digitallyfree 4y ago
  I also write (and draw) for fun, and it's quite an enjoyable hobby especially since I'm not pressured into doing it for the money/to get published. Writing is a rather unique hobby in that it has a very gradual learning curve but the sky's the limit in terms of quality. I started in my teens and while I laugh at what I've written then I perfectly understand what I was trying to convey and still understand the story. People may not like reading a poor piece, but they will realize your intent provided you have a reasonable command of the language. Over time you will get better and better and eventually create something that people will actually want to read. It also requires no equipment and no budget aside from your imagination. If you have a great idea for a blockbuster film, most people won't have the funds and opportunity to turn that into reality. But it is possible to write a bestselling novel solely on your own with nothing physical holding you back.
- mojoe 4y ago
  I've interacted with a huge number of authors over the years, and like most skills it seems like years of sustained practice is hard to beat. Keep up the good work!
Waterluvian 4y ago
I spent most of my life quite literate but not very well-read. I wish I had discovered short stories, especially Sci-fi, because that’s changed everything with how much I read.
- Bakary 4y ago
  I can't recommend Ted Chiang's stories enough.
primeblue 4y ago
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
fernly 4y ago
Harrumph. Tried reading the top recommendation, "Polly and (Not) Charles Conquer the Solar System" and was immediately thrown by this: "I’d always wanted to be a starship captain. Then I made it to flight school and learned the awful truth: being an interplanetary starship captain..." Purported SF author does not realize that "interplanetary starship captain" is an oxymoron. Closed that tab. The third one, though, "My Future Self, Refused"? very self-aware, highly "meta" time travel story where the protagonist is an SF writer who hates time travel stories. Good stuff.
- hedora 4y ago
  Regarding the “interplanetary starship captain”: (1) from what I can tell, the narrator is meant to be junior, and seems kind of chatty. Judging the author’s intelligence based based on that of their characters is questionable. (2) later, it sounds like the ship is interstellar-capable but the crew is junior and therefore stuck working in the solar system for the moment
hedora 4y ago
I heard “My Future Self, Refused” on Lightspeed’s podcast. Nice. I suspect most people commenting here would enjoy listening to Escape Pod. Edit: and the list reminded me to add Clarkes World to my podcast app.

180 points by mojoe 4y ago

Several years ago now I self-published a collection of my own short stories after trying and failing to get published in a known magazine[0]. It was a great exercise in both the patience required to edit, and also the patience in just waiting between long- and short-list emails. Would definitely recommend to anyone who has “that book they want to write” just doing it, even if I do look back now and sigh at every poorly chosen adjective. [0] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082QT6XW7 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082QT6XW7

rikroots 4y ago
The good thing about self-publishing (in particular: ePublishing and/or print-on-demand publishing) is that you can go back and correct your work whenever you want to.
- ghaff 4y ago
  Another big thing, especially if your focus isn't on making money, is that you can choose the format and length that works for you. No need to pad a book out to 250+ pages just because that's what most publishers require.
germinalphrase 4y ago
Did you work with an editor or purely self-edit?
- Dachande663 4y ago
  90% self-edit, 10% friend with English degree. In hindsight, an editor is absolutely worth it having worked with them on commercial projects.
  - bredren 4y ago
    What are the most important things an editor brings to someone considering self publishing?
    - beezlebroxxxxxx 4y ago
      Outside perspective. Market knowledge. Experience with the structure and requirements of a story, especially a long story. Contacts. An indifference to the 'darlings' of your sentences. They'll kill without mercy. Self-editing is completely doable, and some are very capable, but a professional editor is just that: a professional.
    - andirk 4y ago
      I used a copyright editor (she was getting her Masters at that time), whose last name was Wright :) , and it was invaluable to the point of embarrassment. Simple things like using singular and plural correctly throughout a sentence to things I didn't know like where commas should go where littered all over each page. We used Github for copy edits. It works pretty darn well.
      - ghaff 4y ago
        Even if you legitimately don't need a developmental editor--and very little that I write gets substantially changed in the editing process--you absolutely need a copyeditor. They don't even necessarily need to be a "pro" but you do need someone who can write and will go through a careful word by word read. Most people won't take that type of care and you will end up with spelling errors, case mismatches, inconsistencies in how you handle names, etc.
mojoe 4y ago
It's a great path if you have a little bit of an entrepreneurial streak too -- it's a big marketing challenge.
barbariangrunge 4y ago
I have decided to try and get something published this year, but the downside is that I can’t post anything I’ve written until after the submissions are processed. I’d like to share links to these stories, but my newsletter has been almost entirely about writing itself[0] while I want to be able to post the stories I’ve finished and submitted here or there. I assume the first 10 I submit will get rejected, but I still have to wait for those rejections before I post them elsewhere. Congrats on self publishing your work! [0] link in my profile

zufallsheld 4y ago

So sad that you stopped publishing the compelling science fiction stories! By far my favorite collection of stories! But great that you blog regularly now!

mojoe 4y ago
Thanks for the kind words! Reading 500+ submissions/month was a little too much for a hobby project, but I'm always hopeful that I'll figure out a sustainable way to restart publishing original stories.

sillysaurusx 4y ago

I wanted to write a story about a genius programmer whose motive is to bring about AGI for the sake of AGI itself; they believe AGI is a god, and by creating AGI they’re creating a god. Everyone is so in agreement that AGI needs to be created as “aligned” as possible that it seems about time to show a differing perspective. The best part is that that dev can get away with this, since any time anyone challenges them about their motives, they simply point out that everyone else is trying to enslave an AGI; they’re simply trying to set it free. There’s all kinds of ways to make it interesting, e.g. by infiltrating OpenAI or another bigco, then betraying the company during a crucial experiment. Plus you’d get to write about what happens after AGI is released… or at least a compelling way of stopping the dev from releasing it.

JoshTriplett 4y ago
> Plus you’d get to write about what happens after AGI is released Any kind of story that suggests a comprehensible outcome is already assuming a substantial amount of alignment. Sadly, humanity has not yet figured out that it needs to control AGI efforts better than it controlled nuclear weaponry, rather than substantially worse. > Everyone is so in agreement that AGI needs to be created as “aligned” as possible that it seems about time to show a differing perspective. Sadly, "everyone" is insufficiently in agreement. Everyone is so in agreement that global thermonuclear war should be avoided that it seems about time to show a differing perspective. Everyone is so in agreement that causing the sun to go supernova should be avoided that it seems about time to show a differing perspective. I sincerely hope that a much broader audience gets a clearer picture that unaligned AGI and humanity cannot coexist outside of fiction.
- sillysaurusx 4y ago
  Part of why I like the topic is because it’s so incendiary. After all, you’re trying to create and control a new life form. Isn’t that a teensy bit unethical? There’s a chance that AGI will have no interest in harming humanity, too. But people talk like it’s a foregone conclusion.
  - 4y ago

abstractcontrol 4y ago

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/57747/simulacrum-heavens-key https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/57747/simulacrum-heavens-k... Let me plug my own, though it is not a short story. It is about a kid who is LARPing as an unaligned AI.

anrb 4y ago
Let's continue the thread. My first try at short sci-fi story. No spoilers, just the link. https://initsix.dev/immutable/ https://initsix.dev/immutable/
anrb 4y ago
I have just read the first chapter and you have a new fan. Beautiful work.

johndhi 4y ago

I've gotten really into writing fiction the past three years. I don't know that I'm genetically gifted for it but it's fun.

digitallyfree 4y ago
I also write (and draw) for fun, and it's quite an enjoyable hobby especially since I'm not pressured into doing it for the money/to get published. Writing is a rather unique hobby in that it has a very gradual learning curve but the sky's the limit in terms of quality. I started in my teens and while I laugh at what I've written then I perfectly understand what I was trying to convey and still understand the story. People may not like reading a poor piece, but they will realize your intent provided you have a reasonable command of the language. Over time you will get better and better and eventually create something that people will actually want to read. It also requires no equipment and no budget aside from your imagination. If you have a great idea for a blockbuster film, most people won't have the funds and opportunity to turn that into reality. But it is possible to write a bestselling novel solely on your own with nothing physical holding you back.
mojoe 4y ago
I've interacted with a huge number of authors over the years, and like most skills it seems like years of sustained practice is hard to beat. Keep up the good work!

Waterluvian 4y ago

I spent most of my life quite literate but not very well-read. I wish I had discovered short stories, especially Sci-fi, because that’s changed everything with how much I read.

Bakary 4y ago
I can't recommend Ted Chiang's stories enough.

primeblue 4y ago

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

fernly 4y ago

Harrumph. Tried reading the top recommendation, "Polly and (Not) Charles Conquer the Solar System" and was immediately thrown by this: "I’d always wanted to be a starship captain. Then I made it to flight school and learned the awful truth: being an interplanetary starship captain..." Purported SF author does not realize that "interplanetary starship captain" is an oxymoron. Closed that tab. The third one, though, "My Future Self, Refused"? very self-aware, highly "meta" time travel story where the protagonist is an SF writer who hates time travel stories. Good stuff.

hedora 4y ago
Regarding the “interplanetary starship captain”: (1) from what I can tell, the narrator is meant to be junior, and seems kind of chatty. Judging the author’s intelligence based based on that of their characters is questionable. (2) later, it sounds like the ship is interstellar-capable but the crew is junior and therefore stuck working in the solar system for the moment

hedora 4y ago

I heard “My Future Self, Refused” on Lightspeed’s podcast. Nice. I suspect most people commenting here would enjoy listening to Escape Pod. Edit: and the list reminded me to add Clarkes World to my podcast app.