3 ms·

Never heard of any of those authors. Is this the year's best ideas, or just the ones for which an unknown aggregator could get republication rights?

IvyMike 1y ago
I'm so happy that you get to discover Greg Egan. If you can find a copy of Axiomatic, start there.
gsf_emergency_4 1y ago
Greg Egan? I've heard of Lance, another scientist-writer of the same mold https://www.bayviewmagazine.com/article/2024/06/write-what-you-care-about https://www.bayviewmagazine.com/article/2024/06/write-what-y...
- KingFelix 1y ago
  Egan has some pretty awesome books, I've read Permutation City and Axiomatic both pretty great.
mojoe 1y ago
Hi, I'm the editor, I chose the stories. I read 391 short science fiction stories published last year (all the stories in the big science fiction magazines and a few smaller ones), and selected these sixteen. None of the authors I reached out to refused to sell me reprint rights, so there was no bottleneck there. I'm a software engineer who enjoys near-future concept-driven science fiction, so if that's not your thing then you might not agree with my choices. The stories I look for are the ones where I think "wow, this contains ideas that reflect something interesting about reality".
- micheles 1y ago
  I like far-future concept-driven science fiction, is there something for me too?
  - adaml_623 1y ago
    That would be in, "The Year 3000's Best SciFi Ideas"
  - mojoe 1y ago
    There are only two stories in the collection that feel a little further out: "Best Practices for Safe Asteroid Handling" by David W. Goodman feels like a smart, polished successor to golden age space opera, it's set in a future where the solar system is colonized, but not thousands of years out. Grant Collier's "The Best Version of Yourself" is also not set very far into the future, but it's a kind of post-human future so it might have far-future vibes for you. This specific story is actually available free online, so you don't have to purchase the anthology to read it: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/collier_07_24/ https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/collier_07_24/
- babelfish 1y ago
  Out of curiosity, how do reprint rights work? I assume you give each author some percentage of the proceeds of the book? I purchased the DRM-free epub :-)
  - mojoe 1y ago
    Thanks! I pay a fixed rate up-front for reprint rights, which is a one-time deal. This is mostly because pro rata royalties on an anthology are a pain (I've done this before, it involves sending out lots of tiny single-digit-dollar checks), but also because it's unlikely for me to make back the money I spend on anthology creation (science fiction short stories are a tiny market). This is a hobby project for me, I'm obsessed with trying to get more people to read science fiction short stories. I spent about $6k creating the anthology (to pay for cover art, reprint rights, proof prints, etc), and I'll probably recoup about half of what I spent? We'll see, I'm currently testing various marketing strategies.
    - atlasunshrugged 1y ago
      This is really amazing, thank you for taking the time and spending the resources to share these stories!
    - KingFelix 1y ago
      This is really amazing, I was daydreaming recently and thought how cool it would be to create something like that. I am glad that you've taken the initiative to get it going. Looks awesome will check it out, love Greg Bear too, just recommended Blood Music to a good friend.
    - robocat 1y ago
      Do you have a link to how we can donate to you or a project you are part of? I likely won't get the book (space issues).
      - mojoe 1y ago
        Thank you for offering, but I don't have any channel for donations -- I'm grateful that my software work enables me do projects like this without worrying too much about the funding part.
howdyhowdy123 1y ago
Not even Greg Egan? He's pretty popular.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
jgon 1y ago
One of the short stories in this collection "Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid In the Omelas Hole" by Isabel J. Kim, won the BSFA award for short fiction, the Locus award for Best Short Story, the Nebula award for Best Short Story, and was nominated for a Hugo for Best Short Story. So I think that should pretty firmly answer your question on the relative quality of the works included.
- attentive 1y ago
  I guess the reason it won all those awards is the same reason I dislike it as much. It's more of a political pamphlet than a sci-fi. Definitely far from "Best SciFi Ideas".
Scarblac 1y ago
Greg Egan at least is well known in hard science fiction and frequently mentioned on HN.

IvyMike 1y ago

I'm so happy that you get to discover Greg Egan. If you can find a copy of Axiomatic, start there.

gsf_emergency_4 1y ago

Greg Egan? I've heard of Lance, another scientist-writer of the same mold https://www.bayviewmagazine.com/article/2024/06/write-what-you-care-about https://www.bayviewmagazine.com/article/2024/06/write-what-y...

KingFelix 1y ago
Egan has some pretty awesome books, I've read Permutation City and Axiomatic both pretty great.

mojoe 1y ago

Hi, I'm the editor, I chose the stories. I read 391 short science fiction stories published last year (all the stories in the big science fiction magazines and a few smaller ones), and selected these sixteen. None of the authors I reached out to refused to sell me reprint rights, so there was no bottleneck there. I'm a software engineer who enjoys near-future concept-driven science fiction, so if that's not your thing then you might not agree with my choices. The stories I look for are the ones where I think "wow, this contains ideas that reflect something interesting about reality".

micheles 1y ago
I like far-future concept-driven science fiction, is there something for me too?
- adaml_623 1y ago
  That would be in, "The Year 3000's Best SciFi Ideas"
- mojoe 1y ago
  There are only two stories in the collection that feel a little further out: "Best Practices for Safe Asteroid Handling" by David W. Goodman feels like a smart, polished successor to golden age space opera, it's set in a future where the solar system is colonized, but not thousands of years out. Grant Collier's "The Best Version of Yourself" is also not set very far into the future, but it's a kind of post-human future so it might have far-future vibes for you. This specific story is actually available free online, so you don't have to purchase the anthology to read it: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/collier_07_24/ https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/collier_07_24/
babelfish 1y ago
Out of curiosity, how do reprint rights work? I assume you give each author some percentage of the proceeds of the book? I purchased the DRM-free epub :-)
- mojoe 1y ago
  Thanks! I pay a fixed rate up-front for reprint rights, which is a one-time deal. This is mostly because pro rata royalties on an anthology are a pain (I've done this before, it involves sending out lots of tiny single-digit-dollar checks), but also because it's unlikely for me to make back the money I spend on anthology creation (science fiction short stories are a tiny market). This is a hobby project for me, I'm obsessed with trying to get more people to read science fiction short stories. I spent about $6k creating the anthology (to pay for cover art, reprint rights, proof prints, etc), and I'll probably recoup about half of what I spent? We'll see, I'm currently testing various marketing strategies.
  - atlasunshrugged 1y ago
    This is really amazing, thank you for taking the time and spending the resources to share these stories!
  - KingFelix 1y ago
    This is really amazing, I was daydreaming recently and thought how cool it would be to create something like that. I am glad that you've taken the initiative to get it going. Looks awesome will check it out, love Greg Bear too, just recommended Blood Music to a good friend.
  - robocat 1y ago
    Do you have a link to how we can donate to you or a project you are part of? I likely won't get the book (space issues).
    - mojoe 1y ago
      Thank you for offering, but I don't have any channel for donations -- I'm grateful that my software work enables me do projects like this without worrying too much about the funding part.

howdyhowdy123 1y ago

Not even Greg Egan? He's pretty popular.

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

jgon 1y ago

One of the short stories in this collection "Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid In the Omelas Hole" by Isabel J. Kim, won the BSFA award for short fiction, the Locus award for Best Short Story, the Nebula award for Best Short Story, and was nominated for a Hugo for Best Short Story. So I think that should pretty firmly answer your question on the relative quality of the works included.

attentive 1y ago
I guess the reason it won all those awards is the same reason I dislike it as much. It's more of a political pamphlet than a sci-fi. Definitely far from "Best SciFi Ideas".

Scarblac 1y ago

Greg Egan at least is well known in hard science fiction and frequently mentioned on HN.