There is exactly one reprint in my forthcoming anthology, The Starry Rift. The first reason that there is a reprint in the book is that I was desperate to get a new story from Cory Doctorow, and he just didn’t have time to write a new one for me. The second is that it’s perfect for the book in a whole bunch of different ways.

The story, which has gone on to fame and fortune, is Anda’s Game. It is, as Cory himself describes it, “a riff on the way that property-rights are coming to games, and on the bizarre spectacle of sweat-shops in which children are paid to play the game all day in order to generate eBay-able game-wealth.” It is also a response of sorts to Orson Scott Card’s very famous “Ender’s Game”, and is a terrific story.

The story was originally published on Salon, and you can still read it there. Cory has also had it recorded by Alice Taylor of Wonderland as podcast. The story is told from the point of view of a young English girl, and Alice is perfect to read it. It is my favorite podcast ever. You can list to it here. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

I don’t know when or where I first encountered The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. It was some time in the early 1980s, though. F&SF was one of the few science fiction or fantasy magazines you could buy on the newsstands here in Perth, Western Australia and I searched the few newsagents who carried it regularly for the latest issue. It never occurred to me to subscribe to the magazine and, even though I’ve bought every issue since January of 1987, I’ve either done so from a local newsagent or from Slow Glass Books in Melbourne.

Although it seems odd now, what got me buying F&SF initially wasn’t the great fiction. I bought it for Algis Budrys’s book reviews and for Harlan Ellison’s film reviews. I found the former fascinating and the latter hilarious. Somewhere along the way, I did read the fiction, of course.  How could I not? Looking back to the May 1986 issue, then editor Ed Ferman was featuring Brad Denton, Stan Robinson, and Michael Shea in one issue, and followed it with Jim Kelly and Michael Bishop. These were the writers I wanted to be reading.

There’s no doubt that the magazine has had an enormous impact on my reading and my reading tastes over the past 25 years. As it has changed editors, moving from Ferman to Rusch to Van Gelder, it has changed and I’ve moved with it. It’s still the first fiction magazine I look for every month, still the one I’m happiest to see drop into my email inbox. And it’s more than just an old friend. I’m still discovering or rediscovering writers in its pages and, for me at least, it’s as vital as ever.

Why mention this now? Well, first of all, I would always encourage Coode Street’s readers to subscribe to the the magazine (I know, but I get it every month and this is the cheapest way to get it). The other reason is that over on the Night Shade Boards Gordon has made an offer to bloggers. Be amongst the first fifty to blog about F&SF, and he’ll send you a free copy of the July issue of the magazine. Now, me, I don’t need a copy. I buy it anyway, and he emails it to me, so I’ve seen the issue. This one has great stories by Ysabeau Wilce, Terry Bisson, Matt Hughes and (best of all) my friend and others. Go check it out, blog, get a copy, read the magazine, and support it.  It’s been going since 1949, and it’s still the most contemporary magazine out there.

So, in May 1986 – on the 5th of May 1986 to be precise – I started what was just my second full-time job after finishing university. I’d put about six months into managing a record store, while also re-stocking shelves in a grocery store chain at night, but that came to a sudden unexpected end in late April. During my last year at university a friend had persuaded me to go along to a public service recruiting thing, and I signed up and did some kind of test (I guess, I don’t really remember). I then was called in for an interview in mid-March. I didn’t think much of it. A day or two after being layed off by the record store, I got a call from someone in the public service saying, ‘We’d like you to start Monday. You’ll be working for the Department of Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare’. Huh? Ok, I thought. It’s a three month contract. It’ll do till a real job comes along.

Twenty years later, today, I’m still waiting.

Simon Brown’s first published story “The Return of Idomenus” was the start of an ambitious project to re-tell the Iliad in a cycle of science fiction and fantasy stories. Twenty five years later that project was completed with the publication of Troy by Ticonderoga Publications.

The book is one of the highlights of the Australian publishing year, an essential addition to any library of good science fiction and fantasy. At the moment, you can either buy it from somewhere like the Australian Online Bookshop or from the publisher.

In the meantime, if you’re not familiar with Simon’s Troy, you can sample some of the stories here:

• “A New Song For Odysseus”,
• “Why My Wife Left Me, And Other Stories, By Diomedes”,
• The Dreaming Seas Beneath Cassandra and
• The Mark of Thetis

Be sure to buy a copy. It’s a fine small press title, and won’t last long. And yes, he really does look a bit like Clark Kent. Oh, and if you’re feeling inspired, you can go read the original too.

…thing ever! I thought Robert Sabuda’s Dinosaur pop-book from last year was cool. I was even getting into the whole idea that the new book on Prehistoric Sharks that he has coming out was cool. But then I went to his website, and found this! A Maurice Sendak pop-up book tribute to ’30s Movie Monsters. That is almost too cool to imagine. Don’t know when it’s coming out or anything, but click on the link above and check out some of the draft work that’s been done. Awesome!