I am good friends with World Fantasy Award winning editor and independent press publisher Alisa Krasnostein. I’ve followed her work since she started publishing and have been deeply impressed by her energy, her commitment and her good taste in fiction.  That’s why I was excited to hear that she was joining up with Julia Rios to co-edit and publish Kaleidoscope: Diverse YA Fantasy.

Alisa and Julia’s goal is to publish an anthology of great YA fantasy fiction created by a truly diverse range of writers that presents a range of viewpoints and experiences that more closely match the rainbow coloured world we live: one that encompasses as many viewpoints and character types as possible.

To help with publishing this important book Alisa and Julia are running a Pozzible campaign to help raise the money to pay writers full professional rates and to create the kind of physical book that this project deserves.

If you love fantasy, if you love YA Fiction, if you think we need a broader range of voices heard in science fiction and fantasy, please consider supporting the campaign. Every little bit helps.

Well, not so much rivers as airport lounges. In nine days I fly out for Brighton and the World Fantasy Convention. There’s a relatively short five or so hour long hop to Singapore and then the biggie to London. I’m flying Singapore Airlines and, as long as I can finagle an empty seat I’ll be fine.  And then London. It should be enormous fun, and World Fantasy itself looks great. I can’t wait.

Between now and then I have a lot to do. I am late on delivering one project, and need to get some more done on the “best of the year” before heading off. There is SO much reading to do that it’s sort of mindboggling and numbing.  I also need to edit a batch of Locus columns, read stories, contract some things and so on. Lots and lots to do.

About a month ago Ellen Klages and Andy Duncan were kind enough to appear as guests on the Coode Street Podcast. We had a lively and engaging discussion about writing, publishing and collaborating. A significant portion of the discussion centered around the publication of their forthcoming Tor.com novella, “Wakulla Springs“.

Well, the story is set to be published in early October, but you can pre-order the ebook now (for $1.99).

Tor.com has been doing an incredible job with the artwork it’s provided for their short fiction, and the art for “Wakulla Springs” is no exception. My hat’s off to Irene Gallo.  My only regret with this one is that there isn’t going to be a print version of what looks to be a truly lovely package.

Last weekend I sat in on a discussion with Malcolm Edwards and David G. Hartwell about science fiction, publishing and editing. It’ll form the basis of an upcoming episode of the Coode Street Podcast, and I strongly recommend it. We can give too much attention to the aging white male demographic in SF, but these two men really have achieved remarkable things and lived through fascinating times. The editors of The Shadow of the Torturer, Mythago Wood, Empire of the Sun, Neuromancer, and many, many more: iconic books that evoke worlds when you hear their titles mentioned.

During the discussion, Malcolm and David touch on how difficult it can be for a writer to make their living from writing SF in 2013. David mentions that for a long period of time there were possibly five people in the field making a full-time living from writing SF, and that we may be returning to those days. Publishing is sufficiently complex that I don’t know if that will prove to be true or not, but I was struck by David’s comment that at one time writing SF was a holy mission, a passion that drove writers, almost regardless of economic benefits (or the lack thereof). And I wondered, is that still true for writers today? I think it is, I suspect it is, and I bet I could point to a number of writers for whom I believe it is true, but I think I want to find out. I’m considering doing a new limited series of short interviews/podcasts to ask that very question: why do you write SF and do you feel a burning passion to do so? I think the answers would be fascinating…

Frederik Pohl has died. If you’re reading this and wonder why this is important, there’s a clue or two here. Pohl started publishing in 1937, attended the first Worldcon in 1939, and was part of pretty much everything interesting in science fiction for the next 60 years.

As a writer he co-wrote some of the best satire the field has seen with C.M. Kornbluth, and one of the greatest space adventures too. His fiction was sharp and smart and dark and sometimes sly.  There’s a taste of what he could do in his short fiction. He was also an incredible editor, editing Galaxy and If magazines, the influential Star anthology series and novels like Samuel R. Delany’s Dhalgren and Joanna Russ’s The Female Man. He  was instrumental in publishing Cordwainer Smith, R.A. Lafferty and many others. Pohl was an influential literary agent, a Hugo Award winning blogger, and even wrote for the Encyclopedia Brittanica back when that really meant something.

I had a chance to talk to Pohl once. I was at the launch for Scot Edelman’s SF Age at the 1993 WorldCon in San Francisco. The event was held in a large room with big circular ottomans that people were sitting on.  I was sitting on one with Jeremy Byrne, when I noticed an elderly couple sitting on the other side of the ottoman (about six or eight feet away). It was Pohl. I was so overcome I couldn’t say anything. I remember whispering in an awed voice to Jeremy “that’s Fred Pohl!”. I couldn’t imagine actually talking to him. I wish I had, because then I could have thanked him for the many hours of pleasure his work gave me, how much I’d loved The Space Merchants and Gateway and Man Plus and The Years of the City. It’s a mistake I won’t make again.

My old friend Charles Brown said the thing that made Fred Pohl so impressive was that he constantly interested in and engaged by the world. He travelled extensively, often with Charles, and that was reflected in his work. With his passing, I think the first great Golden Age of Science Fiction has finally ended. Vale.