As I write this, it is the middle of July, which of course means that the September 1998 ANALOG is about to hit the stores. And in it is my latest novelette, "Absent Friends." This story is the sequel to my current Hugo nominee, "Broken Symmetry." As I mentioned before, this story is about a high school teacher, Jack Levinson, who jumps through a Gate to a parallel universe to find another version of his best friend, fellow teacher Daniel Strock (who died in an explosion in the first story). What I didn't know until now (because I hadn't seen the issue) is that the interior art accompanying the story is fantastic. It's by Randy Asplund-Faith, the same artist who illustrated "Broken Symmetry." It shows the Gate in the background, and the warping effect it has on Jack as he passes through it with a photograph of Daniel.
I'm really pleased by this story, and I hope you will be too.
Next month, Bucconeer, the current World Science Fiction Convention, will be publishing a Guest of Honor book, and as I mentioned before, one of the stories in that book will be my collaboration with Stanley Schmidt, "The Parallels of Penzance." For those of you going to Worldcon, you will be able to buy a copy of the book there. As for those of you not going, I'm still not sure how available the book will be. I'm presuming that they'll let people order copies after the convention is over, since I doubt that they'll sell out (even though it's a limited run). I'll try to have details in August, which I'll post to this list.
However, I'm also willing to try an experiment. If anyone out there is desperately interested in getting a copy of the book, let me know and I'll try to pick one up for you at Worldcon. There's going to be a $25 hardcover and a $10 softcover version (from what I last knew), so be sure to let me know which one you'd like me to get. I will have to ask you to pay me back on the cost of buying and mailing the book.
Conversely, anyone who wishes to contct Bucconeer directly and ask them about the availability of the Guest of Honor Book after the convention has my blessing.
I should also note that from what I understand, "Nor Through Inaction," my collaboration with Shamus-nominated writer Charles Ardai, will be in the October 1998 ANALOG. That's right; for those of you keeping track at home, I'm having four stories in a row in ANALOG. Of course, that burns my current inventory, but it still suggests that you might want to consider getting a subscription, since most of my short fiction will probably continue to appear in ANALOG. If you want more infomation about the magazine, by the way, do check out their website, at http://www.analogsf.com.
* Bucconeer, the 56th World Science Fiction Convention (Baltimore, MD, August 5-9, 1998; http://bucconeer.worldcon.org)
Not only will I be at Bucconeer, but I now have a preliminary panel schedule, which I figured I would share with all of you. Keep in mind that the schedules do sometimes change before the convention, so if you are actually looking for me at Bucconeer, you might want to check the program book at con. Where to find me at Bucconeer:
----------
8/5/98 1:00 PM Reading
Burstein, Michael A.
----------
8/6/98 10:00 AM Kaffeeklatch
Burstein, Michael A.
Levinson, Paul
----------
8/6/98 1:00 PM "What is SFWA?"
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America... What do they do? Who do they do it for? Why should you care? Come hear the all the secret pro stuff.
Participants:
Burstein, Michael A.
Capobianco, Michael
Crispin, A. C.
Lee, Sharon
Sawyer, Robert J. (m)
Strock, Ian Randal
----------
8/7/98 11:00 AM "Using SF to Teach Science"
Teaching science to Middle through High School, and how to use SF to help.
Participants:
Brett-Surman, Dr. Michael K.
Burstein, Michael A.
Clement, Hal
Heyer, Inge
Olson, Priscilla (m)
----------
8/7/98 1:00 PM "Extrapolating Known Science into Science Fiction"
Science fiction stories often break the known laws of physics. The keyword is "known," for today's science fiction can become tomorrow's reality. While it is true that no law of physics should get in the way of a good story, often the most interesting stories use speculative physics which can not be easily dismissed as nonsense.
Participants:
Burstein, Michael A.
Kofoed, Karl
Kratz, Dave
Miller, Ron
Strock, Ian Randal (m)
----------
8/7/98 8:00 PM Hugo Awards
The Science Fiction Achievement Awards are fandom's highest honor to thosewho create the work welove. Come join us in celebrating the best of our field.
----------
8/8/98 2:00 PM "How to Become Invisible"
From fairy tales to H.G. Wells, we have always loved stories about people becoming invisible. Our panel discusses a variety of ways, scientific and silly, that humans might accomplish this wonder. Join this exercise in creative thinking.
Participants:
Barton, William
Burstein, Michael A. (m)
Chase, Sabrina
Niven, Larry
Spencer, Henry
----------
8/9/98 10:00 AM "Analog Mafia"
The "Analog Mafia" consists of hard SF writers who are frequent contributors to the genre's preeminent magazine of hard SF. Come hear them talk about why they're hooked on hard SF.
Participants:
Asaro, Catherine
Burstein, Michael A.
Klein, Jay Kay
Levinson, Paul
Schmidt, Stanley (m)
----------
The mabfan list is a moderated list which exists solely to send out copies of this newsletter. Should you wish to unsubscribe from this list, simply send e-mail to majordomo@world.std.com with the words
unsubscribe mabfan
in the body of the message and the software should automatically unsubscribe you. (If it doesn't work, I'll do it myself, no hard feelings.)
Contrariwise, if you wish to subscribe, send me e-mail at mab@world.std.com and I'll add you in by hand.
For more frequent news, or to read some of the stuff I've written, check out my webpage at http://www.mabfan.com/
-- Michael A. Burstein