MABFAN NEWSLETTER # 37 (July 2003)

Michael A. Burstein's "Friends Across the Net" Newsletter

Welcome to another issue of the MABFAN Newsletter! I know it's been a long time since I sent out my last newsletter, which was back in January, although some of you may recall a few quick emails sent out to this list for some general announcements. A few people wondered why I hadn't sent out news about the Hugo Awards back in April; well, the simple reason was that none of my stories were nominated this year. I try to keep this newsletter relevant to the topic of my stories and other writings, so as to keep the amount of email sent out as little as possible. I think all of us on the Internet are getting more and more concerned with the scourge of spam.

That said, let's get right to the relevant news. For more personal items, including news on our fanzine BURSTZINE, feel free to read all the way to the end.

OUT RIGHT NOW

The September 2003 issue of ANALOG has hit subscriber mailboxes and bookstores, and on page 54 you can find my new novelette, "Paying It Forward." Those of you familiar with the field of science fiction may recall that as far as many of us know, writer Robert Heinlein first used the phrase when someone asked him how to pay him back for his advice on writing. "You don't," Heinlein replied. "You pay it forward." The tag line for my story reads, "Legacies can take many forms..." and it is indeed the story of how a deceased science fiction writer manages to pass along his legacy to a new writer, just out of college.

The story is dedicated to the memory of Charles Sheffield and Damon Knight, two SF writers who passed away last year. Charles was always generous with advice and ideas for stories, and Damon taught me at his last Clarion workshop, in 1994. I like to think that the two of them would have appreciated this story.

In other news, I want to remind everyone that my first published story, "TeleAbsence" (1995), is still available in print form in the anthology WONDROUS BEGINNINGS, edited by Steven H. Silver and Martin H. Greenberg, and published by DAW Books at the beginning of the year. And also, as always, much of my backlist of stories can be purchased in electronic format from Fictionwise.com.

COMING SOON

One of the reasons I've been so busy is that I've been writing. Here are three stories on the horizon:

UPCOMING APPEARANCES

This may be short notice, but this weekend, July 11-13, 2003, I will be at the Readercon convention in Burlington, MA. For more information, you can check out their webpage at http://www.readercon.org. And if you're looking specifically for me, here's my schedule as far as I know:

BURSTZINE NEWS

Back in April, we finally managed to publish the second issue of our fanzine. I didn't send out a newsletter about it, because technically, it doesn't fall under the category of writing news. However, as it is SF-related news, I thought I should let you know that if you're interested in getting a copy of BURSTZINE #2, please let me know and we'll mail you a copy. We also make the articles available as a PDF file at the BURSTZINE webpage, http://www.burstzine.com. The theme of issue #2 is "fans and our parents," and the articles included are:

BURSTZINE #3 should be out in August.

LIVEJOURNAL

As I mentioned last issue, I now have a LiveJournal, at http://www.livejournal.com/users/mabfan. To be honest, I haven't posted a lot on it, and especially not recently, but if people start clamoring for more of my thoughts and comments, I may make it a more active place.

ADMINISTRATIVA

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

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Contrariwise, if you wish to subscribe, send me e-mail at mab@mabfan.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 www.mabfan.com

-- Michael A. Burstein