wo earthquakes rumbled through the short-story side of the science-fiction field last week. One was symbolic of how times have changed, the other was indicative of how change will always come when we least expect it, but both represent significant milestones.
In the first tremor, felt the night of April 17 in a ballroom at the Westin Hotel in Seattle, two short stories published by editor Ellen Datlow in SCI FICTION won Nebula Awards for their authors. "What I Didn't See" by Karen Joy Fowler won in the short story category, while "The Empire of Ice Cream" by Jeffrey Ford triumphed in the novelette category. (Neither author was present, which is why I was able to snap a shot of Ellen clutching their trophies at right; otherwise, it is unlikely that the writers would have allowed those blocks of lucite out of their hands long enough for such a photo to exist.)
Since the talented Ellen Datlow is too well mannered to toot her own horn, it is left for me to tell you how meaningful that achievement is. The print magazines that usually dominate the list of winners—Asimov's, Analog and F&SF—were absent. Since this year the novella prize was won by a work that had appeared in book form (Neil Gaiman's Coraline), the only magazine with winners was the electronic publication SCI FICTION, which makes it seem to me as if the tectonic plates that have been threatening to shift in SF publishing have finally done so. So kudos to Ellen, but kudos to the readers as well, for they have solidly embraced a new form of publishing. This year's Nebula results have proven beyond a doubt that readers will recognize quality SF whether it is presented to them on paper or with pixels.
No, we're not flying with rocket packs or zipping off to the moon for weekends here in the future of 2004, but still, how science-fictional it all seems!
A cosmic changing of the guard
In the second significant tremor to shake the field last week, Gardner Dozois, who has won the Hugo Award 14 times as Best Professional Editor for his work at Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, has stepped down from his position after almost two decades. Sheila Williams, the current executive editor, who has been at the magazine even longer than Gardner, will take over as editor. The first issue of Asimov's to officially reflect this will be dated January 2005.
Gardner and Sheila (who can be seen flanking Bob Silverberg at right prior to the announcement of the winners of this year's Analog and Asimov's Readers' Awards) managed to stay mum throughout the Nebula weekend about the big news that was on the horizon, showing greater reserve than I certainly would have been able to muster had I been trying to keep such momentous news a secret. But in retrospect, they were wise to keep the matter to themselves until the day after the event was over. As proven by the wildfire of discussion that exploded on SF bulletin boards as soon as the change was revealed, the editorial transition would likely have been the only topic of the weekend had the news slipped out then.
But the groundswell of gossip was understandable. For a magazine editor does more than just purchase stories. By encouraging certain types of stories and discouraging others, a magazine editor shapes the direction of the field. John W. Campbell Jr. did it with Heinlein, Asimov and others. And Gardner Dozois did it, too, by choosing to publish stories that did more than just win popularity contests—they pushed the boundaries of SF and helped define the field as we know it.
And now it's Sheila Williams' turn to be responsible for a magazine that has published stories which have won 40 Hugos and 24 Nebula Awards since its inception in 1977. It's an awesome responsibility. Because a decade from now, as we look back on this passing of the editorial torch, who knows how different the field itself will seem because of it?
And there you have it. Two signs that science fiction is always in a state of flux. But then, I guess if it weren't constantly changing, we wouldn't dare call it science fiction.
Scott Edelman started his trek to the editor-in-chief position at Science
Fiction Weekly decades ago, when he began working as an assistant editor at
Marvel Comics. Between these two positions, this four-time Hugo Award nominee in
the category of Best Editor was the founding editor of the
award-winning magazine Science Fiction Age, in addition to editing
Sci-Fi Universe, Sci-Fi Flix and Satellite Orbit. Currently, he also edits SCI
FI, the official magazine of the SCI FI Channel. His most recent short story appears in the new anthology Men Writing Science Fiction as Women, edited by Mike Resnick.
