A new British-based sf/f magazine, The Singularity, launched in September.
Issue 1, available on Amazon Kindle, brings readers these 10 stories:
- Qubit Conflicts, by Jetse de Vries
- A Window Into The—, by Andrew Wilmot
- Free Range, by Suzanne Church
- Remembrance Day, by Craig Lincoln
- Does It Smell Red?, by Jed Morgan
- The Sleeper, by Tim Major
- Low Ground, by Matthew Spence
- Walther PKD, by Jeff Kuykendall
- Dunce, by Mike Russell, and
- Dragon’s Bane, by Jorge Salgado-Reyes
The Singularity has posted “Everything Old” by Andrew Wilmot as a free read on its website.
Editor Lee P. Hogg promises Arthur C. Clarke Award Winner Chris Beckett will feature in a coming issue, and also “the brilliant wordmelder and worldbuilder” Rich Larson.
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Huh. Church is local to me.
Brits really are never going to be the go-to nation for gender balance in tables of contents, are they?
Please note that payments unfortunately cannot be made for stories at this point, but this will change in the future. The magazine provides an opportunity for publication for new writers, and further exposure for previously published authors who have perhaps not appeared in a British magazine before.
I have seen this promise broken too many times by other magazines to take it seriously.
I was just looking into various magazines to start trying to read more short fiction and was briefly excited about this. But paying authors in “exposure.” Yeah, I’ll pass. There’s already more paying publications out there that I’d rather support than I have time for.
I can’t get it in the U.S. anyway. And ditto the above re. exposure; hey for you Brits, does this actually cost money to get? I really hope they’re not charging money and not paying anything to authors, but having one free story implies that’s indeed what’s happening. I can’t tell, though . . . ?
@James: A token woman isn’t enough? Tough crowd! (snark aimed at them, in case it’s not clear)
ETA: I’m curious just what the charge is for the Kindle issue (if it isn’t free, as I presume it’s not).
Kendall: I’ll tell you who’s being a tough crowd. I find this news item and post it. Then every comment is a complaint about the gender balance of the ToC or the magazine’s payment policy.
I recommend Church’s collection Elements.
Under SFWA rules, the writers will not have these ‘sales’ count towards sales needed to be a member as the sales don’t meet the SFWA minimums.
I too find the idea that writers benefit by getting exposure contemptible. A magazine like this will be lucky if a few hundred readers actually purchase The Singularity.
Ooo!
I shall be more positive about this news.
info on purchase here Despite me being in the UK the kindle link there is to Amazon.com, not .co.uk Mike’s kindle link works for me though. So, a bit of work on publicity needed.
@Doire: Thanks for the additional link; now I see how much it costs.
@Mike: I think folks are probably glad to hear about this – at least I am, even if it doesn’t wind up interesting me and I snark about it. 😉
I won’t purchase a magazine which is not paying its authors, for the same reason I won’t subscribe to Kindle Unlimited. This is just not on.
Well, darn, I came in all prepared to make a comment about how “geez, lookit all da menz, not very singular at all,” and see Mike’s lament about this group being a tough crowd…..OTOH, other people have pointed out the gender imbalance already, and that makes me go all soft and warm and happy in my flinty little feminist heart because I knew there was something about this crowd I liked…..
Have spent two solid days prepping materials for my new graduate course. New books, new topic, new and even experimental assignments, and OW! Why did I decided to do this anyway??????
What? It’s like being an intern! And the exposure – the exposure!
The mag costs about $3 btw. Not paying your writers, while still charging for the magazine, is getting off to a very bad start.
UncannyValley: Not paying your writers, while still charging for the magazine, is getting off to a very bad start.
It’s a bad, non-viable Business Model. I won’t throw money at a project with a failed Business Model.
James Davis Nicoll — I don’t know about “never”. It might happen one of these days. Or one of those days….
I actually picked this up to try a few days ago after Amazon threw it up as a recommendation. Of the stories I dipped into, one was well-done (the Wilmot) and two more were a bit meh, so I haven’t been enthused to read further yet. The info that they’re not paying rates yet does rather illuminate the “meh” stories.
The opening editorial includes “For some reason we have had very few submissions from female writers so far, so we ask for your help to change this. What’s more, we particularly encourage submissions from those who are under-represented in any way.”
Mark: The opening editorial includes “For some reason we have had very few submissions from female writers so far, so we ask for your help to change this. What’s more, we particularly encourage submissions from those who are under-represented in any way.”
Well, duh. Maybe, after years of being undervalued as people, women are less willing to allow themselves to be undervalued as writers?
Any bets on how long before this magazine shows up on Writer Beware?
It seems a little sad that the writers not only aren’t paid, but then some people refuse to read their work on the principle that they’re not being paid. Is this a widespread position among SFF readers?
Pat: It seems a little sad that the writers not only aren’t paid, but then some people refuse to read their work on the principle that they’re not being paid. Is this a widespread position among SFF readers?
This isn’t “refusing to read [authors’] work on the principle that they’re not being paid”. This is refusing to subsidize exploitation of authors.
I don’t believe in giving money to publications which take advantage of authors in this way. The “You’ll be paid in exposure” crap has been used to exploit authors and artists and musicians for decades — instead of paying them a fair wage for their work.
Would you be willing to patronize a restaurant which used unpaid slave labor as waitstaff? How is this any different?
Editor: Lee P. Hogg has degrees in English, Law and Philosophy. He trained as a solicitor and works as a financial advisor and freelance proofreader and copy-editor.
The Editor is an attorney and financial advisor. He knows better than to do something like this — or at least he should.
The criticism of the linked project is not criticism of you, respected host. Surely part of the purpose of being here is to have vigorous discussion of the positive and negative aspects of linked articles?
Nothing I’ve read so far has been personally-focused or unpleasant; it’s been impersonal criticism of compensation and gender balance.
Thanks for posting Mike so we could discuss. 😀