Clarkesworld Magazine Issue 87

by E. Lily Yu

  With blogs and social media, there’s a sense that everything is known, or at least is available to be known with pretty minimal effort. I had the sense—wrongly—that by simply not keeping something secret, it would become common knowledge. In practice, it was weirder than that, and I still have people who are shocked and surprised to discover what I cop to often and in public. The feeling of intimacy and connection that the Internet gives me is exaggerated, and this was my first unintentional proof of that. What I say in public isn’t a secret, but it also isn’t known. We are all of us so inundated and overwhelmed with information that what seems like it should be common knowledge about me among those who bother to care still isn’t. Everything about my public personas is always at least partly introduction, and I think, always will be.

  The other thing about MLN was that I started writing urban fantasy at a time when the common wisdom was that UF was written and read mostly by women. In choosing the name, I took the classical route of obscuring my gender with initials. Given the context—a “women’s” genre, a first-person female protagonist, an ungendered name—a lot of folks assumed the author of The Black Sun’s Daughter books was a woman, and that’s an impression I was comfortable with people having. In fact, I got lot of letters from readers who said that they wouldn’t have picked the books up if they’d known I was a man. Generally, they were letters from folks who liked the books, but not always.

  It’s also served as a springboard for conversations about persona, gender and race. I’m certainly not the only male urban fantasy writer who obscured his gender with an ambiguous name. T. A. (Tim) Pratt, comes to mind. The practice is, I understand, even more common in the more “women’s”- identified genre of romance. And there is a long tradition of women hiding their gender with pseudonyms for equally market driven reasons. I don’t feel uncomfortable writing under MLN Hanover and being mistaken for a woman. I find the fact that there are spaces within publishing (and also within our wider shared culture) in which being female is a kind of locally privileged position at the same time that the larger context remains powerfully misogynistic fascinating. On the other hand, I wouldn’t in a million years write as Raj Avasarala or Gustavo Martinez even if the market became very rewarding of Indian or Latino identities. It isn’t a question I considered deeply before I became MLN Hanover. It is one I think about now.

  Another thing that having three names showed me—and continues to show me—is how important it is to not have all my professional eggs in one basket. I know a lot of professional writers, and of the people I know making a living at this trade, everyone who’s been at it more than four or five years has had their careers shot out from under them at least once. For me, the first time came when my first publisher, Tor, decided to drop the Long Price Quartet books. The fourth one had just come out in hardback, I had the proposal in to my editor for a new series called The Dagger and the Coin, and the news came in that not only were they passing on the new series, but they’d decided not to release the fourth Long Price book in paperback. It was devastating, but it would have been more devastating if MLN Hanover’s first book hadn’t been on the Barnes & Noble trade paperback bestsellers list. For months, it looked like Daniel Abraham’s career was done, until Orbit—previously my UK publisher—decided to let me take another swing with their US house. The reason I wasn’t a total mess for those long, terrible weeks was that even as I watched my career founder and die, it wasn’t my only career. I had a backup, which because it carried a different name on the cover, wasn’t related in the computers to my epic fantasies. I didn’t set out to build a firewall between my books, but I’d done it anyway. Daniel Abraham’s sales numbers didn’t hurt MLN Hanover, and so I, as both of them, got to keep right on paying my bills through the storm.

  James SA Corey came later, and what I learned from having that name in the mix is to my mind, the most interesting—and important—insight that my unintentional experiment in names has given me. Thanks to the team at Orbit and an agent who is nothing short of amazing, Daniel Abraham has been having a resurgence in the last few years. The Dagger and the Coin books have sold fairly well, and in a lot of foreign markets to boot. MLN Hanover has struggled. Though the reviews of each successive book have been better and better, the sales numbers haven’t grown. James SA Corey, though? Those books caught lightning in a jar. The first of them, Leviathan Wakes, is in its ninth US printing. It’s been picked up in 20 countries around the world. The guys who wrote the first Iron Man movie have teamed up with the woman who developed Breaking Bad, and they’re looking to turn it into a television series (more strength to their arms). My first appearance on The New York Times bestsellers list was as James SA Corey.

  But here’s the thing: I’m not suddenly a better writer when I’m working with Ty on the Expanse books. I’m not suddenly a worse writer when I’m doing urban fantasy. Daniel Abraham’s books didn’t stop being good at the end of the Long Price Quartet and get better with The Dagger and the Coin series. I have three careers going right now, and each of them is performing differently in the stores. There are reasons for all of that, but the one reason that doesn’t apply is me. That’s the real gift James SA Corey and MLN Hanover have given me. Every time I look at my Bookscan numbers, I can see that the books sell or don’t, the series build or don’t, based on factors that aren’t the author. I cannot imagine how hard it would have been for me to watch Daniel Abraham’s career run aground without MLN there to hold me up. Or what it would be like to watch MLN’s numbers falter without Daniel Abraham and James SA Corey to remind me that commercial success isn’t just about my name. Careers fall down all the time, and it’s rarely about the skill of the writer.

  My imaginary selves have taught me that my sense of being in the center of things, and being well connected to people is an illusion. That my alternate identities have boundaries that I haven’t wholly understood. They have protected me from the worst professional downturns, and given me enough emotional distance from my sales numbers that the success of failure of any particular project can stay with that project instead of defining who I am.

  Not bad for folks who don’t even exist.

  About the Author

  Daniel Abraham is a writer of genre fiction with a dozen books in print and over thirty published short stories. His work has been nominated for the Nebula, World Fantasy, and Hugo Awards and has been awarded the International Horror Guild Award. He also writes as MLN Hanover and (with Ty Franck) as James S. A. Corey. He lives in the American Southwest.

  Editor’s Desk:

  Behind the Scenes Tour

  Neil Clarke

  Last month, I provided the numbers behind Clarkesworld, but numbers alone don’t give you the whole story of what it takes to produce this magazine. As promised, this month I will not only reveal some of what goes on behind the scenes but who is responsible for each issue.

  Original Fiction

  As mentioned in my previous editorial, we receive seven to eight hundred short story submissions per month. The first pass through these stories is conducted by the ever amazing and patient slush readers, (Cynthia Bermudez, John Emery DeLong, Terra Lemay, Aimee Picchi) and me. I’m reading approximately 40-50% of those stories and the slush readers comment on the remainder. Stories are then rejected or moved onto the next round.

  Sean Wallace and I handle the next round. A story doesn’t get published unless we both agree on it. While we have similar taste, I’m more likely to be the “no” vote. This process typically whittles the pile down to between two and five stories. Additionally, a few stories throughout the year are via invitation. This happened with much greater frequency during our first few years.

  Once we’ve decided to purchase a story, I send out acceptance letters and contracts. The next stage involves editing the story (the amount of which varies wildly), layout, and initial proofreading.

  Reprint Fiction

  Since April, Gardner Dozois has been responsible for the selection of each month’s repr
ints. We have some basic guidelines for the age and length of the stories he can choose, but otherwise, the only other criteria he has is that the story isn’t currently available in another magazine or the author’s website. (I don’t like to step on the heels of other publications. I just don’t find it polite.) After we’ve verified that the stories meet our criteria, Gardner contacts the author and, if they are interested, contracts the story. The story, contract, author bio, and photo are then passed to me for layout and proofreading.

  Non-Fiction

  Kate Baker is our non-fiction editor. Each month, she receives a number of pitches or solicits opinion pieces from potential contributors. If the query sounds like a good fit for Clarkesworld, she’ll request a finished copy of the article and make a final decision. Additionally, Daniel Abraham completes a unique Another Word column every other month with the gaps filled by other invited industry professionals. Approved projects are then contracted and the editing process commences. When the lead article or Another Word opinion column is complete, Kate sends the completed works, contracts, bios, and photos to me for layout and proofreading. Together, Kate and I also work on fine-tuning my editorial each month.

  Our interviews are usually handled by Jeremy L. C. Jones, typically in consultation with me and later edited by Kate.

  Podcasts

  In addition to her non-fiction responsibilities, Kate Baker narrates, hosts, and produces each episode of our podcast. Five times per month, she closes the door to her TARDIS recording booth and records for forty-five minutes to an hour depending on the length of the story. She spends another two or three hours on each file, editing out all the mistakes and spaces within the recording, adds some original music, and sends me a file to preview. I then add the finished product to our website and push into our distribution channels.

  Art

  Every month, I spend hours searching through a wide variety of online art sites and portfolios that artists have sent along. When I locate a suitable piece, I do a quick search to make sure it hasn’t been previously used as cover art and then contact the artist to see of the rights are available. Quite often rights are already reserved for a game or book, so this process can be quite time-consuming. If the rights are available and the artist interested, I’ll send them a contract and start mocking up the cover in InDesign.

  Production

  I’m responsible for the web, ebook, print, and subscription files for each issue. Most of the content received from authors and other contributors is delivered in Word format. I use a program called Dreamweaver to create the html files for the website and load them into our system.

  From there, I have home-grown programs to convert the HTML and various indexes to the EPUB and Amazon subscription feed formats. (The final 5% of the work is done by hand.) The EPUB files are then converted to MOBI—for standalone Kindle ebooks—and RTF—for import into InDesign to make our print edition PDFs. The InDesign files are then restyled and converted to PDF for submission to the company that produces our iPad and Android apps.

  Podcast episodes are added to our website as they become available. Links to individual podcast episodes are then manually dropped into the apps.

  Finances

  I’ve saved the boring part of the business for me. I manage the books, issue payments (via check or PayPal), and track the income from ebooks, subscriptions, print editions, donations, advertising, and anything else we come up with. And of course, there’s the taxes . . .

  And that ends our tour. The gift shop is down the hall. Have a happy holiday season and an amazing new year!

  About the Author

  Neil Clarke is the editor of Clarkesworld Magazine, owner of Wyrm Publishing and a 2013 Hugo Nominee for Best Editor (short form). He currently lives in NJ with his wife and two children.