Rational Hope

A hope is deemed “rational” if, overall, it allows for increased agency, for a belief that it is possible to affect the situation. In this world that lately seems full of bad news , it may well be that humanity steps forward into the challenge — there are glimmers of hope everywhere. I challenge you to spot one each day!

In a smaller microcosm, the world of science fiction, publication of short stories has been hit hard lately, both from Amazon basically ending its print and digital magazine subscription business as of September, and from AI spam flooding submission slush piles, increasing the difficulty of being a publisher. The former situation doesn’t give much room for hope, but the AI situation may eventually find a path forward.

In an even smaller universe, that of my own writing, I had enough successes in the first half of this year to give me hope in my own endeavours:

• “Maximum Efficiency”, about a post-apocalyptic robot who learns to reinvent itself, appeared in Analog in November and has since been solicited to be reprinted in both The Year’s Top Robot and AI Stories: Fourth Annual Collection (find the 3rd one here) and also the inaugural Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy and Science Fiction! You can listen to “Maximum Efficiency” on audio here but I do hope you’ll buy one of the anthologies when they come out.
• “The Boggart of Campsite C47” was reprinted at Little Blue Marble early in the year. Read it today!
• “Grin and Bear It”, a Cheshire-cat inspired story of VR, appeared in Autonomous Press’ Spoon Knife 7: Transitions anthology a couple of months ago. Please consider getting it along with 18 other mind-bending stories here.
• “Heart Proof” was reprinted in the Ring of Fire anthology in May. It’s on sale here!
• “Knells of Agassiz” was reprinted at Luna Station Quarterly a little while ago and can be read for free. If you like it, please buy the print or e-copy!
• “Thinking Inside the Box” will appear in the Mighty superhero anthology later this year, along with other stories that celebrate characters who are disabled and still save the day. Watch for it at Renaissance Press!
• “I Love Lupi” was accepted as a reprint for the zany Yay! They’re Here anthology of comedic alien invasion. Support the Kickstarter today!
• “The Robot Whisperer” will be in Android Press’ Fighting for the Future solarpunk-cyberpunk anthology. It’s coming out in a couple of weeks or so — preorder it here!
• “Heart on Your Sleeve” was published in Nothing Without Us Too in 2022 (available in print and ebook). That anthology is now up for the Canadian SFF awards, the Aurora, in Best Related Work. For $10, you can become a member of the CSFFA and download all the nominated works (yup, in ALL categories! What a deal!) so that you can then vote in the Auroras. If you are a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, please vote for all your favorites before July 29th! Full details are at CSFFA.
  
  I’ve got a few more upcoming publications in the works, but I’ll leave those for next time. Enjoy the summer, keep rational hope, and keep reading SFF!