Editor’s Note
By K.E. Semmel
In 2002, SFWP publisher Andrew Gifford started the first iteration of the SFWP Journal. During the course of the next thirteen years, the journal published 361 stories by a large number of writers—almost all of whom were, at the time, un-established—on a mostly bi-weekly format. Cate McGowan followed Andrew as journal editor, and Sheila Lamb followed Cate. This stunning archive of authors remains active and online, and you can search for them using the tools on the left hand side of the home page.
Continuing on the foundation built by the SFWP Journal, we are proud to announce the launch of the very first issue of The SFWP Quarterly, where we will publish the best fiction, nonfiction, creative nonfiction, and book reviews that we get four times a year. In the first issue, we’re pleased to bring you work by Jessica Handler, Randon Billings Noble, Art Taylor, and June Sylvester Saraceno. A special thanks goes to April L. Ford for her assistance putting this issue together.
As part of our vision for The SFWP Quarterly, we will also publish a book review coupled with an author interview. In this issue you’ll find my interview with novelist and critic Andrew Ervin, whose debut novel Burning Down George Orwell’s House is forthcoming from Soho, along with Melanie J. Cordova’s review. We’re particularly interested in fiction and nonfiction published—no earlier than three months before our pub date—by small independent presses like SFWP. If you have any suggestions for future issues, please let us know.
As an independent translator I am also extremely interested in the art of literary translation. For each issue I will travel the globe, so to speak, “visiting” a new country or language and interviewing a translator about his or her work. This feature I call “Translator’s Cut.” For this first issue I interviewed one of my colleagues translating from Danish: Martin Aitken.
And finally, in each issue we’ll publish an essay on a cultural matter that I’m calling “Culture Rant.” SFWP’s publisher Andrew Gifford is first up, with part one of his four-part series on the Post-Apocalyptic Genre in literature.
But wait! There’s a little more. The spirit of the SFWP Journal remains. We’re really interested in publishing your stories. We want you to send us work you’re proud of, and that you want to share with the world. We want to discover great new work by great new writers and continue the strong, thirteen-year tradition of the Journal. Do you have a story or essay to share with us? Submit via our submittable page. Our next issue will publish July 1st, so get your submissions to us no later than June 15th.
Happy reading, as always.
K.E. Semmel