Aeon Magazine Æon Speculative Fiction - a Quarterly Electronic Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy
weblog blog Aeon Æon Speculative Fiction Electronic Anthology Magazine Science Fiction Fantasy Dark Fantasy Magic Realism Nonfiction Columns Reviews Issue #1 World Fantasy Convention 2004 Scorpius Digital Publishing
Aeon Magazine Æon Speculative Fiction - a Quarterly Electronic Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy
weblog blog Aeon Æon Speculative Fiction Electronic Anthology Magazine Science Fiction Fantasy Dark Fantasy Magic Realism Nonfiction Columns Reviews Issue #1 World Fantasy Convention 2004 Scorpius Digital Publishing
On the Closing of Windows Our reading window for Æon Three and Four is now closed, with relief and regrets. Regrets because an editor always hopes the next submission she sees will well and truly kick her ass; and relief? Well, anyone who's ever had this job will understand that part. It will be good to concentrate on tasks aside from reading for a while. We will most likely open another window in May for Æon Five, or possibly Five and Six. We haven't yet decided if we prefer reading for two issues at a time.
During the reading window for Æon One and Two we returned approximately 85% of the stories we received. Any editors out there will recognize this figure as low, and that's because we filled these issues by invitation and recommendation. In November we opened to general submissions, and our return rate shot up to a more realistic 98%. Certainly many of the stories we returned -- while they didn't strike us as something we wanted to buy -- were eminently suitable for publication, and we look forward to seeing them appear elsewhere. Another largeish number were good, but did not tempt us to buy them.
On the Kicking of Ass Let's get back to the notion of kicking ass, since it's part and parcel of our editorial policy -- that and taking names. The ways in which our asses were kicked during this reading period were so many and so varied that we believe you won't be able to read these two issues (appearing in May and August respectively) or the previous two and say "Aha! Now I know what an Aeon story is!" If you do, please let us know, 'cause we don't have the haziest idea. We know we love good writing, engaging characters, and a well-told story, but that's true of every editor who ever climbed up out of a stack of manuscripts, gasping for air. All we can say is that there's something indefinable in the way a certain author will put all those things together in a certain story that makes us lay down a ms or sit back from our monitor with eyes wide, laughing, sighing, or just forgetting to breathe for a moment.
When that happens, you're past Editor #1. Getting past Editor #2 is a little harder. Probably half of stories held for further consideration after the first reading end up being returned following final selection. There are only so many slots, and too many good stories for them.
Two stories in this reading window kicked our asses with humor, but we returned a lot of humorous stories that didn't quite hit the mark. Quite a number of other stories we accepted were on the dark side, but that can be partly laid to the special focus of Aeon Four, about which more later. Children feature strongly in four of the chosen stories -- five, if you're willing to broaden your definition of "child." Our buying ran about even on sf and fantasy, with a slight edge to fantasy stories accepted, at least partly due to an overwhelming majority of good fantasy submitted over good science fiction. Matters of religion, mythology, and folklore were to be found in six, the workings of science and scientists in three, aliens in two. Only one takes place on another planet.
On the Taking of Names The only thing as exciting as getting a story by a "cover name" is getting a really good story by someone you've never heard of. While we want to be able to offer our readers stories by authors with whom they're familiar, we also have an obligation to publish the best stories we receive, and to promote newer authors whenever we can. So we're happy to report that while we were lucky enough to snag half a dozen stories by names that have graced the covers of our magazine and others, we have an equal number of new Aeon authors whose names will be unknown to all or most of you, and a couple who fall somewhere in the middle of the "name" spectrum. We know you're not all going to agree on what constitutes a great story, but we do guarantee you're going to find great stories inside these two issues, and not a few of the cover names of tomorrow.
Aeon Four and the Dying of the Light Since coming up here to the northern reaches of the U.S., we pay more attention to the quality and quantity of light than when we lived in southern climes. Back then a day extended to, gosh, nearly 9 p.m. by mid-June, and shrunk by a couple of hours in the dead of winter. Sunshine was to be taken for granted 9 months of the year, and for 11 ½ in some places we've lived. Up here in Seattle, summers are crowded with long, long days of sunlight, and skies of nearly-painful blue. But years of sacrificing soy-based chicken surrogate products and dancing around bonfires chanting in bad Latin have been entirely ineffective in staving off the dying of the light. It's barely noticeable at the end of June, and even in July we can easily pretend the days aren't getting shorter. Not really. By August, however, the time for self-delusion (at least on this one matter) is up. In a couple more months the sun is going to pack its bags and leave for Australia. We'll get up in the dark, and by suppertime it'll be dark again (yes, I do hear those jeers from Canada and Alaska, where they know what a long winter night really is, but have a heart -- we're from the southwest!).
So in honor of that day in August when the first chill of autumn falls across our hearts and minds, Aeon Four, which will appear early in that month, will have a special autumnal tang to it. We have scheduled most of the slightly (and a few more than slightly) darker stories for that issue. This means that we have moved some lighter-hearted fare on to the Aeon Five schedule, but we promise you it'll be worth waiting for.
Meanwhile, don't forget to check out the preview of the Aeon Two stories. That one's on sale now, and to find out where, go to the "Buy Aeon" page. And we won"t at all mind if you do.
posted by æon editors 15:23
2 COMMENTS
Comments:
Two issues. Wimps! You should read two *years* at a time. That'd be a slush pile, by gum.
Congratulations on pushing through the next phase.
