It's been just about six months since I announced my retirement at New York's KGB Bar, and tonight I found that the story I read that night, "Slice of Life", will appear in the literary journal Gargoyle next year. I've been getting a lot of questions on the topic of my retirement recently, so here is a FAQ.
What do you mean you're retired?
I am no longer writing science fiction, fantasy, or horror. I will of course write other things: avant-garde fiction of various sorts, crime fiction, essays etc. Also, outside of occasional Twitter jokes, I will not write extensively on the controversies that erupt in the field every three weeks or so.
When did you decide to retire?
About ten seconds before getting behind the lectern at KGB Bar in January. I'd had a couple of drinks with Carrie Laben, and had just finished reading Warren Ellis's Gun Machine, which despite three minor problems* I liked very much, and which revealed some things to me about the capaciousness of crime fiction.
Isn't that sudden?
No, there were catalysts. Some were slow-acting, some where fast-acting.
Like what?
The Readercon sexual harassment debacle was one, as was overhearing disgusting pig commentary about the event at Worldcon later that same year. Naturally, last week's SFWA sexism controversy is proof to me that I should just stay away. In addition to sexist culture and patriarchy and all the politicized rhetoric used to explain such phenomena, it all rather hints to me that SF is basically full of people in a state of emotional arrest. You know, social simpletons. I don't want to write for these people.
Further, I was pretty annoyed when Hideous Interview with Brief Man, which I consider one of my better stories, was rejected by every SF/F/H venue to which it was submitted, and those rejections that offered feedback were all of a type: very good, we don't want this kind of thing.
At around the same time I received an acceptance, specifically for the audio version of my short story Willow Tests Well, which read in part "the literary-types of our listeners will hate it and the modern genre-savvy nerds will hate it"—basically, the entire listenership would hate it. Once upon a time, I got a charge out of such acceptances. I don't anymore. Mainly because I've grown up.
I was also annoyed that Arbeitskraft, which I put online at the behest of some SF/F/H tummlers, and which has already been multiply reprinted, was overlooked for awards because I refused to blog constantly about the Hugos and the Locus Awards and how important it is formethe FULL COMMUNISM future we all deserve me to be nominated for awards. (At the same time, at the behest of my employer, I did blog repeatedly about The Future Is Japanese and its eligibility and—tada!—award nominations.) Had "Arbeitskfraft" received an award nomination, I might have continued to quietly accept solicitations for stories this year.
There was also a positive catalyst. "Thy Shiny Car in the Night", from Long Island Noir, netted me a payday, was also directly responsible for a year's worth of part-time work at Wilkes University ($6700 or so to me) and a berth in this year's Best American Mystery Stories (with a second payday for the story nearly four times the size of the first, plus an additional 20,000 readers or so). That sort of thing simply wouldn't happen with any SF or horror story I wrote, ever. At least it hasn't happened the first eighty or so times I've published such stories.
If you're retired, how come you keep announcing new SF and horror stories coming out?
That's a dumb question—clearly I wrote the stories before January, or am just finishing up some outstanding solicitations. I mean Christ, I have a story in the Shocklines anthology! If we see a copy of that before 2015 I'd be amazed.
But what about the controversies in the field? The shitty stories, the sexist attacks, the bankruptcies, the bad deals!?
Let it all burn.
I heard that literary journals don't pay? What will you do now?
Concentrate on submitting to those that do pay, with the occasional allowance for mere CV fodder.
So, are you not attending any more science fiction conventions, or hanging out?
I still have my day job at VIZ, editing science fiction, fantasy and horror. So yes, I will be at conventions, and will be hanging out.
Will you write a story for my anthology?
Sure, if you don't mind publishing a noir story, or an experimental story.
Can you put in some tiger-men with zap guns?
I never have before!
I think you're lying, or joking.
I never lie, and I never tell jokes.
Does this mean no zombie novel?
No, the zombie novel—The Last Weekend—is coming, again after years of delays. I'm told the end of 2013, but smart money has it out in 2014, and then as a limited edition hardcover for either a) a year or b) until the 1000 copies sell. So I'll put links when it's ready for pre-order.
When you said "social simpletons" up above, you didn't mean me, did you?
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You're a fag! Can I beat you up?
Come get you some.
*The problems were all of a type—a non-New Yorker writing about New York, in a book that is meant to be a love letter to New York. Specifically, the narrator describes a character hearing of an incident on the somethinghundred block of 145th street, which is NOT how New Yorkers think of their streets; it is said that a body is found "in" Long Island though every New Yorker would say "on" Long Island; and at a certain point that characters worry about ubiquitous CCTV cameras, which is really a Londoner's concern and not something NYers think about very much at all.
What do you mean you're retired?
I am no longer writing science fiction, fantasy, or horror. I will of course write other things: avant-garde fiction of various sorts, crime fiction, essays etc. Also, outside of occasional Twitter jokes, I will not write extensively on the controversies that erupt in the field every three weeks or so.
When did you decide to retire?
About ten seconds before getting behind the lectern at KGB Bar in January. I'd had a couple of drinks with Carrie Laben, and had just finished reading Warren Ellis's Gun Machine, which despite three minor problems* I liked very much, and which revealed some things to me about the capaciousness of crime fiction.
Isn't that sudden?
No, there were catalysts. Some were slow-acting, some where fast-acting.
Like what?
The Readercon sexual harassment debacle was one, as was overhearing disgusting pig commentary about the event at Worldcon later that same year. Naturally, last week's SFWA sexism controversy is proof to me that I should just stay away. In addition to sexist culture and patriarchy and all the politicized rhetoric used to explain such phenomena, it all rather hints to me that SF is basically full of people in a state of emotional arrest. You know, social simpletons. I don't want to write for these people.
Further, I was pretty annoyed when Hideous Interview with Brief Man, which I consider one of my better stories, was rejected by every SF/F/H venue to which it was submitted, and those rejections that offered feedback were all of a type: very good, we don't want this kind of thing.
At around the same time I received an acceptance, specifically for the audio version of my short story Willow Tests Well, which read in part "the literary-types of our listeners will hate it and the modern genre-savvy nerds will hate it"—basically, the entire listenership would hate it. Once upon a time, I got a charge out of such acceptances. I don't anymore. Mainly because I've grown up.
I was also annoyed that Arbeitskraft, which I put online at the behest of some SF/F/H tummlers, and which has already been multiply reprinted, was overlooked for awards because I refused to blog constantly about the Hugos and the Locus Awards and how important it is for
There was also a positive catalyst. "Thy Shiny Car in the Night", from Long Island Noir, netted me a payday, was also directly responsible for a year's worth of part-time work at Wilkes University ($6700 or so to me) and a berth in this year's Best American Mystery Stories (with a second payday for the story nearly four times the size of the first, plus an additional 20,000 readers or so). That sort of thing simply wouldn't happen with any SF or horror story I wrote, ever. At least it hasn't happened the first eighty or so times I've published such stories.
If you're retired, how come you keep announcing new SF and horror stories coming out?
That's a dumb question—clearly I wrote the stories before January, or am just finishing up some outstanding solicitations. I mean Christ, I have a story in the Shocklines anthology! If we see a copy of that before 2015 I'd be amazed.
But what about the controversies in the field? The shitty stories, the sexist attacks, the bankruptcies, the bad deals!?
Let it all burn.
I heard that literary journals don't pay? What will you do now?
Concentrate on submitting to those that do pay, with the occasional allowance for mere CV fodder.
So, are you not attending any more science fiction conventions, or hanging out?
I still have my day job at VIZ, editing science fiction, fantasy and horror. So yes, I will be at conventions, and will be hanging out.
Will you write a story for my anthology?
Sure, if you don't mind publishing a noir story, or an experimental story.
Can you put in some tiger-men with zap guns?
I never have before!
I think you're lying, or joking.
I never lie, and I never tell jokes.
Does this mean no zombie novel?
No, the zombie novel—The Last Weekend—is coming, again after years of delays. I'm told the end of 2013, but smart money has it out in 2014, and then as a limited edition hardcover for either a) a year or b) until the 1000 copies sell. So I'll put links when it's ready for pre-order.
When you said "social simpletons" up above, you didn't mean me, did you?
You're a fag! Can I beat you up?
Come get you some.
*The problems were all of a type—a non-New Yorker writing about New York, in a book that is meant to be a love letter to New York. Specifically, the narrator describes a character hearing of an incident on the somethinghundred block of 145th street, which is NOT how New Yorkers think of their streets; it is said that a body is found "in" Long Island though every New Yorker would say "on" Long Island; and at a certain point that characters worry about ubiquitous CCTV cameras, which is really a Londoner's concern and not something NYers think about very much at all.