Optimistic SF Open Platform

Shineanthology’s Weblog

An anthology of optimistic, near future SF

Optimistic SF Open Platform

Welcome to the SHINE anthology website.

This site is intended to function as an open platform for optimistic SF. Hereby I invite everyone to post ideas, arguments, comments and links on this topic.

Optimistic SF is like the future: a work in progress.

Guidelines for the SHINE anthology can be found in the sidebar under the “GUIDELINES” category.

There will be semi-regular posts about topics that touch optimism, near-future and SF. Those will, hopefully, prime your imagination.

8 Comments»

David Brin wrote @ December 5, 2009 at 10:45 pm

Hi. David Brin here. This project is terrific! As a fellow known for being generally optimistic, I’ve long inveighed against the reflex — across Hollywood and publishing — of taking the cheap approach to storytelling. The noxious habit of assuming the worst about humanity and civilization.

One criticism: I find it hard, looking at the site, to see who I should write to, separately, about specific questions. So could the editor(s) please write to me at davidbrin@sbcglobal.net ?

Thanks and good luck in this terrific endeavor.

With cordial regards,

David Brin
http://www.davidbrin.com

shineanthology wrote @ December 6, 2009 at 11:50 pm

David–

Thanks for the heads-up!

Sorry about not displaying my email address more prominently: since it is in both the Shine and @outshine guidelines I assume, but all too easily, that everyone will find it there.

So I’ve updated the site, displaying my email more prominently.

Eva Maria Chapman wrote @ December 7, 2009 at 10:35 am

So nice to know there are cheery optimistic SF writers out there. We can create an amazing future together.

Things are looking up « wrote @ March 23, 2010 at 2:48 am

[…] ‘optimistic SF’ stories from around the world and they’ve even started anoptimistic SF open forum. File this one under ‘optimism’. Shine « ‘Wives’ on […]

Keith Stevenson wrote @ March 23, 2010 at 3:07 am

Great to hear about this new venture. I too am fed up with the appropriation of what used to be an essentially hopeful genre – the fact that humanity survived in the future was reason enough to be optimistic. Over at coeur de lion publishing we’re engaged in a similar project with our forthcoming Anywhere But Earth anthology. Good luck with the forum and Shine.

shineanthology wrote @ March 23, 2010 at 12:42 pm

Thanks for the thumbs-up, Keith!

I will be in Melborne for AussieCon IV, so maybe we can have a few drinks.

Best of luck with Coeur de Lion Publishing: if Anywhere But Earth is published at that time, I intend to buy a copy.

Keith Stevenson wrote @ March 24, 2010 at 11:22 pm

Thanks! I’ll be at Aussiecon. In the dealer’s room. ABE won’t be out till 2011, but I’m sure I can sell you something 🙂

Terrie Leigh Relf wrote @ April 1, 2010 at 10:23 am

I just found this beacon at Ralan.com. Sozar to you! I plan to read–and submit–regularly.

OUTSHINE submission guidelines

OUTSHINE is A Twitterzine for optimistic, near future prose poems. They’re flash length, and look ahead: why not call them flashforwards?

What I’m looking for: prose poems of optimistic, near future SF that fit within the ‘tweet’ limits (check out Twitter); i.e. maximum 140 characters long.

prose poem: what the heck is that? Well, anything you think it is. Write what you believe fits the bill and let the editor sort it out. Don’t limit yourself and feel free to push the boundaries, like, e.g.:

--> Haiku –- written like this: Maybe a haiku/there in the twitterverse/would appear like this;

--> Prose rife with poetic elements both formal — such as rhyme, alliteration (which is easy to overdo!) and meter — and thematic such as syntax, tone and reference (images, symbols & metaphors);

--> Imbue it with a certain rhythm and a unique voice;

--> I’ll look at actual poetry, too (the boundary will be blurry, anyway);

optimistic: anything with an (eventual) positive attitude or upbeat tone;

near future: from next year up to about fifty years later;

SF: ditto as in prose poem: write what you believe fits the bill and let the editor sort it out;

One submission per person per week: I’ll be publishing one prose poem per week, and will be checking the submissions once a week. Don’t feel limited: this means you can submit up to 52 prose poems a year. I prefer people submitting their best rather than people submitting at will then hoping something will stick.

Submit by email to shineanthology@gmail.com , in the body of the email (and yes: anything longer than 140 characters will be rejected: this is, after all, for Twitter);

Payment: 5 dollars per prose poem, payable through PayPal (don’t have a PayPal account? Either get one, or don’t submit), on publication.

Accepted prose poems will be published once a week on Wednesday on Twitter, here: OUTSHINE!

Bio: a biography with author name will follow the published prose poem almost immediately. Bio must be shorter than 136 characters (as bio- will precede the actual biography). Hint: use a tinyurl to link to your website/blog/LJ or to your FaceBook/MySpace/Twitter account.

UPDATE 2: I have received a question about the rights @outshine is asking. Well, so far, none: I accepted tweets from submitters, published them on Twitter, and republished them on both the Shine and DayBreak Magazine websites. Otherwise, submitters are -- as far as I'm concerned -- free to republish their tweets (OK: 'prose poems') anywhere, anytime, and the rights revert to them rightaway. Why? Well, the moment someone likes a particular message on Twitter, it is 'retweeted' -- a tweet starting with 'RT @ XXX', where XXX is the source. It is *the* common practice on Twitter, and as a Twitterzine publisher I can either state that people are not allowed to retweet @outshine's prose poems -- which obviously won't work and is also counterproductive -- or just let Twitter be Twitter.

Therefore I never asked for rights, or sent out an actual contract. Sorry about that, but even as the highest paying Twitter market -- to the best of my knowledge, and do absolutely feel free to point me to a market that pays more than $5 a tweet: I'd be tempted to submit, myself -- I simply don't feel the need to put up a contract, define rights, and go through all the paperwork: even $5 a tweet isn't worth my time on that.

But after almost a year I did get the question, so here's my answer: I want *exclusive* Twitter rights for 6 weeks -- hey, gotta drive a hard bargain -- or the first retweet, whichever comes first (obviously, if you retweet your own submission, you've just liberated your own tweet, congratulations: it never happened before...;-). Otherwise, I want the *non-exclusive* rights to reprint your tweet at both the Shine website and the DayBreak Magazine website -- things I've been doing for over six months already, sorry about that, but I just assume you want your pieces to be read as widely as possible, and assuming the average word is 6 characters, then including spaces [which Twitter does], I'm paying about 25 cents a word, which is in line with the top paying online markets like Tor.com and Subterranean Press. Only difference is that I am open to unsollicited submissions...;-).

SHINE anthology guidelines

SHINE is an anthology of optimistic near-future SF, edited by Jetse de Vries, published by Solaris Books, and is planned for an early 2010 release.

Keywords:

Convincing and optimistic: Imagine that we are the biggest skeptics on the planet, then show us how things can change for the better, and persuade us.

Near-future: from now until 50 years later.

SF: we're not going to define it. Write what you think is SF, and convince us with the story.

The Gritty:

Length: up to 10k words (not hard, but anything longer than 10k should be mind-blowingly superb).

Payment: 5 cents a word, on publication (and probably a pro rata share of the anthologist's earnings: I'm working on that).

Genres: science fiction only. I greatly prefer original stories, but I will -- like Baen's Universe -- look at stories that have been published in markets that are not professional by SFWA standards, or markets with a relatively small reach. I also consider Interzone, Black Static, Postscripts, Futurismic, Apex Digest and Flurb to be either professional markets or markets with a wide reach (or both), so don't want to see stories published by them, either.

Rights: First World English Rights, non-exclusive world anthology rights, non-exclusive audio anthology rights, and further subsidiary rights specified in my boilerplate [author-anthologist contract], which I'll put up after I return from World Fantasy. NOTE: obviously, for eventual reprints the first world rights will become anthology rights, first if possible.

Reading Period: May, June and July 2009. (UPDATE: reading period extended until August 1)

Response Time: Most rejections will be sent out quickly, while I will hold over stories that I like until July 31, when a final decision is made. No multiple submissions, please: only one story per author, and only submit a second one if I expressly ask for it. Simultaneous submissions: at your own discretion, but keep in mind that I will not fight over a story, that is, if it's with another publisher I will drop it like a ton of bricks.

Submissions Instructions: send your story, preferably single-spaced and in rich text format (RTF) to shineanthology@gmail.com. Put Submission: "Title of your story" in the email's subject line.

Submission tips: Things to keep in mind when writing a story for Shine & An update on the Shine submissions, part 1.

About:

STATUS FROM OCTOBER 1 ONWARD:

The Shine anthology is a print anthology for Solaris Books, and is now closed to unsolicited submissions. Shine has been released in the US on March 30, and will be released in the UK on April 15.

Contact the editor at shineanthology@gmail.com.

Review quotes:

That’s why Shine is such a significant — dare I say, historic — anthology.

—Explorations: the Barnes & Noble SciFi and Fantasy Blog;

Overall, Shine is utterly worth reading.

—SciFi Wire;

It is to de Vries’ credit that all but the most hard-hearted of sci-fi readers should find their own brand of optimism represented somewhere among Shine’s array of bright futures.

—New Scientist;

But if we are to have some some influence over how that change unfolds, isn’t it important that our stories, whether they be in the news, on television screens or in the pages of science fiction novels, fully explore the optimistic possibilities that technology represents?

—The Guardian;

[...] Shine was a truly fascinating and enjoyable read. [...] because this one has genuinely broken down some preconceived ideas I’ve had about the genre.

—SF Revu;

For an anthology with a very tight remit — optimistic near-future science fiction — there is a huge variety in the stories themselves. It occurs to me that this book is the perfect introduction to SF for readers who wouldn’t normally venture into the genre.

—Catherine Hughes;

The diversity of the stories and the consistently high quality of this collection is testament to his passion for this project. [...] A shining example of what positive thinking can achieve.

—Val’s Random Comments;

Starting Friday October 16, 2009, DayBreak Magazine and DayBreak Magazine 2 have been launched (two faces of the same outlet): DayBreak Magazine will feature a positive, forward-looking story every second Friday until the print Shine anthology is released, or possibly even a bit beyond that date.

OUTSHINE is a picowebzine on Twitter that I set up for fun and as a way for both writers and readers to get a feel for what might be coming in the Shine anthology. OUTSHINE is open to submissions — that is prose poem tweets of 140 characters (incuding spaces), or less — until further notice. Feel free to submit!

	Science Fiction: Hav… on Why I Can’t Write a Near…
	Athena Andreadis on Intimations of Immortality: Ar…
	Tweets that mention… on Intimations of Immortality: Ar…
	Kathryn Cramer on Utopia: A Vindication?
	Athena Andreadis on Utopia: A Vindication?
	shineanthology on Should SF Die?
	Sven Damgaard Ørnstr… on Should SF Die?
	Body Pillow · on Optimism in literature around…
	P. Fitzpatrick on Should SF Die?
	Sheila Newton on The Week in Tweet, Week 4…
	Dylan Fox on The Elephant in the Room: a…
	New podcasted story:… on SHINE Podcast: “The Soln…
	Anil Menon on The Lost SHINE Interview: Lavi…
	The Lost Shine Inter… on The Lost SHINE Interview: Lavi…
	SHINE Reviews, part… on SHINE reviews, part 2: The Goo…

Shineanthology’s Weblog