FOGcon has been quiet this past eighteen months, and so we're extra happy to bring you a Zoom panel discussion on The Changing Landscape for Short Fiction. It's on June 20, 2024 at 6pm Pacific. We'll have a panel discussion, time for questions, and breakout chat rooms afterward. Here's the link:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89535274744?pwd=bnB1TXJ6KzN6NWdPL2c0TXJVOXpkdz09
Meeting ID: 895 3527 4744
Passcode: 075100
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While the landscape for short speculative fiction has been changing over the decades, this change seems to have accelerated in recent years. With online publishing giving access, more magazines are launched as "passion projects," providing both opportunities and vulnerabilities. Other story-telling options are becoming accessible, such as podcast, games, and visual media. Major players in online infrastructure - e.g Amazon, Twitter, Facebook - have changed abruptly, with user impacts. AI is spreading, both large language models and art. Meanwhile, short fiction remains an important area for both traditional narratives and experimentation. What are the top three issues now? Where can we expect the field to go in the next few years?
We have a superb panel to address these issues. The discussion will be moderated by FOGcon's own Wendy Shaffer.
DAVID STEFFEN is the editor-in-chief and publisher of Diabolical Plots, LLC which publishes Diabolical Plots and The Long List Anthology Series. He is also the co-founder and administrator of The Submission Grinder, the tool that many writers use to help find markets to which to send their stories, and to track their submissions.
LASHAWN M. WANAK writes speculative stories, essays, and poetry. Her work is published in venues such as Uncanny Magazine and FIYAH. She served as the lead writer for the art collective Meow Wolf on their permanent immersive exhibit, “The Real Unreal”, in Grapevine, TX. She is also the editor of the online speculative magazine GigaNotoSaurus.
JULIA RIOS (they/them) is a queer, Latinx writer, editor, podcaster, and narrator whose fiction, non-fiction, and poetry have appeared in Latin American Literature Today, Lightspeed, and Goblin Fruit, among other places. Their editing work has won multiple awards including the Hugo Award. Julia is a co-host of This is Why We’re Like This, a podcast about the movies we watch in childhood that shape our lives, for better or for worse. They’ve narrated stories for Escape Pod, Podcastle, Pseudopod, and Cast of Wonders. They’re @omgjulia on Twitter.
NEIL CLARKE (neil-clarke.com) is the multi-award-winning editor of Clarkesworld Magazine and over a dozen anthologies, including the Best Science Fiction of the Year series. A twelve-time finalist and the 2022/2023 winner of the Hugo Award for Best Editor Short Form, he is also a four-time winner of the Chesley Award for Best Art Director. In 2019, Clarke received the SFWA Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award for distinguished contributions to the science fiction and fantasy community. He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and two sons.