The fine people at Asimov’s have just posted a long, free excerpt of my novella on their site. And when I say long, I mean 8,500 words long. Long enough to meet pensive Tess Mendoza and her confident partner Judy. Long enough to learn about the strange new infectious condition moving through the population. Long enough to hear from scientists and administrators and religious fanatics. Plenty long enough to know if you like the story. So if you’re the clever sort who wants to try before you buy, I encourage you to click through and check out my work. If you enjoy it, be sure to note the “e-Asimov’s” link at the bottom for all the download options a person could want.
Tag: Story: The New Mother
––UPDATE FROM THE FUTURE: You can read the whole thing online here.––
It’s finally here! The April/May double issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction with my cover story “The New Mother” is now available to be read and enjoyed. Subscribers to the magazine probably have it already. There’s a long, free excerpt online at the Asimov’s site. If you like what you see, you can buy an ebook edition for only about three bucks!
Magzter – Probably the easiest way to get a digital copy. Buy it here and you can read it in your browser, or on an iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows 8+, or Kindle device. Making a Magzter account is totally free, you only pay to buy individual magazines–and way less than you would for a paper copy.
Android – Here’s the Google Play Store listing for the specific issue, which should work on most phones or tablets running Android.
Individual issues on other platforms are harder to link to directly. Here are links to the Asimov’s subscription sites for specific devices. You may be able to find the April/May 2015 issue (with the cover shown above) through these.
Kindle – Here’s the Amazon listing, which will let you read Asimov’s on any Kindle e-reader, or in the Kindle app on your phone or tablet.
iPhone or iPad – The iTunes store listing for Asimov’s. In iOS, you’ll get it via the Newsstand app. You can buy the individual back issue, or subscribe to the magazine. (You’ll be asked to sign up for a Magzter account. It’s fast and free. You’re basically doing the same thing as the first link, just through the Newsstand app instead of the Magzter app.)
Nook – The Barnes and Noble Nook e-reader listing. Coincidentally, Barnes and Noble is also an excellent place to get a paper copy of Asimov’s.
Kobo – Have a Kobo e-reader? Let me know if this link works. You are supposed to be able to buy individual issues here, but some of the info is contradictory. (I don’t have a Kobo, so I can’t test it myself.)
If you have any problems, tell me, and I’ll try to help you fix it or pass your information along to the folks in charge. And if you read the story and like it, do please let other people know.
Contributor copies are landing in mailboxes and posters are going up for bookstores, so seems about time to show off the next Asimov’s cover. Behold its gorgeousness! This is the work of Gary Freeman (Flash site), who’s done many covers for the magazine over the years. I think this one is perfect; striking, creepy, and clearly informed by the text. I’m finding it unspeakably thrilling to have tossed words on paper out into the world and seen stunning art ripple back. (Is this is how my comics-writing friends feel all the time? I bet it is.) Five women, all different ages but with the same face. I’d go in to all the details that make this a wonderful illustration of my novella, but I don’t think I could do so without spoiling the story. So for now let it serve here the same beguiling purpose it will on shelves and newsstands. The issue goes on sale March 17.
UPDATE: It’s out now! Get it here!
It’s not out yet, but it will be soon. My novella “The New Mother” will be in the very next issue of Asimov’s, which means details have started to drop. If you take a look at their Next Issue feature, you’ll notice it leads off with this:
Eugene Fischer’s cover story chronicles a pregnant reporter’s investigation of a mysterious illness that has the potential to cause massive society upheaval and which will certainly engender repercussions for “The New Mother.”
Ha! “Engender” indeed. This’ll be my first time being on the cover of, well, anything.
Eons ago in 2010 I had my first publication in Asimov’s, a near future SF short story about oceanic technology and global politics titled “Adrift.” I wrote the first draft as part of my Clarion application, and revised it through a haze of pain and drugs during the ten post-Clarion months I was bedridden with Crohn’s disease. I sent it out, got rejected, sent it out again, just going through the motions, the vast majority of my attention consumed by the slow struggle back towards health and the contemporaneous crumble of my long term relationship. September of 2009 found me living alone in an apartment, in a body warped beyond recognition by a long course of prednisone, wondering where the last year had gone. So when I heard from Sheila Williams that she wanted to buy this story for Asimov’s, the good news struck me as a sparkle from very far away. It was like being gifted a fragment from the life I’d thought I’d have, the one where I left Clarion with artistic momentum, wrote more stories, applied to graduate school, began to focus on having a writing career.
Now, half a decade later, I feel I’ve finally arrived at where I thought I’d be in 2009. I’m healthy, I’m writing, I have the momentum of an inspiring fiction program behind me. And in April I’ll have a new story in Asimov’s, my novella “The New Mother.” But being here inspired me to look back at where I was, to reread “Adrift.” To my eyes now–eyes that have been trained by years of graduate workshops and teaching fiction students–it is apparent how the circumstances of its creation influenced the writing. I see, in its mannered sentences, a young man struggling through pain and fear to focus on the version of himself that he hopes, in his best moments, he may still get the chance to be. I see the first examples of some themes and concerns that would recur in my writing through grad school. I see things that make me cringe, and things that make me proud of my own strength. I see the intersection of so many circumstances still echoing in my psyche that, to me, reading this story is like traveling through time. And now, five years after it was originally published, I’m offering it again to you.
It’s been a while since my last one of these announcements. Part of that is because I decided to take a break from submitting stories while I was in grad school, so I could focus entirely on being a student of writing. But grad school is well behind me now, and I’ve begun tentatively sending out my work again. Just as I was back in 2009, I’ve been fortunate to find an appreciative reader in Asimov’s editor Sheila Williams.
“The New Mother” was the heart of my masters thesis. It’s a novella about reproductive rights and motherhood in an alternate present where the spread of a new infectious condition throws established notions about them into question. I spent more time on it than on any other piece of fiction I’ve yet written, taking it through revision after revision as I learned new things at Iowa. It’s been in my head and on my hard drive, in one form or another, for three years now. I’m thrilled that people are finally going to get to read it.
Not going to do a full con report this year, but I attended WisCon38 and had a generally lovely time. I got to see Karen, Pär, and Jeremiah, all of whom I’m going to miss terribly when I move away from Iowa City and can no longer easily visit. I roomed with Keffy Kehrli and Sunny Moraine, and also spent time with Ted Chiang, Marica Glover, Jen Volant, Meghan McCarron, David Schwartz, David Moles, Ben Rosenbaum, Will Alexander, Genevieve Valentine, Valya Lupescu, Nancy Hightower, Alice Kim, Liz Gorinsky, Richard Butner, Barb Gilly, Marco Palmieri, Greg Bechtel, and a bunch of my friends from the Clarion 2012 class.
The most notable thing for me this year was that I had my first reading at the con. Gwenda Bond and Christopher Rowe had to cancel their attendance at the last minute, and I got to take one of their places in at the Death-defying Feats of Moxie reading. I read the first three sections of my novella “The New Mother,” and got an enthusiastic reception. Hopefully by next WisCon it will be published.