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See Where It All Began!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

After almost two years of work, Before They Were Giants is finally away to the printer, and I couldn’t be more excited about it!

Before They Were Giants
Illustration by Kieran Yanner

If I haven’t already filled your ear about it on the messageboards, the story behind the book is as follows. Back in the early days of Planet Stories, I came to Erik with a proposal for an anthology: What if we could get 15 of the biggest living superstars in science fiction and fantasy to give us their first published SF stories, along with interviews in which they critiqued their own stories, discussed things they know now about writing that they wish they had known then, told anecdotes surrounding the stories’ publication, and offered general advice to aspiring authors? Erik took the bait, and so began the long march toward the collection that would eventually be known as Before They Were Giants.

By far the most astonishing thing about working on this book was discovering how open, friendly, and approachable many of my favorite speculative fiction authors are. When the dust settled and I looked around, I was positively flabbergasted by the caliber of authors who were willing to sign onto the project, from Ben Bova and Cory Doctorow to China Miéville, Nicola Griffith, and William Gibson. And while I confess that the final author list directly reflects my own literary tastes, every author in the book is a master of the genre in one way or another, and reading through their interviews and advice—not to mention their maiden efforts, which run the gamut from humorous magical realist vignettes to post-apocalyptic satellite repair—is precisely the sort of thing that I always find fun, educational... and most importantly, inspiring.

As we get closer to actually shipping the book to subscribers and bookstores, I’ll probably be posting more about the project, including select excerpts from stories and author interviews. But for now, I just wanted to crow a little bit about what is, for me personally, the most exciting Planet Stories book to date. (Well, that and to show off the absolutely phenomenal cover by Kieran Yanner!)


James L. Sutter
Fiction Editor

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James,

I am really looking forward to this book. I've read and enjoyed the work of almost ever author on the roster. And the "behind-the-scenes" approach is really compelling. My only comment is the fact that I am religiously trying to avoid dead-tree books. I'll make an exception in this case, but would love to see "BTWG" and other Planet Stories titles in Kindle, iBook or other ePub formats.

Thanks,

Doug
Contributor
Doug Daulton wrote:

James,

I am really looking forward to this book. I've read and enjoyed the work of almost ever author on the roster. And the "behind-the-scenes" approach is really compelling. My only comment is the fact that I am religiously trying to avoid dead-tree books. I'll make an exception in this case, but would love to see "BTWG" and other Planet Stories titles in Kindle, iBook or other ePub formats.

Thanks,

Doug

Hey Doug! Glad to hear it. As for an electronic version... I think we're waiting to see what happens with the iPad before we release any Planet Stories books in an electronic format, but after that, you can bet we'll figure something out!

James Sutter wrote:
Doug Daulton wrote:

James,

I am really looking forward to this book. I've read and enjoyed the work of almost ever author on the roster. And the "behind-the-scenes" approach is really compelling. My only comment is the fact that I am religiously trying to avoid dead-tree books. I'll make an exception in this case, but would love to see "BTWG" and other Planet Stories titles in Kindle, iBook or other ePub formats.

Thanks,

Doug

Hey Doug! Glad to hear it. As for an electronic version... I think we're waiting to see what happens with the iPad before we release any Planet Stories books in an electronic format, but after that, you can bet we'll figure something out!

What about the older Planet Stories that have already been released? Will they too be released in an electronic form?

~grins~ Can you tell that I enjoyed seeing taig's iPad in use and want one of my own?
Contributor
Sharoth wrote:

What about the older Planet Stories that have already been released? Will they too be released in an electronic form?

~grins~ Can you tell that I enjoyed seeing taig's iPad in use and want one of my own?

I suspect that when we start releasing novels in electronic format, we'll do so for all the novels we've done, not just the new ones!

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