SFScope Editor Ian Randal Strock, wearing his writer hat, sold “Mars is the Wrong Color” to Nature for their “Futures” section. The British science journal publishes one short-short piece of science fiction each issue in this section (past authors include Stephen Baxter, Joe Haldeman, Vonda N. McIntyre, Norman Spinrad, and Bruce Sterling).
As a writer, most of Strock’s science fiction has been short-shorts which appeared as “Probability Zero”s in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, although he won two AnLab (readers’ choice) awards for longer pieces in Analog.
Note to mention Robert J. Sawyer, whose own contribution to the “Futures” column in NATURE was called “gob-smacking” by PUBLISHERS WEEKLY and is available through Fictionwise here. 🙂
Seriously, congrats, Ian!
Cheers,
Rob
I don’t think Kit intended to slight anyone with that brief listing of previous authors. Besides, it gave you a chance to post a link to your own story, eh? Not bad, Rob.
And thanks.
Also, in an interesting bit of synchronicity, the page proof for the story arrived in my e-mail today. They expect to publish it in the 2 October 2008 issue.
–Ian, aka the Editor
Of course she didn’t mean to slight anyone; at this point, there have been hundreds of such stories, no? (The series has been running for years.) She could hardly list them all.
By the way, bunch of the Nature SF short-shorts (including mine) are collected in this book.
It’s a way cool series to be part of, and, of course, a wonderful magazine to appear in, so, again — CONGRATS! 🙂