JVP: Clearly the online magazines are in a developmental stage. It seems inevitable their influence will grow, and more authors will be willing (and eager) to be published with the more influential online zines. Other than SciFi.com and a couple of others, however, that situation hasn’t been reached. I think when there’s an online zine that has been consistently publishing for a decade, has been paying pro rates, whose work is consistently on Nebula and Hugo considerations, then I’ll say the market has matured. Until then, most of the successful authors will rather have their work appear in print venues than online.
KMH: But high level print magazines are folding.
JVP: I wouldn’t count print publications out too quickly. Magazines have always been folding while new ones appear. Talebones, in particular, with Patrick and Honna Swenson at the helm, may become a major player (I own stock in them so I’m prejudiced). DNA Publications, with its multiple magazines under its wing may also have found a model to grow good magazines. It wouldn’t surprise me that if a couple of years from now there are two or three new magazines above the 10,000 copy circulation.
KMH: What about the quality of media SF? Does it have any lasting impact on print?
JVP: Frankly, I don’t think there’s much relationship at all between media SF and print SF—at least the print SF I read. Some of the most interesting work that has ever appeared is coming into print now. The overall quality of SF has never been higher, both from a writing and idea standpoint, so the argument I hear that media SF is diluting the field doesn’t hold for me.
KMH: What about media tie-ins, movies and television and the like? Don’t they bring more readers to speculative fiction, or is it a wash?
JVP: Whether the media brings us more readers is hard to measure. The magazines’ circulation have been falling steadily. At the same time, however, more book titles are being published, and the majority of them are not media tie-in novels.
KMH: So what impact does the media have?
JVP: What the media has done is to mainstream SF and fantasy tropes. When soft drink commercials look like mini-SF movies, the ideas of SF have become an integral part of the communal consciousness. Actually, I find this kind of sad. I liked it when SF was a unique club filled with folks who’d sort of stumbled into it.
KMH: Recently SFWA decided to stop listing magazines that don’t pay professional rates in their quarterly publication, The Bulletin. Do you agree with their stand on this issue?
JVP: The SFWA question is a real rat’s nest of politics and personality. You can hardly open your mouth in a room of writers about a SFWA question without provoking a firestorm. I’ll try and answer anyway.
The broader question, I think, is do you have to publish at pro rates to consider yourself a writer? Naturally the answer is no. There are wonderful works of considerable power published in the semi-pro magazines. There are also undoubtedly powerful works that haven’t found any kind of publisher yet. Publishing is a chancy activity at best. As far as The Bulletin not listing semi-pro markets, that seems consistent with their membership policies.
KMH: Does belonging to SFWA help a writer in the long run?
JVP: Being a member, or having previous publishing credits, does carry some weight with some publishers. I investigated this thoroughly when I wrote an article entitled “Publishing, Persistence and the Urge to Write,” which is posted at the SFWA Web site. What I discovered is that most editors claim that all that matters is story. However, Gardner Dozois confesses that at Asimov’s he does pre-separate the manuscripts into piles based on those standards. My feeling is that while many editors say they don’t pay attention to professional membership or previous publications, it’s impossible for them not to recognize that the manuscript in front of them is by someone with a recognizable track record.
KMH: James, we first met in person at WorldCon in Chicago last year, after a lengthy friendship over the Internet. How many conventions do you attend each year?
JVP: I attend three: WorldCon, ConDuit in Salt Lake City, and MileHiCon in Denver. I’d attend more if I had the money.
KMH: Are cons important to your growth as a writer?
JVP: For several reasons, yes. First, making personal contact with editors has been invaluable. Not only have I been able to ask them questions and listen to their thoughts, but seeing them has made them less imposing to me. Conventions help give me confidence to submit work because I know editors are just ordinary folk. Secondly, I get to network with other writers. I’ve learned about many publishing opportunities by attending the conventions. People I met five years ago may be editing magazines or anthologies now. Networking works.
KMH: Those are all good professional reasons to attend conventions. Do you have any personal ones?
JVP: Sure. Conventions give me a motivational boost. Writing is a lonely, often despairing activity. Talking to other people who share the passion makes facing the blank page easier. I highly recommend conventions to anyone who is interested in writing and publishing. Cons can be overwhelming, especially if you’re not social, but hanging around people who are doing the same thing you want to do is beneficial.
KMH: What’s a typical writing day like for you?
JVP: I have to shoehorn writing into my day. I have three children, ages 11, 8, and 4. I’m married and enjoy an active social life. During the day I teach high school English, and at night I teach a college course. Oftentimes I write right after school for a hour and a half or so. Then I’ll write after 9:00 for another hour after the kids go to bed.
KMH: That doesn’t sound like much time.
JVP: I used to believe I had to do a thousand words a day to be considered a writer. What I found, though, was that this was an unreasonable goal for me. It took a while for me to settle on a doable goal: 200 words a day, but I never miss. That gives me 73,000 words in a year. I think for a non-full-time writer, that’s good.
KMH: Let’s get back to your job as a school teacher, if we may. I know you’ve incorporated your own interest in speculative fiction into lesson plans for your students. What’s their overall reaction to this?
JVP: I think teachers always bring their interests into the classroom. What I bring is my enthusiasm for reading, writing, and ideas. The general reaction is good, but you might get a more truthful answer asking my students. [grins] My room is a SF fan’s paradise, however. I have favorite posters from books, movies, and authors covering the walls. Most kids think they’ve walked into a science classroom on their first day because of the solar system and rocket posters!
KMH: How do you introduce the worth of science fiction to your students?
JVP: When I teach SF, one of my basic arguments is that SF as a literature is based on the idea that the world can and will be different. It exists in a state of flux. Mainstream lit has a tendency to ignore change and argue that whatever condition exists in the novel is universal and timeless. I disagree. I believe SF prepares us for change by positing that change is always inevitable.
KMH: What projects are you currently working on?
JVP: I always have a short story going. I’ve been working on a story arc I call my “Lutheran Diaspora” stories. There’s nothing really Lutheran about them other than the ship names, which are culled from the names of Lutheran churches, so I have ships named Redeemer, Ascension, King of Kings, etc. A couple of these stories appeared in Analog. I’m also working on a SF/F novel entitled One Fell Down, an unnamed mainstream novel that is my answer to Catcher in the Rye, and I’m preparing a collection of my stories for release in early 2002.
KMH: Is there any particular movement you identify with, or prefer to read?
JVP: My tastes are eclectic. I like good story, so that steers me away from writers who are in love with language for language’s sake. Delany, for example, is hard for me to read. Still, I do have a tendency toward the literary. I prefer a story where there are multiple layers, where allusions to other works or to history may be a part of the text or the character.
KMH: Can you give us any examples?
JVP: I’ve already mentioned Bradbury, but there are a handful of bedrock works for me. Connie Willis’s Doomsday Book, along with all of her short stories, have really moved me. So did Harlan Ellison’s “Croatoan” and “Hitler Painted Roses.” Brin, Heinlein, Le Guin, and Tolkien are also prominent on my bookshelf.