No Police = Know Future Virtual Launch Party!

No Police = Know Future: Stories of Alternative Futures of Alternative Justice is a truly special volume, both a visualization of the recent call to defund the police and a roadmap to navigate towards a true system of justice.  We over here at Amazing Stories want to celebrate its launch with the world.  We’re having a Book Release Virtual Launch Party and you’re invited.  The Editor-in-Chief James Beamon (yep, that’s me) will be there, chatting with several contributing authors which include:

PT Mackim

Bronte Christopher Wieland

Stewart C Baker

Holly Schofield

Jared Oliver Adams

Ira Nayman

Lettie Prell

Anatoly Belilovsky

Ryan Priest

The virtual launch party is scheduled for Sunday, December 27 at 4:00 PM EST (1:00 PM Pacific).  Join us via Zoom by clicking here. That’s tomorrow as of the time of this post… no it’s not short notice, like you really would’ve remembered if I said this before Christmas!

If you’re already read No Police = Know Future, come on by and talk about your favorite stories with the authors who thought them up.  Or maybe you’re curious about how a future without police might look, the processes of SF thought experiments or just want to spend some time with SF authors, editors and fans. The room is limited to 100 participants, so be sure to come early. 

No Police SF Anthology Open to Submissions

News everyone,

I’m working with Amazing Stories to bring to the world an anthology that realizes a future world without police.

SUBMISSION CALL: NO POLICE = KNOW FUTURE

After the brutal murder of George Floyd by the police, the world responded in righteous protest, with cries of “Black Lives Matter.” The police responded to these calls in large part with even more brutality, with video after video emerging that showed an assault on the public. And more cries came forth, with calls to defund the police.

But what’s that mean?

Science Fiction writers, this is your call to arms. Give us your potential (and hopefully positive) futures that involve alternatives to modern day policing. We want stories that replace the police entirely, dramatically reform them, or create parallel systems to refocus policing. We’re also seeking alternate concepts of rehabilitation and punishment as well, more emphasis on the carrot. In a world where police are perpetually brandishing their batons, I think we’ve all seen enough sticks.

I’ll be Amazing’s Editor-in-Chief for this submissions call.  Now, I know it may be difficult to think of a world without the police. They’ve been there all of our lives, in meticulous uniform, reinforced by countless movies. I recommend this article and this infographic for inspiration.  Search around, you’ll see the conversation is already happening and who better to join the discussion than the creative minds already thinking of how the future unfolds?

Story length is up to approximately 4,000 words for original fiction. We’re not going to reject something that stretches this limit out of hand, but know that the longer it gets, the harder a sell it becomes. Reprints can be up to 6,000 words. Most veins of SF welcome, with the exception of steampunk, dieselpunk or other SF that nestles us comfortably in a previous era. We are here now, in tumultuous times, and cannot go back. Let’s face a possible, achievable future bravely.

Payment: USD $0.08 per word for original fiction. USD $100 per story for reprint fiction. We are a SFWA qualifying market for original fiction.

Submit your stories using the Amazing Stories online submission system.  Make sure you check the “No Police = Know Future” box when you submit.  Submission window closes Sunday August 16, 2020.

Are you ready to give a beleaguered public your vision of a better tomorrow? We stand ready to listen.

My Monkeys on Attack in the Year’s Best SF!

I’ve been a bit busy promoting my fantasy novels because one was temporarily free, the other had just come out, and both by most folks accounts are pretty awesome, so I’ve been a bit behind on my sci-fi.  But NO MORE!!  You guys remember my steampunk cyborg attack monkey story, “A Song of Home, the Organ Grinds?”  Well it’s been included in Baen Books’ Year’s Best Military & Adventure SF Volume 5.  For those of you who don’t remember because you never read it, here’s what the discerning folks over at Tangent had to say about it:

Even among the more restricted form of military SF there are some unconventional pieces. I thought James Beamon‘s “A Song of Home, the Organ Grinds” was one of the best stories of the year and was amazed that this “year’s best” was the only one to select it. No one should miss this alternate history tale of the Crimean War with a street urchin press-ganged into combat aboard an airship crewed in part by vampire attack monkeys.

No one should miss this, their words not mine, meaning you, meaning definitely check out the book.  The Year’s Best Military & Adventure SF Volume 5 is available directly on the Baen site and other online retailers (Personally I’d go to Amazon.  There’s a crazy amount of price disparity among sites, which I find both strange and perplexing).  You’ll not only get a chance to check out my story but eleven other stories such as the widely acclaimed “Thirty-three Percent Joe” by Suzanne Palmer.

Plus there’s a VOTE!  Readers get to decide which of these stories is the best of this year’s best.  The BESTIEST!  Once you check out the book, head over to the Baen site to vote on your favorite.  I’m hoping it involves killer steampunk attack monkeys…

 

War Journal: Story bites

 

So I spent the last few weeks with most of my online presence dedicated to getting awareness out on Pendulum Heroes.  Finding people and places to review it, town crying on Facebook and doing crazy amounts of research.  And I’m still working… I just built a new page on the gristle dedicated to it.  It’s to the point where it didn’t quite feel natural to leave that first line featuring the novel’s name without a link to Amazon where you can buy.  I keep looking up at it like it’s naked, like I’m missing a primo place to sell.  It’s a war in these trenches, folks.

That said, I have kinda fell off on my short story writerly duties.  Chief among them is to tell you guys I have another story published on Apex Magazine.  This one’s called Three Meetings of the Pregnant Man Support Group and it’s my second time appearing in Apex, which is pretty awesome.  When they sent me the acceptance I felt like opening my door and shouting “it wasn’t a fluke!” but I thought better of it when I thought how I’d take that same message if a neighbor did that and I’d come to the conclusion that their significant other wasn’t getting the right kind of attention.  Instead of that, I pushed some books.  Didn’t quite feel the same, though.

Also in this issue of Apex, I had the pleasure of being interviewed again by Andrea Johnson.  I hold fast to my belief that she’s bar none the best interviewer in the business… she does a great amount of research about the writer and asks very intelligent and poignant questions.  You can tell she’s passionate about what she does and she brings that passion to the table when she talks to you.  The link’s at the start of the paragraph, check it out and see what I’m talking about.

Finally, we’re almost in July and with that comes my latest story “A Song of Home, the Organ Grinds” in Lightspeed Magazine.  This is my first time ever getting into Lightspeed and it’s one of those big ones that I’ve always aspired to get an acceptance from.  It’s a story about killer steampunk cyborg monkeys and a homeless street urchin.  If that didn’t prompt an eyebrow raise from you then you must’ve lost your eyebrows in a freak running-with-scissors incident.

You won’t see too many more of these announcements in the near future, I think.  I’m doing less short story writing and focusing on trying to finish the third book.  That said, it’s hard to stop completely, so I’m pretty sure I’ll have a flash piece or two to entertain you between novels.  We’ll see.  In the book world, it feels like I’m starting over again.  At this point, I’m fine with that.  A few of y’all remember my first pro sale, how stoked I was, how I went at this like a war in the trenches.  I feel like I’ve reached the top of the hill when it comes to short story telling and short story selling.  Time for me to get back in the trench.

That’s about it.  Check out my new Pendulum Heroes page if you’re interested in getting more information about the series.  I would put the link but it’s right up there at the top of the page and I’m trying to fight that whole add links addiction.  Oh, what the hell.