SFStory was originally a creative fiction writing group on the now-defunct UMNEWS mailing list service. After UMNEWS collapsed, the group was merged in 1991 with the more active Superguy creative fiction writing group and mailing list, with which it shared many active writers. [1] [2]
SFStory is a parody of the science fiction genre, and is one of the first examples of a shared universe on the Internet. [3] The first story was posted on January 19, 1987, by an unknown person, quickly attracting other contributing writers. [4] Some of these writers went on to start Superguy, which soon surpassed SFStory in recognition and volume of output. [5] SFStory has the additional distinction of having been active for over two decades, with new stories posted as recently as 2010. SFStory existed during the birth of the modern Internet culture, and along with Superguy helped illustrate the potential of the medium to mainstream users right when the Internet began to actually see mainstream use. [6] It has survived much longer than similar Internet-based shared universe writing groups, diminishing in activity along with Superguy only when the webcomic trend became widespread. [7]
The Baen Free Library is a digital library of the science fiction and fantasy publishing house Baen Books where 61 e-books as of June 2016 can be downloaded free in a number of formats, without copy protection. It was founded in late 1999 by science fiction writer Eric Flint and publisher Jim Baen to determine whether the availability of books free of charge on the Internet encourages or discourages the sale of their paper books.
Glen David Brin is an American scientist and author of science fiction. He has received the Hugo, Locus, Campbell and Nebula Awards. His novel The Postman was adapted as a feature film and starred Kevin Costner in 1997. Brin's nonfiction book The Transparent Society won the Freedom of Speech Award of the American Library Association and the McGannon Communication Award.
Joe William Haldeman is an American science fiction author. He is best known for his novel The Forever War (1974). That novel, and other of his works, including The Hemingway Hoax (1991) and Forever Peace (1997), have won major science fiction awards, including the Hugo Award and Nebula Award. He was awarded the SFWA Grand Master for career achievements. In 2012 he was inducted as a member of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. Many of Haldeman's works, including his debut novel War Year and his second novel The Forever War, were inspired by his experiences related to serving in the Vietnam War. Wounded in combat, he struggled to adjust to civilian life after returning home.
Cory Efram Doctorow is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, using some of their licences for his books. Some common themes of his work include digital rights management, file sharing, and post-scarcity economics.
Eric Flint is an American author, editor, and e-publisher. The majority of his main works are alternate history science fiction, but he also writes humorous fantasy adventures. His works have been listed on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Locus Magazine best seller lists. He is a co-founder and editor of the Baen Free Library.
Judith Josephine Grossman, who took the pen-name Judith Merril around 1945, was an American and then Canadian science fiction writer, editor and political activist, and one of the first women to be widely influential in those roles.
Jo Walton is a Welsh-Canadian fantasy and science fiction writer and poet. She won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2002 and the World Fantasy award for her novel Tooth and Claw in 2004. Her novel Ha'penny was a co-winner of the 2008 Prometheus Award. Her novel Lifelode won the 2010 Mythopoeic Award. Her novel Among Others won the 2011 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Novel; Among Others is one of only seven novels to have been nominated for the Hugo Award, Nebula Award, and World Fantasy Award.
LGBT themes in speculative fiction include lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) themes in science fiction, fantasy, horror fiction and related genres. Such elements may include an LGBT character as the protagonist or a major character, or explorations of sexuality or gender that deviate from the hetero-normative.
James Patrick Baen was a U.S. science fiction publisher and editor. In 1983, he founded his own publishing house, Baen Books, specializing in the adventure, fantasy, military science fiction, and space opera genres. Baen also founded the video game publisher, Baen Software. In late 1999, he started an electronic publishing business called Webscriptions, which is considered to be the first profitable e-book vendor.
An amateur press association (APA) is a group of people who produce individual pages or magazines that are sent to a Central Mailer for collation and distribution to all members of the group.
Superguy was originally a creative fiction writing group on the now-defunct UMNEWS mailing list service. After UMNEWS collapsed, the mailing list became internet-based.
James Patrick Kelly is an American science fiction author.
Collaborative fiction is a form of writing by a group of three or more authors who share creative control of a story.
Inspirational fiction is a sub-category within "inspirational literature," or "inspirational writing," defined in various ways in the United States and other nations. More and more bookstores and libraries consider inspirational fiction to be a separate genre, classifying and shelving books accordingly.
Jim Baen's Universe (JBU) was a bimonthly online fantasy and science fiction magazine created by Jim Baen. It was recognized by the SFWA as a Qualifying Short Fiction Venue. JBU began soliciting materials in January 2006 and launched in June 2006. The magazine contained around 120,000 to 150,000 words per issue. It closed in 2010.
Karen Russell is an American novelist and short story writer. Her debut novel, Swamplandia!, was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. She was also the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant" in 2013. In 2009 the National Book Foundation named her a 5 under 35 honoree.
Joseph Michael Staten is an American writer best known for his work at video game studio Bungie.
Baen Ebooks is an e-book supplier operated by Baen Books. It sells e-books for Baen and some other publishers, as well as hosting the Baen Free Library. Unlike most e-book suppliers, it does not use Digital Rights Management. Purchasers can download the same e-book in seven different formats, even long after the initial purchase. Their range of genres offered is heavy on science fiction and fantasy.
Bernardine Evaristo, MBE FRSL FRSA, FEA, is a British author of eight works of fiction. Her bestselling novel, Girl, Woman, Other, won the Booker Prize in 2019. It was also one of Barack Obama's 19 Favourite Books of 2019. Evaristo's writing also includes short fiction, drama, poetry, essays, literary criticism, and projects for stage and radio. Two of her books, The Emperor's Babe (2001) and Hello Mum (2010), have been adapted into BBC Radio 4 dramas. She is currently Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London and the vice-chair of the Royal Society of Literature.
A shared universe or shared world is a set of creative works where more than one writer independently contributes a work that can stand alone but fits into the joint development of the storyline, characters, or world of the overall project. It is common in genres like science fiction. It differs from collaborative writing in which multiple artists are working together on the same work and from crossovers where the works and characters are independent except for a single meeting.