Realms of Fantasy: Penumbra is Standing on the Shoulders of A Giant

Readers and fans of speculative fiction were saddened and perhaps a little traumatized by the announcement last November that Realms of Fantasy was closing its doors for good.  I know I certainly was.  Like many other fantasy writers, I pored over issues of RoF, reading all those outstanding short stories and appreciating the sheer beauty of the art and illustrations of the magazine.  Realms of Fantasy was close to the hearts of many writers like myself, where we could study the stories that made it past the golden portals of the RoF slushpile and onto those lovely pages.

As soon as the announcement was made, the directors here at Musa and I discussed what the closing of RoF would mean to the lover of short speculative fiction.  I'd just returned from the World Fantasy Convention in San Diego, and Penumbra, the spec fic eMag we'd launched at the same time as Musa, was getting a lot of positive attention.

It took us less than an hour to decide that we would offer to fulfill and complete the contracts of Realms of Fantasy's electronic subscribers. I'm not going to be disingenuous and claim that we don't have ulterior motives.  Of course we do--we want the Realms of Fantasy readers to take a look at Penumbra and what we do there.  But by the same token, we wanted to offer something not only to the readers of RoF, who lost a magazine they loved, but also to the owners and staff of RoF, who'd tried so hard for so long to keep the magazine going.  So I contacted RoF to submit our offer--and, after discussions on both our parts, the following agreement was reached:

First: Penumbra eMag, a division of Musa Publishing, will fulfill the remainder of the contract terms between Realms of Fantasy and their subscribers.  Although Realms of Fantasy was a bimonthly publication, we are considering the terms to be the annual contract.  So say, for example, a reader had two issues left on their subscriptions.  At Musa, that is the equivalent of four issues of Penumbra.

Second: In addition, all Realms of Fantasy electronic subscribers will immediately receive the November, December and January issues of Penumbra. We will be sending out our welcome packet to RoF subscribers, including those three issues, over the course of the next few days.

And finally: Penumbra will provide some/any/all Realms of Fantasy print subscribers with ONLY the November, December, and January issues, and include them in our February subscription mailing as well.  Because there's no way for us to track this provision, we've agreed to provide these issues on an 'honor' basis.

Realms of Fantasy was one of the great speculative fiction magazines, beloved of writers and readers alike.  The magazine will be sorely missed in the industry because every issue was a work of art--not only the visually stunning illustrations and covers, but amazing fiction and in depth articles written by authors at the pinnacle of the genre. You, as subscribers to RoF, have a very distinctive palate--a taste for sf/f fiction that is  both refined and forward-thinking. That's why throughout the course of your association with Penumbra, we'll be polling subscribers, seeking your input on our content as we continue to build and add new elements to the magazine.  

We at Musa Publishing and Penumbra eMag are proud to welcome the RoF readers to our world.  We'd like to thank Realms of Fantasy magazine, the Gilchrists and all their outstanding staff for not only the wonderful magazine brought to us over the years, but also for granting us the honor of introducing Penumbra to their loyal readers.

Realms of Fantasy subscribers may contact Penumbra for more information or for any questions.  RoF print subscribers: to claim your issues of Penumbra, email me at editor@penumbra.musapublishing.com to receive your first three issues of Penumbra and our welcome packet.  You'll receive your fourth issue, the February Shakespeare issue, on February 1 along with all our other subscribers.

Farewell, Realms of Fantasy and thank you for the years of cutting edge speculative fiction you've given your readers and fans.

And welcome, Realms of Fantasy subscribers to life on the edge of the eclipse--welcome to Penumbra.

Excitement Is Growing at Penumbra

It's kind of hard to blog right now. I want to act like a completely spoiled brat and bounce up and down on my chair yelling, "I know something you don't know! I know something you don't know! Neener neener neener!"



But I won't. I promise.



This weekend we'll be announcing the lineup of the inaugural issue of Penumbra. The first issue of any magazine is really important, especially to the people who decide which writers/stories to publish. You second guess your decisions. (Is this really the best story? What about...) You want to ignore things that you're paid NOT to ignore.



Like budgets. Or word counts.



And in the end, you just get all the stories together and fiddle with them, reading them over and over until you decide which arrangement is going to work the best. That pretty much encapsulates my night, and considering that I'm blogging at three in the morning should tell you how *not* easy this was.



But at last it's done. And not just THIS issue, but I have the next TWO done as well, which gets us through the end of the year. This afternoon we spent an hour going through cover art images and that got me stoked too. So tonight, then, I've been luxuriating in outstanding short fiction from writers all over the world. Experience levels run from debut authors who've never been published to established pros whose resumes make me very jealous.



Interested in joining them? Take a look at the special calls for themes Penumbra has set up.



Happy writing! And remember: keep an eye on this blog and the Penumbra website for the announcement of the writers in the first issue.

Penumbra launches on October 1, 2011.

PENUMBRA OPEN CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:

Sports and games:

Have a football story with an interesting twist? Invent a bizarre game on another world? Or, did you have a game on this world go horribly wrong? Well, if your story is around 3k or under, we want to see it!

CALL ENDS SEPTEMBER 15, 2011.

Shakespeare:

We have a deep and abiding passion for the Bard and his works. So if you've reworked one of his plays into your story, or have Shakespeare as a character, or even if you write the story PAST his plays—as long as there's a speculative fiction twist, then it might find its way into this winter, 2012 issue.

CALL ENDS OCTOBER 31, 2011

Steampunk:

Create your best gizmos and gear up for the goggle-gouging fun that is steampunk. And yes, at Penumbra, gaslight fantasy counts. All steampunk, all the time—which means anything goes for this issue as long as it's firmly rooted in the subgenre.

CALL ENDS NOVEMBER 15, 2011

Musa EMag 2011 Issues, New Opportunities and Spec Fic Everywhere!

Over the past few weeks, we've been playing with several different directions for Penumbra EMag, the upcoming electronic magazine from Musa Publishing. It's not easy to put a publishing house and a magazine together at the same time. But...well...we like challenges. At the moment, this whole process is exhilarating. Reading and adjudicating submissions, playing with different stories for different issues, working on layout and design, viewing art—all of these processes have been a lot of fun, believe it or not.



Each issue will be themed. Some of those issues will just have the genre as the theme, but others will be centered around a concept, one that lends itself to all three genres we accept. For example, the issue we're releasing on October 1, 2011, to launch both the magazine and Musa will be an arts-themed issue. Every story deals with either music or painting or writing or dancing or scultping—you get the idea. I *personally* am so impressed by the beautifully written, evocative, outstanding works of shorter fiction in my final selection group that I get excited just thinking about it.



Not very editorial, you say? You need to meet more editors.



The November 1, 2011, issue is death-themed. Yeah, I know: that creates a broad spectrum I can choose from, but I like that. Besides, you can never have too much death, now can you? (That would be the spec fic hack in me talking. I have more fun writing a great death than anything else) The December 1, 2011, will feature stories involving travel (time travel included!).



Once we get into the beginning of 2012, we'll have our sports-themed issue—either spec fic treatments of real-life sports or created sports in other worlds/eras/societies. What better way to survive Super Bowl Sunday than with a jai alai game in Hell? And then, there's my particular favorite, the Shakespeare issue. Reworking Shakespeare into a different genre—hardcore sci fi Romeo and Juliet could be a lot of fun. If Sense and Sensibility can hook up with zombies, just think how much fun Hamlet performed with hamsters could be! Or, conversely, stories that deal with Shakespeare in other ways—like an urban fantasy that takes place at a Shakespearean festival. We're looking at an all-steampunk issue, a space opera issue, an homage to Ray Bradbury whose short story All Summer In A Day still has one of my favorite sentences ever:

It was as if, in the midst of a film, concerning an avalanche, a tornado, a hurricane, a volcanic eruption, something had, first, gone wrong with the sound apparatus, thus muffling and finally cutting off all noise, all of the blasts and repercussions and thunders, and then, second, ripped the film from the projector and inserted in its place a peaceful tropical slide which did not move or tremor.

Let's just say the possibilities are endless. Speculative fiction is grand that way. (Authors—please don't submit for these potential themed issues until we issue a specific call for that issue. Thanks!)



In the next week or so, we'll be setting our lineup for each issue. One of the other exciting things we're doing with Penumbra is our Rising Talent free read. Every month, we'll select one of the manuscripts from a newer author that makes it to the later rounds of evaluation and publish it on our site for Penumbra fans to check out. That author will get paid a flat fee for the story—so yes, it's a sale!—and we'll introduce him or her to speculative fiction readers. We are also adjudicating art submissions for each issue. The art director will select her top five picks each month and use them in the magazine, and readers will be able to vote for their favorites. The artist who wins the monthly contest will get a cash prize of $50 and a commission for another piece of featured art in a future Penumbra issue.



Not too shabby.



So stay tuned. Keep an eye on what's going on. We'll list special theme submission calls, information about our authors and great deals for the readers. Excitement is building in the Penumbra offices—and hopefully that excitement is contagious.