Editorial by Ian Whates, Lou Anders, Peter Crowther and Samantha Smith
After an overlong hiatus, we’re delighted to be able to start the Matrix ball rolling once more! The ever-willing John Harvey has stepped in to man the breach left in lay-out and production by Kim’s departure and we have others waiting in the wings, making us confident that this is not a one-off appearance but rather marks a return to regular issues. So, welcome one and all to the first Matrix of 2009!
Sadly, we’re returning to a far less bright and optimistic world than the one in which Matrix last appeared. Publishing has been affected by the recent economic upheavals as has every other area of society, with word of massed redundancies from the US, small presses such as Elastic and Pendragon ceasing publication, imprints such as Solaris being put up for sale, magazines such as the long-established Realms of Fantasy closing, and even that flagship of genre publications Fantasy and Science Fiction moving to a reduced bi-monthly publishing schedule… So are things really that bad? Is there no good news?
Well, no and yes – which is not to be obtuse but rather to take the two questions in turn.
Of course times are hard, but when you examine the above litany of depression, it’s not all as bad as it seems. Yes, several very good small presses have gone to the wall, but the closure of Elastic, for example, was planned two years ahead of time. The fact it’s end coincided with the current ‘economic downturn’ is pure coincidence. Pete Crowther’s PS Publishing – which is perhaps too big to be described as a ‘small press’ these days – continues to go from strength to strength, producing a diverse mix of quality genre fiction, including this year’s Clarke Award winner by Ian R. MacLeod. Other small presses too continue to thrive – my own NewCon Press has already produced three new titles this year with more planned.
Realms of Fantasy has reopened under new ownership. Fantasy and Science Fiction, although less frequent, is bigger, and claims to be producing more pages of fiction than ever before. Solaris have found a buyer, so will continue to publish books, and there is even a brand new genre imprint stepping forth among us – Harper Collins’ Angry Robot.
So yes, things are far from perfect, but it’s not all bad news. To try and lift everyone’s spirits and lighten the mood, Matrix has asked a few of our friends in the publishing world to comment on the hottest things now and in the near future (of course) in SF. For the record, Pete Crowther is an author, editor, and proprietor of PS Publishing, Lou Anders is the Editorial Director of Pyr (an imprint of Prometheus Books) and Samantha Smith is Commissioning Editor for Little Brown Books’ Orbit and Atom imprints. Here’s what they had to say.
Peter Crowther: Coming up with a pithy sentence or two prophesying the next big trend in a particular area of fiction is a great opportunity to make oneself look like a total goofball and I want to thank you for asking me to take part ("Here, take this mallet -- now hit yourself on the head with it."). I'm a little wary that anything I might say is more likely to reflect what I want to be the case than what I think will be the case . . . but, that said, I do have one or two idle thoughts that may be appropriate -- the first of which I most assuredly do not want to be the case, incidentally. The massive success (commercial if not always critical) of comicbook superhero movies could well increasingly spill over into 'books without pictures'. It's a riff on the old 'shared world' anthologies popular a few years back and, frankly, I'm surprised there hasn't been more evidence of such a drift already. Some good work-for-hire opportunities to be had for those interested, methinks. Aside from that, the recent push on the part of more SETI initiatives should lead to more 'first contact' novel-length explorations, and that would be good news to these jaded ears and eyes. And isn't it about time for a bit of a resurgence of cyberpunk? There, I think that should be sufficiently vague to avoid my shooting off too many toes!
Lou Anders: From our perspective, "genre" is the hottest trend right now, as SF&F books seem to be the best-performing category in this recession and our own book sales have seen steady growth for months. Inside that, we're seeing real success with a certain type of epic fantasy – that grittier, more realistic, perhaps more politically savvy fantasy where the line between good and evil, hero and villain, is not so clear. We're having great success with Joe Abercrombie, Tom Lloyd Matthew Sturges, with more on the horizon. (And we're also having a lot of success with bringing talent British authors across the pond, as always). I'm curious about steampunk, whether it really is the hot trend that it seems to be. I'm not sure, but I'm hopeful. In terms of science fiction, it's an odd time. I think that established authors are doing really, really well, but that it's hard to break in a debut SF author in the USA right now, more so than a debut fantasy author. And if I had to predict, I'd say that the new American administration will see a return of optimism and exuberant futures to American SF literature.
Samantha Smith: I think the whole idea of ‘trends’ or ‘what’s hot’ is a bit of a minefield. If you look at some really obvious examples, let’s take YA, you can’t look at the last five or ten years and say wizards were hot and now vampires are hot based on the successes of Harry Potter and Twilight. What makes those books stand out isn’t that JK Rowling tapped into some popular zeitgeist, though that might have been a factor, it’s that the writing really hit a cord and resonated with the readers. The same is true, I think, of SF. You can’t say space opera or near future or what-have-you will be the next big thing because the next big thing is, invariably, a good story told exceptionally well.
Who could ask for anything more? Many thanks to Lou, Pete and Sam for taking part.
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