Sale announcement: my science fiction short story “Recognition, Memory” will appear in Analog Science Fiction & Fact! Which required lots of negotiation with Analog’s new owners, but I ended up with a contract worth signing. More on that below the fold. First, a little story teaser!
So these hands were his, then. He ran one thumb against another, tracing a scar he didn’t recognize. Yet he knew how he got it. No memory rose to the surface of his mind, but when he cast a line into those dark waters, he knew he’d been making dinner for Alice, long before he proposed. The knife slipped, a beginner’s mistake; blood in the salad, her hands on his with only a bandage in between.
Those memories were his, somehow. They could belong to nobody else.
This short story does a lot of fun things with neuroscience and how it can manipulate character voice. But more about that when it’s published. If you’re in the science fiction & fantasy industry, as a writer or otherwise, you may be more interested in the next bit: about the contracts at Analog and its sibling magazines.
Must Read Magazines (MRM), the new owners of Analog Science Fiction & Fact, set off a lot of warning flags this summer over aggressive contracts and a frustrating communication style. Analog had accepted one of my stories May, so in August I decided to ask for a contract and wade into the fight myself. By then MRM had removed the worst clauses, but many issues remained. And so my negotiations began…
My negotiations were largely professional and fruitful. Every place where I had an issue, MRM’s representatives either compromised or explained their position. That said, I understand how MRM’s communication style frustrated some others in the industry; I encountered a few such bumps along the way, but we were always able to move past it.
Here’s the contract I signed, 27 emails later. It’s not perfect, but it addressed all of my biggest issues: rights are limited to “non-dramatic…for reading and listening,” edit/approval/acceptance language clarified, AI training forbidden, author attribution & moral rights persist.
I kept SFWA looped in throughout my negotiations, and both sides have said most of this language should get incorporated into MRM’s boilerplate for new contracts. (Except “special projects” clause 2e, that’s the version I wanted personally.) But the final MRM-SFWA discussions are still ongoing, so keep an eye out!
Obviously, I thought this contract was worth signing. I hope that MRM can do great new things with Analog, Asimov’s, F&SF, and their non-SFF mags. The editorial staff is unchanged, so the stories in there will be as good as ever. With these improved contracts, I hope MRM can convince the world’s great authors to come along for the ride.
My only regret is realizing too late that I would’ve liked a “no AI translations” clause. If you want that clause, well – a contract always has some room for negotition!