FI #45 is here

Just yesterday, a crack team of Fiction International staffers packaged up copies of issue #45 and sent them on their way. So all of our subscribers and contributors, note well: The book is in the mail!

The front cover owl is courtesy of the fine photography of Ryan Seslow and the back cover features a mandala based on his image. If you’d like to peruse the full line-up of texts and art, visit our page here: Fiction International #45: About Seeing.

If you click the link, you can find the full text of several of the works. & if you haven’t gotten your copy, it’s not too late. In fact, if you order from Amazon here, you can even have one in 48 hours (if you order 1-day or 2-day shipping).

By the way, if you keep reading down the page, please ignore the note in the next post about your last chance. Submissions have closed for Fiction International #46: Real Time/Virtual. We’ll be making decisions soon, so sit tight, true believers….

“Art-Making in the Technosphere” Part 2 (Or: Ice Cream Congratulations)

Notes from the the Technosphere:

Diving back into the collaboration…
How do words fit in? Are we in space? And if so, who paid for our ride?

“…when giant corporations own the means of production and make barriers so low—not in order to democratize art, but in pursuit of the long tail, firm in the knowledge that a buck off a million books that sell one copy each is the same as a buck each from a million identical Fifty Shades of Greys—well, perhaps there is a slight devaluation of said art. Definitely there is a commodification.”

How can we taste the real?

Congratulations to FI Assistant Editor Ryan Forsythe for publication of “Untitled” in City Beat’s “Fiction 101” contest.  Find out how Roger learned the difference between the real and the imitation here:
http://www.sdcitybeat.com/sandiego/article-11171-fiction-101.html

And read the rest of “Art-Making in the Technosphere,” here:
http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~fictintl/story_46_compilation.html

What have you commodified today?

Call for submissions to Fiction International’s Real Time/Virtual issue

“Virtual” is not just interfacing with “real” time  but devouring it–at least in “developed” nations. Half the world, including much of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the elderly everywhere still inhabit real time, but these millions scarcely count. The electronic revolution/devolution seems unstoppable. Who is really profiting from it?

Fiction, non-fiction, indeterminate prose, and visuals which address “Real Time/Virtual” are welcome. Please submit hard copy from 9/1 to 12/15 2012 to:

Harold Jaffe, Editor
Fiction International
Dept of English
San Diego State University
5500 Campanile Drive
San Diego, CA USA 92182-6020
Query: <hjaffe@mail.sdsu.edu>

New Submission Theme

Our theme for the Fall 2012 reading period will be “Real Time/Virtual.” This submission period will begin September 1, 2012 and conclude December 15, 2012.

“Virtual” is not just interfacing with “real” time but devouring it — at least in so-called developed nations. Probably half the world, including much of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the elderly everywhere still inhabit real time, but these millions scarcely count. The electronic revolution (devolution) is a juggernaut. Who is really profiting from it?

Please see our guidelines at “submit” for submission details and addresses.

Introduction to the Unofficial Reports

What causes some families to turn on one of the children? It’s what Katherine Chariott tries to answer in “Introduction to the Unofficial Reports” from Fiction International’s DV8 issue. Deviate indeed!

#43: Walls

Issue #43: Walls contains fiction and art centered around the theme of WALLS.

#44 Deviate (DV8)

Our newest issue, #44, is called Deviate (DV8).

Hello world!

We decided it was time to get serious about the internet, so we will eventually abandon our website in favor of this WordPress presence. For obvious reasons – we can add components for Facebook, Twitter, and eventually Pinterest and Goodreads – and for the less-obvious reason that we can’t readily maintain a website using a steadily-rotating staff of graduate student editorial assistants, each bringing their own skill-set to enrich FI. This decade’s skill-set is social media (whereas last decade’s was websites and blogs) so we will adapt to the times we occupy.

We will devote the bulk of our effort to build and maintain the Pages you see above – about, catalog and subscribe. We will maintain the Posts only to provide “breaking” announcements – the latest theme, the latest submission period, the latest volume published, and changes and additions to the Pages. Thus, the Posts will be stark and serviceable while the Pages will be alive and brimming with fiction.

Feel free to comment on the Posts anyway, especially if you have questions for us. Questions about the theme. Questions about your submission. Questions about an issue. All will be answered as thoroughly and promptly as possible.

Questions about the weather? Sorry.

Harold Jaffe, Editor
Beverly Price, Managing Editor