Rick Wilber's Blog

  I'm delighted to let everyone know that "The Hind," a generation-ship novelette written by myself and Kevin J. Anderson, won the Canopus Award for Excellence in Interstellar Writing. Canopus recognizes “the finest fiction and non-fiction works that expand our understanding of the challenges, opportunities, pitfalls, and rewards of interstellar space exploration.” The award was made in Nairobi in February. "The Hind" previously won the Asimov's Science Fiction magazine Readers' Award for Best Novelette.

  Kevin and I have sold the sequel to that story, a novella entitled "The Death of the Hind," to Asimov's and you can watch for that sometime in 2023. 

My story in the new Sunday Morning Transport, "To the Mean, went live on Sunday, Feb 26th. It's a time-travel story, set in a near future independent Scotland and third-century Roman Britain, in the time period when Emperor Septimius Severus came to Caledonia to conquer (temporarily) the restive tribes. There's a love affair between the Severus and an exiled first minister from Scotland, then things really get interesting. Here's how you can see the story and start your special 60-day free subscription link.

https://www.sundaymorningtransport.com/17107696 

 

A Busy Year on the Writing Front

Nonfiction/Essays

Los Angeles Times: “What my son with Down syndrome taught me about baseball — and life” (https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2022-10-03/a-father-a-son-and-an-almost-perfect-day-of-baseball ) “The Spruce Goose, the Hollywood Stars, and America’s Nazis” (From Earth to the Stars blog) (https://fromearthtothestars.com/2022/08/04/the-spruce-goose-the-hollywood-stars-and-americas-nazis/ )

3) “Q&A with Rick Wilber on ‘Blimpies’”  (From Earth to the Stars blog https://fromearthtothestars.com/2022/03/17/qa-with-rick-wilber-3/ )

Fiction Sold or Published in 2022

“The Greeter” (short story, with Lisa Lanser Rose, in Asimov’s Science Fiction, forthcoming in 2023) “The Storyteller” (novelette, Merciless Mermaids anthology, WordFire Press, forthcoming in 2023) “The Goose” (novella, Asimov’s Science Fiction, July/August 2022) “Blimpies” (novella, Asimov’s Science Fiction, March/April 2022)

Fiction Submitted

“The Death of the Hind” (novella, with Kevin J. Anderson) “To the Mean” (short story) “The Hill and the Stars” (novel) “The Donkey’s Hind” (short story)

Work in Progress

Media Matters (college textbook, 2nd edition, with John Saunders of University of Alabama-Huntsville) Encyclopedia updates on baseball/science fiction “The Civil Servant” (science fiction, with Joe Haldeman, a novel? A novella? We’re working on it) “Insensitive Sounds” (novel) Collaborations in the works with a handful of other writers, ranging from WWII alt history involving Scapa Flow to multiverse story with Hugh Everett to a baseball fantasy that involves a witch and a DiMaggio or three to a high-tech thriller that involves some baseball and some gee whiz brain/computer interface tech and a lunch in Palo Alto, and a train ride (or maybe it’s a passenger liner) with Alfred Hitchcock. Looking forward to working on all of these works-in-progress in 2023 with all these fabulous writers. I’ll get my part done, I swear.

Awards (Finalist or Winner) received in 2022

“The Hind,” an Asimov’s Readers’ Award for Best Novelette in the magazine. The story is a collaboration with Kevin J. Anderson (award received at Chicon a year late because of Covid) “The Hind,” (collaboration with Kevin J. Anderson) is a Finalist for the Canopus Award for Excellence in Interstellar Writing. Canopus recognizes “the finest fiction and non-fiction works that expand our understanding of the challenges, opportunities, pitfalls, and rewards of interstellar space exploration.” Award made in Nairobi in February. “Billie the Kid,” Asimov’s Readers’ Award finalist for Best Novelette of 2021 in the magazine. “Billie the Kid,” from Asimov’s, a finalist for the 2022 Sidewise Award for Best Alternate History—Short form.

     I recently had the chance to write an essay for the Los Angeles Times about my Down syndrome son, Richard Jr., and the baseball game we attended in August, in which Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen -almost- threw a perfect game. Had he done it, it would have been just the 24th perfecto in Major League Baseball History. Wow.

     Rasmussen didn't find perfection, but writing about it gave me the chance to talk about my son and our life together. Here's the link: https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/...

Here's a fun interview I did with Asimov's Science Fiction magazine's excellent From Earth to the Stars blog. All about my "Billie the Kid," novella, where a teenage girl baseball shortstop for the Hollywood Stars of the Pacific Coast League in 1945 flies a B-25 to save the world, or least Los Angeles, from destruction. Q&A with Rick Wilber . 

    I'm really pleased to report that the Asimov's Science Fiction magazine Readers' Award winners were recently announced and my story, "The Hind,"  (co-authored with best-selling science fiction writer Kevin J. Anderson) won the award for best novelette. I'll paste in the complete winners' list below.

     "The Hind" is a generation-ship story that follows a young woman aboard a damaged ship that is adrift in outer space. She's facing a personal dilemmas because of the ship's limited life support systems. Ultimately she finds some answers and some people who can help. It's a story of personal challenges, courage, hope and redemption. It also involves an older woman with dementia who just might have the key to saving everyone.

     Kevin and I conjured up the outline of the story when we were on a long, mountain drive from Colorado Springs to Western Colorado University in Gunnison, CO, where we both are on the faculty of the very fine low-residency MFA in Creative Writing program at Western. Kevin then dictated the first draft of the story while hiking a mountain near Gunnison. Incredibly, this is Kevin's standard way to write, dictating the first draft of his best-selling novels and stories while hiking up one 14,000-foot peak or another in Colorado.

     He then turned the story over to me, and a couple of months later I'd pushed and pulled and expanded it a bit and sent it back his way for the OK. We then sent it in to Asimov's Editor Sheila Williams, who bought it for the November/December 2020 issue of the magazine and now it's won the best of the year award for novelettes in that outstanding publication. Here's the complete list of winners, from the magazine's press release.

New York, NY—We are pleased to announce the winners of the thirty-fifth annual Asimov’s Science Fiction Readers’ Awards (the bold emphasis is mine).  They are:

 

Best Novella:              “Take a Look at the Five and Ten” by Connie Willis (11-12/20)

Best Novelette:             “The Hind” by Kevin J. Anderson & Rick Wilber (11-12/20)

Best Short Story:         “Go. Now. Fix.” by Timons Esais (1-2/20)

Best Poem:                  “Ode to Cassini” by Jane Yolen (5-6/20)

Best Cover Artist:       John Picacio (3-4/20)

 

   I was really pleased to have a chance to talk with Ed and Lee at the Rare Book Cafe the other day. We talked about science fiction in general, my new ALIEN DAY novel in particular, but also about my fictional take on famous World War II baseball player and spy Moe Berg. It was a great chat! Here's the link: Rare Book Cafe Interviews Rick Wilber

    I had a great interview the other day with Risingshadow.net, a top Science Fiction and Fantasy website, about my ALIEN DAY novel and also about my background in sports and fiction, my teaching at Western Colorado University, my short fiction in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine, and much more. Here's the link: Risingshadow interview with Rick Wilber

 

    Reviewer Ernest Lilley for Amazing Stories gives my Alien Day novel a great review and includes it in his short list of "Science Fiction to Look for in June 2021." Lilley is one of the first reviewers I've seen to focus on one of the overriding plot elements in this novel and, indeed, the trilogy, where a previous high-tech society (I call them the Old Ones, which is a standard science-fiction trope, for sure) left their planet in a hurry for some reason and the S'hudonni (my primary alien species) came in later to find a planet fully stocked with amazing technology that was left behind. Will those Old Ones return someday soon to reclaim their planet? Will they threaten Earth, as well? That's what we'll find out in Book Three of the trilogy. For now, enjoy Alien Day! 

  Along with Twoclicks and all the rest of the characters in ALIEN DAY, I hope you’ll enjoy the wry and often darkly comic tone of this novel, and that you’ll find the book's gender-bending frolics (subtly handled, I’d like to think) as entertaining as the intense action scenes. This book is the sequel to ALIEN MORNING, which was a finalist for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel of the year in 2017. In this one, our hero Peter Holman remains as dazed and confused as he was in the first book, but his heart is in the right place (in several different ways) as he attempts to rescue his kidnapped sister Kait, who doesn't need his help, thank you very much. He’s also wrong about his erstwhile celebrity girlfriend, TV star Chloe Cary, who's apparently not as into him as he thinks or hopes as she busily turns her action-hero acting role into the real deal in a couple of deadly conflicts, including one with Peter's brother Tom, our villain, who’s leading an insurrection that just might succeed. Or not. Meanwhile, behind the scenes and moving all the levers, is Twoclicks, Earth's jovial but deadly alien overlord, who's mostly concerned with turning a profit and having a lot of fun while he's doing it. I think it's a good read and I hope you'll consider picking up a copy. It's available in all the usual places. Want a signed copy? We've worked out a way to make that happen. Just ask!