About
$8,052
263
The mission of the Unidentified Funny Objects (UFO) anthologies is to print great collections of funny, lighthearted, upbeat and plain weird stories.
The first UFO book came out in late 2012. It was very well-received, including positive reviews at Locus and Tangent. The second volume was released in 2013, once again garnering great reviews. Two of the stories from UFO2 were included in the 2013 Recommended Reading List by Tangent Online.
* Read a sample story from UFO1 by Jake Kerr written in the form of a Twitter feed
The third book is slated for October 2014 release. If this campaign funds, we'll be able to:
* Accept and publish more stories.
* Include original illustrations for more of the stories.
* Create cool promotions and spend some of the advertising dollars with other worthy genre venues (UFO anthologies were previously advertised at Clarkesworld, Daily Science Fiction, and Kasma SF).
STRETCH GOALS:
At $9000 level of funding, we will buy and publish approximately 50,000 words worth of reprint humorous short fiction at ufopub.com. The kind of stories that would have fit UFO but found homes elsewhere first. At the end of the year, these stories are going to be collected into their own e-book. This e-book will be sent to all backers who supported not just this one but *any* of the UFO campaigns.
At $10,000 we will raise the pay rate for our authors to $0.06 per word and also send ALL backers of this campaign a free e-book of Coffee: 14 Caffeinated Tales of the Fantastic anthology.
Each UFO book is an opportunity to read unusual, lighthearted tales of the kind seldom published in other venues. They feature original stories from some of the biggest names in science fiction as well as the talented up-and-comers. Also included are a pair of hand-selected reprints; great stories from genre grandmasters you almost certainly haven't read before.
Our team works very hard to produce beautiful books that look as good as anything from a major publisher. Some of the stories feature original illustrations by Barry Munden. The books are designed and copy-edited by experienced pros.
There will be an open submission period in March. It's not for only one or two slots either; a significant portion of the stories for each volume are bought from the "slush."
We're 100% committed to treating writers well, which means:
* Paying everyone professional rates of at least $0.05 per word.
* Reasonable contract terms -- we ask for only 90 days exclusivity and the ability to keep the book in print afterward.
* Fast responses -- most submissions are replied to in well under a week.
* No bias -- associate editors read submissions "blind" -- they don't know if the story is by a Hugo winner or a previously-unpublished author.
* We have fun doing this. Although most rejections are form to allow us to keep up lightning-fast response times, there is at least some chance you'll get a personalized missive like this.
* Submission guidelines are posted here.
We already have stories in from the following authors:
PIERS ANTHONY
Piers Anthony is one of the world's most popular fantasy authors and a New York Times bestseller twenty-one times over. He's the author of the Xanth series, the Apprentice Adept series, and many others.
ROBERT SILVERBERG
Robert Silverberg is a multiple winner of Hugo and Nebula Awards, a member of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and a Grand Master of SF.
MIKE RESNICK
Mike Resnick is the most award-winning science fiction writer in the genre's history and an editor of many great anthologies. He recently teamed up with Arc Manor Publishing to launch Mike Resnick's Galaxy's Edge Magazine, which is available to be read online.
KAREN HABER
Karen Haber is a science fiction and non-fiction author and editor, as well an art critic and historian. She is the author of nine novels including Star Trek Voyager: Bless the Beasts, and co-author of Science of the X-Men.
The following authors have also committed to contributing a story to UFO3:
ESTHER FRIESNER
Hugo and Nebula award winner and renowned author of humorous science fiction & fantasy, Friesner is the author of approximately 40 novels and the editor of many anthologies.
TIM PRATT
Hugo award winner and a nominee for Nebula, Stoker and Sturgeon awards, Pratt is the author of a dozen novels (including the popular Marla Mason series) and many short stories.
JODY LYNN NYE
Author of approximately 40 novels, Nye is well known for her humorous writing. She collaborated with Robert Asprin on many of the Myth Adventures books, wrote a number of other collaborations, as well as many novels on her own. She teaches an annual writing workshop at DragonCon.
JIM C. HINES
Winner of the Writers of the Future contest and the Best Fan Writer Hugo Award, Jim C. Hines is the author of 11 novels, including the very funny Goblin Quest series of books.
GINI KOCH
Gini Koch is a science fiction, fantasy, and horror writer based in Phoenix, Arizona. She is best known for the Alien Series novels, published in the United States by DAW Books.
DAVID FARLAND
David Farland is an award-winning, New York Times bestselling author with dozens of books to his credit. He began his career writing short fiction as a prize writer, which vaulted him into prominence in the mid-1980s. He has written science fiction under his own name, Dave Wolverton, including the highly praised On My Way to Paradise, which won the Philip K. Dick Memorial Special Award for "Best Novel in the English Language."
There are several other exciting authors who said they will try to get us a story by the deadline, but didn't outright commit to the project. We hope to make some announcements about this as the campaign progresses.
Cover art by Tomasz Maronski
Interior illustrations by Barry Munden
ABOUT THE EDITOR
Alex Shvartsman is a writer, translator, game designer, and editor. Over 50 of his short stories have appeared in Nature, Intergalactic Medicine Show, Daily Science Fiction, Galaxy's Edge, and many other magazines and anthologies.
He's the editor of Unidentified Funny Objects 1 & 2, Coffee: 14 Caffeinated Tales of the Fantastic, and Dark Expanse anthologies.
Here's a fun interview where he attempted to explain why he's doing this.
Most of the backer rewards involve some combination of the three existing UFO Publishing books and/or the upcoming UFO3 title.
Anything you can contribute to this campaign is greatly appreciated. But even if you are unable to pledge, you can still help by spreading the word about us to others. Thank you!
Risks and challenges
The greatest challenge in an undertaking like this is meeting deadlines. The book is planned for an October release and we've been working on it for months now and hope to remain on schedule.
The list of headliners may also change slightly; occasionally an author might not be able to deliver the story on time, or the story doesn't fit the book well enough.
This is the fourth anthology from UFO Publishing. The other books were produced as promised and the backer rewards were delivered. We expect no less from this project.
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Funding period
- (30 days)