William
Sanders
Senior Editor and Mean Old Bastard
I'm afraid I don't have any profound sooths to say this time around; the details would lack general interest, but enough to say that lately I've had a hell of a lot to deal with in my personal life, and it's left me a bit short on energy and focus. Oh, well, what the hell, nobody ever reads this stuff anyway....
This issue marks yet another landmark of sorts: it completes our first full calendar year of publication. (We had already hit the twelve-month point, of course, earlier this year.) Heigh ho, says A. Rowley.
Whether we're around this time next year is going to depend on you. I don't mean to bash on about this; by now I figure either people have gotten it or they haven't...but just so it's clear, we're not under some sort of geis to keep this thing going forever, nor are we in the grip of a pathological compulsion to provide free reading for the online masses. If at any time we should decide there hasn't been enough support — as in broad base, not necessarily any given total — or just that we're no longer enjoying what we're doing, we're outta here.
Or if we're no longer getting stories and poems that meet our standards of quality; but so far that hasn't been a problem. Quite the contrary, as you'll see by the contents of the current ish.
Some of the names have appeared in past issues; once again Jennifer Pelland and Jay Lake bring us their fine-honed cruelties, while Mike Allen, whose poem "Manifest Density" (Helix #2) was nominated for the Rhysling Award, returns with a powerful and disturbing story of possession and guilt.
Others are new to our pages. Ann Leckie honors us with a wonderfully imagined fantasy (warning: male readers, be prepared to cross your legs rapidly at at least one point); Vylar Kaftan gives us an almost painful look into the darkness of the human spirit. Sarah Castle weighs in with a tale as bitter as today's headlines. And Jayme Lynn Blaschke reminds us that there are no men so monstrous as those who do not realize they are monsters.
(Dark? Yeah, I suppose you could say the overall tone of this issue is pretty dark. What can I say? We never said we'd always be a barrel of yocks.)
In addition we have — I started to say the usual selection of outstanding poetry, but there's nothing "usual" about this fall's crop; and if I refrain from further comment it is merely that I feel altogether unqualified in this area. Fortunately we have the estimable Bud Webster, our poetry editor, in charge of this increasingly popular department.
We also have a new feature making its debut in this issue: Mr. John Barnes, noted SF author and academic, authority on semiotics (whatever they may be) and all sorts of neat stuff like that, presents the first in a series of critical essays calculated to elevate the intellectual tone of the magazine as well as having you saying, "Ooh, damn, he's smart!"
And finally, as always, the aforesaid Mr. Webster tells us about yet another towering figure from the back pages of SF. All in all another issue for us to be proud of, and for you to enjoy.
Or, if not, then you might care to perform what could be considered the supreme act of self-esteem.
Lawrence
Watt-Evans
Managing Editor and Freelance Pedant
Tales of the Unexpected
Now that we're into our second year, I'd like to review a few things. Publishing Helix has been an educational experience in many ways. There are several things that didn't go the way I expected them to. (The rest of the staff may have been more prescient, for all I know, but I didn't expect them.)
One surprise was just how harmless a story could be and still get rejected by other markets as "too controversial." Some readers have complained that we've said we were doing nasty, fierce, envelope-stretching stuff, and a lot of our stories didn't fit that description, but that wasn't what we actually said. What we said was that we would take the stories the big markets considered too dangerous.
The big markets are wimps. A story doesn't need to be nasty or fierce, or stretch any envelopes, to get rejected as dangerous; it just has to hit someone's hot button. Editors clearly think some people have really, really easy-to-push buttons.
A related surprise was the lack of hate mail. We have, after all, run a few politically-incorrect pieces, and I don't think we've gotten a single death threat yet. I think Will finds this disappointing, but I don't mind.
Apparently those people with easy-to-push buttons aren't reading us.
Another surprise was how the money worked out. I expected to just get lots of small donations; instead we've gotten a mix of large and small, and frankly, it's the big ones that have made it possible to pay our writers enough that we aren't horribly embarrassed, as there were fewer small ones than I'd expected.
The rest of the staff has made it plain to me that I was being over-optimistic in thinking we'd get zillions of small donations. Apparently no one but me thought we'd do as well as we have.
A pleasant surprise was how well the poetry has been received. It's one of the more popular parts of the package, and is getting favorable attention. I didn't think a lot of readers still cared about poetry these days; I'm glad I was wrong.
There were others, but the thing that has most baffled me is how many people think Helix is my baby. There have been several reviews and comments that referred to it as my creation, or that attributed it to "Lawrence Watt-Evans and William Sanders," in that order.
Naah. Will thought it up, and Will's in charge. That's what "senior" means in his title. That's why he's listed first, and why his editorial always comes before mine. I'm the second-in-command, the sidekick; he's the boss. He does the editing; I manage the money.
When Asimov's listed Gardner Dozois as editor and Sheila Williams as managing editor no one seemed to get confused about their roles, so I'm not sure why people did here, but it's definitely happened, so let me make this clear: Will's in charge. If we ever make conflicting statements about how Helix works, or what we want from it, or what we think we're doing, he's right and I'm wrong.
And it's not a two-man operation. Where I get too much credit, the rest of the staff doesn't get enough. I suppose that's because I get to write these editorials every issue.
If it sounds like I'm trying to disclaim responsibility, rest assured, I'm not; I'm very proud of Helix, and my association with it. I just want to keep the facts straight.
And really, that's about all I have to say. Helix is about the fiction, not me running off at the keyboard, so go read the stories. Enjoy.
And then send us money, so I'll have something to do.