The Dog Star

As you may or may not know, I have written almost no original fiction since the start of last year. My wife and I took advantage of an opportunity to buy my employer out and become self-employed.

I was managing editor of The Clarksville Times for a full three years before this opportunity presented itself. It seemed to be fate. I've grown very unhappy with the state of speculative fiction. The traditional avenues of science fiction and fantasy have been totally corrupted by political correctness and ideological intolerance. Quite frankly, I enjoy NOT writing spec fic any more, and I don't miss it one bit. I never would have taken it up if I knew I'd have to be cheek by jowl with such elitists and limousine liberals. It's not any fun any more.

Back when I started in 2003, editors tended to judge a work by its quality first, but since then there's been a shift towards investigating an author to determine his or her political correctness first before actually evaluating the merit of his or her work. There are a few venues that still for the quality of the work, but they are so few as to not merit mentioning.

Of course, I was radicalized by the way the Sad Puppies were abused in 2015. Time has proven us more right that we could have hoped for. The Hugos are now some kind of bullshit left wing participation prize. This year the Nebulas are in convulsions because some indie authors got on the ballot - not the "right" kind of people. Like in the French Revolution Reign of Terror, the s-f literary leftists keep purging their own ranks.

Although I enjoy not competing for recognition in a genre that is badly broken, there are still many good people and aspiring authors who care, and I feel bad for them. I had an idea to perhaps support and encourage them, and that's to open up a small e-zine they can be published in.

The idea coalesced when I made a connection between Sad Puppies and the Dog Star - Sirius. So I decided to name the e-zine Sirius Science Fiction. I also hope there is an echo of "serious" in the name.

I think that, with the iron blacklist being enforced by the leading short fictions against authors identified as conservatives or moderate, and/or Christians, there is surely a market for short fiction that will be considered without being subjected to any ideological litmus test.

I whipped up one of those free Blogspot blogs today and launched the effort. You can find it here:

I've already had four submissions in its first day. I plan to publish an original story every Friday, with launch set for May 3.