posted 20 May 2001

Hello
by Diane Silver, Editor

Welcome to The Broadsheet, the newest house on the science fiction, fantasy and horror block.

Think of this place as a combination of old and new, familiar and strange. We're Victorian stateliness that morphs into towering glass with the oddest shimmering in the backyard that might be a force field, or perhaps, a portal into an alternative world. We have a wide front porch and living rooms with plush couches and chairs where you can rest and talk with your peers. We've also built laboratories where we will search for the truth below the surface of our genres. The purpose of this construction is to explore every aspect of the professional lives of women writers and artists of SF/F/H. If we do our job right, you should find something to both interest and help you here, whether you are a writer, artist, reader, editor, teacher or bookseller.

What will you find in the Broadsheet?

Our THINK section provides commentary and discussion. Check out Amy Hanson's "What Broad Universe Means To Me" to learn one person's vision of this bouncing baby organization. The dreams of some of BroadU's members are detailed in the Letters To The Editor column.

CREATE aims to provide information and ponderings on all aspects of the creative process from the technical to the personal. Our first offerings are both from Laura Resnick. One article provides detailed information on researching swords and sword fighting and other traditional weapons and combat, while the second tackles the problem of how to answer the wild and often puzzling questions fans pose to writers. Stay tuned for articles on outlining, characterization, writing about magic and the impact of fear on a writer's work.

SELL is designed to give writers and artists the necessary tools and information to thrive in the genre marketplace. Our first offerings include Suzette Haden Elgin's low-cost, low-effort tips on keeping your book alive, Lyda Morehouse's how-to on schmoozing, and a list of resources for researching agents online. Coming soon: Nebula Award-winning author Pat Murphy talks about the joys and problems of winning awards.

READ provides book lists and other tools for the well-equipped reader, including reviews of new books by women and retro-reviews of older works. Our first offerings are Amy Sterling Casil's review of Brenda Clough's Doors of Life and Death, Gwyneth Jone's in-depth retro-review of Carol Emswiller's The Start of the End of It All, and the first of several reading lists compiled and annotated by Elizabeth Barrette. Future reading lists will cover books on empathy, xenolinguistics and polyamory.

TEACH offers a look at all aspects of teaching SF/F/H and writing, and opens with a list of the most frequently used books by women authors in college science fiction courses.

GOSSIP is our news section and offers news of Broad Universe and the genre, including reports of awards, new books, author appearances, awards and contests, calls for submissions and information on conferences, workshops and retreats.

We will update at least once a month, but expect to be offering new articles far more frequently than that.

Consider this your invitation. It's a warm spring day. The sun is shining, the porch is shady, the lake is glistening blue, and the ice tea and beer are cold. Join us and sit a while. Let us know what you think, and let's see if together we might be able to transform the SF/F/H world.