Mr. Warren Lapine of the acclaimed science fiction publication Absolute Magnitude was kind enough to give me this interview for The Market List. I hope everyone enjoys it. -- Shauna Skye

SHAUNA: For the benefit of those who have never seen your publication, tell us a bit about Absolute Magnitude, the type of fiction you feature, etc.

WARREN: Absolute Magnitude is a full-sized, full-color science fiction magazine that specializes in character-driven action/adventure science fiction with an emphasis on hard SF. The stories in it are all fast paced, but they are also sophisticated and packed with emotional content. I want the reader to be entertained, but I'd also like to challenge the reader. Many of the more literature-orientated science fiction magazines seem to have forgotten that good stories should be entertaining. It's quite possible to be literate and accessible at the same time and that's what I shoot for.

SHAUNA: Other than Harsh Mistress (the old name for Absolute Magnitude) have you edited any other publications?

WARREN: Absolute Magnitude is the only magazine that I've edited, but I'm currently shopping around an anthology that I'm editing with Allen Steele, and an Absolute Magnitude anthology will be coming out next year from Tor books.

SHAUNA: I know you write as well as edit. How does being a writer affect the way you edit?

WARREN: Being a writer has a very strong effect on my editorial style. I know what it's like to wait six months and only get a form rejection letter. I won't do that to my writers. I try to keep my return time down around two weeks and I never let it get longer than one month. I also try and comment on the stories that are submitted to me as often as I can.

SHAUNA: If you could choose only one (and the pay was the same) which would you prefer to do: write or edit?

WARREN: Now that's a hard question to answer. I love both for different reasons. As an editor you can help new writers develop and if you're good your style can have long lasting effects on the field. when I started Absolute Magnitude I was told by every one that mattered in the field that action adventure science fiction was dead. Now everyone is looking for it. Kristine Kathryn Rusch recently wrote an article calling for the return of the sense of adventure to science fiction. I wonder if she would have written that editorial if Absolute Magnitude hadn't been such a success.

Writing is very different than editing. Editing is the best job in the world, but it is definitely work. Writing, on the other hand, at least to me, isn't work. I could write all day if I had the time. The only other thing that I've ever experienced that comes close to the rush I get when everything is clicking with a story was being on stage back when I played in a metal band. So if I had to choose, and thank God I don't, I'd have to choose the writing.

SHAUNA: Other than studying your guidelines thoroughly, what other advice can you give writers who wish to be published in Absolute Magnitude?

WARREN: Reading the magazine if definitely the way to go. then ask yourself what was it about the openings each of these stories had that grabbed the editor. What was it about the endings that worked for him. How did the stories get from the opening to the ending and what took place in between. If you ask yourself these questions you'll find that you'll begin to understand the magazine.

SHAUNA: What are some of your pet peeves in regards to submissions?

WARREN: I don't have a lot of pet peeves. A writer should always send proper postage for a response. It's also not a good idea to start a cover letter with, "I know this isn't exactly the kind of story you publish, but. . . " the only other think I'll say is don't ever give a synopsis of your story in the cover letter. If you're a good writer who writes terrible synopsis's you can hurt your chances of selling a story.

SHAUNA: What are a new writer's chances of being published in Absolute Magnitude?

WARREN: Really that depends on the writer. I've purchased a number of first stories, and I have a newcomer's corner in each issue that features a new writer. Still, I see two thousand stories for each ten that I purchase. That's pretty much norm for the field. But writers shouldn't let that get them down. If you're good and you have perseverance you'll make it. Perseverance is really the most important quality for a writer to have.

SHAUNA: Will you consider rewrites based on your comments of a story if a writer queries first?

WARREN: I prefer not to see rewrites unless I ask for them. If they're sent, I'll be kind and read it, but there is almost no chance that I'll buy it.

SHAUNA: Is there anything special you'd like to say the Market List readers? The floor is yours.

WARREN: Whenever I talk to a group of writers I like to tell them my slush pile story. When I first started the magazine I received a story from a writer that was so bad I almost told her to stop killing trees. To put in perspective, I think there were three characters in the story and I think it took place inside, but I'm not sure. At any rate I decided that simply rejecting the story would be enough. Two years later she sent me a story that I had to read three times before I could decide whether or not to buy it. If I had been editing any other magazine, I would have purchased the story. Not quite enough adventure for AM. My point is, if you have the desire and you write your heart out it doesn't matter how bad you are when you start, you will get better and you will have a chance to make it.

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ADDED NOTE: I could be wrong, but I believe the horrible writer and heartless killer of trees that Warren mentions from three years back was me. (Or rather, my evil twin.) I must admit I have improved my writing over the last couple of years. Yes I still have much to learn, since honing one's craft is a never-ending process, but like the commercial says: I've come a long way baby! If indeed it was I Mr. Lapine refers to (and I'm willing to bet all the tea in China it was) I think it's humorous that he still remembers that submission. That must have shown how bad it was.

Thanks much to Mr. Lapine for doing this interview, and for always being personable even when sending rejections!

Copyright © 1996 by Shauna Skye. All Rights Reserved.