Announcing Sirius Science Fiction!

Superstar Short Story Writer Lou Antonelli stopped by the blog to let people know about a new science fiction short fiction outlet, Sirius Science Fiction: 

Lou Antonelli is a Texas-based author who in the real world owns and operates his local newspaper, The Clarksville Times in Red River County, Texas. He’s been a journalist for 40 years, which probably explains why he is so prolific at the short story length of fiction. His first professional sale was Gardener Dozois’ last acceptance at Asimov’s Science Fiction in 2005.

He’s had 126 short stories published in 16 years, and has been a finalist for both the Hugo and the Sidewise Award for Alternate History. His only novel so far, Another Girl, Another Planet, was a finalist for the Dragon Award in Alternate History in 2017.

Lou says the always tight short fiction market has become almost non-existent if you were a Sad Puppy, such as he was in 2015. Earlier this year he decided to do something about it, and he started his own online short fiction venue last spring.

Sirius Science Fiction (get it – Sirius, the Dog Star, puppies?) kicked off with five fine original stories in May, and then went on hiatus for the summer. It’s started again this fall and each week publishes an original story online.

The guidelines state:

“In a time when mainstream speculative fiction has been overrun by political correctness and identity politics, we offer a venue free of pretension and ideological litmus tests. We read the story free of preconceptions, and we do not ask for a biography from an author until and unless their story is accepted.”

Antonelli elaborates:

“Years ago, editors read and accepted stories without any consideration of the author’s religion and/or politics. That’s not the case today. If an editor at a major publisher today gets a submission from an unfamiliar name, they Google it, and if they can tell the person isn’t a standard sanctimonious social justice warrior, the story isn’t considered. Mainstream science fiction has been completely converged by the Left.

“Of course, this politicized crap is boring and redundant to read, and it’s driving readers away into other genres. I felt just opening the slush pile free of preconceptions would allow the traditional creative “sense of wonder” stories to naturally rise to the top, and I was right. The stories I have received are varied, well-written and enjoyable

“There’s a lot of good short fiction not being published because of blackballing and blacklisting.  It’s not such a serious problem for me, because I’m a self-employed small businessman. I don’t need the money. But it’s heartbreaking for other authors. I decided to do a little something about it.”

Antonelli can only afford to pay $25 per story – which he is taking from his own pocket – with a maximum length of 4,000 words, but’s already published some quality, entertaining fiction. You can visit Sirius Science Fiction web site at https://siriussciencefiction.blogspot.com/

I hope you’ll check it out to read and submit. And don’t forget to grab Justified: Saga Of The NanoTemplar. The full trilogy completes on November 1, so you’ll want to catch up!