Edward Willett is clearly a lazy person. Sure, he’s a writer, runs Shadowpaw Press, and hosts The Worldshapers podcast. But what has he done lately?
Well, the answer to that is Shapers Of Worlds Volume IV (hardcover, paperback, Kindle), an anthology of science fiction and fantasy short stories by writers who’ve appeared on The Worldshapers.
In the following email interview, Willett discusses how this series got started, and what went into this fourth volume.
I’d like to start with some background: What is the Shapers Of Worlds anthology series about, and what makes these books different from other short story anthologies?
Shapers Of Worlds grew out of my podcast, The Worldshapers, where, since late 2018, I’ve been interviewing other science fiction and fantasy authors about the creative process. In the spring of 2019, at the annual meeting of SaskBooks (the Saskatchewan publishers’ association I’m a member of — in fact, currently vice-president — by virtue of my publishing company, Shadowpaw Press), a guest presenter was a Winnipeg-based publisher who had successfully Kickstarted an anthology, and I thought, “Hey, I know some authors.”
It took me a while to climb the Kickstarter learning curve, but later that year, I reached out to all of my first-year guests to see if they’d be interested in contribution a new or reprint story for an anthology. Eighteen authors said yes, including such luminaries as John Scalzi, David Brin, Joe Haldeman, Tanya Huff, and Julie Czerneda. In March 2020, I successfully Kickstarted the first Shapers Of Worlds anthology, which came out in the fall of that year. (Yes, I managed to launch my first Kickstarter concurrently with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic’s North American tour, but it still worked out.)
Since that first one succeeded, I ran a second Kickstarter the second year for Volume II, featuring my second-year guests; and then one for Volume III, featuring my third-year guests; and here we are at Volume IV, featuring my fourth-year guests.
And is there a reason they’re called Shapers Of Worlds Volume II, Shapers Of Worlds Volume III, and so on as opposed to Shapers Of Worlds 2022, Shapers Of Worlds 2023, etc.?
I think the reason is that they’re really one giant collection of short fiction by authors who were guests on my podcast. The years they appear don’t matter — they’re a continuum.
As you said, the stories in these anthologies are mostly new, though there are some reprints. How did you find the new stories? Do you ask the contributors for specific stories, or just say, “Hit me with your best shot”?
I think “hit me with your best shot” is the best description of the process. I ask authors to send me a story that showcases their writing. While the first anthology was half reprints and half original stories, this one has only four reprints. The reprints are often stories the author felt didn’t get as much attention as they’d like or stories they really loved whose rights had reverted to them, and they wanted to get out to the reading public anew. Some authors, for original stories, choose to provide something that ties into a well-known series. Others write something that’s very different from what they’re known for. I leave it entirely up to them. And I think that works well for this series because that’s exactly what it’s for: to showcase a wide variety of writers, a wide variety of subjects, and a wide variety of styles.
The stories in Shapers Of Worlds Volume IV, like the previous volumes, include both science fiction and fantasy. But what subgenres of sci-fi and fantasy are included in Volume IV?
This selection tilts toward fantasy, but there is certainly some science fiction. “Advent” by James Kennedy is nostalgic fantasy or maybe magic realism; “Yiwu” by Lavie Tidhar is…call it near-future multicultural science fiction; while. “Presumed Alien” by David Boop is UFO-focused humorous science fiction.
Are there any other genres represented in Shapers Of Worlds Volume IV?
“Matter Of Life And Death” by Sherrilyn Kenyon is…I guess I’d call it modern-day urban horror; “I Really Need To Clear My Inbox” by Noah Lemelson is modern-day humorous horror; while “A Murder Of Scarecrows” by Mark Leslie is present-day fantasy horror.
Also, if someone comes up with a story that mixes science fiction and fantasy, do they get something special? Y’know, like a muffin basket or something?
Ha! No, but I might give them a gold star.
Now, along with editing this series, you also write sci-fi and fantasy yourself. Do you have a story in Shapers Of Worlds Volume IV?
I included an original story of mine in all of the Shapers Of Worlds anthologies because, well, because I can, and so, why wouldn’t I?
In Shapers Of Worlds Volume IV, “The Canceller” takes our social-media-driven tendency to live in bubbles, where we communicate only with like-minded people — those who share our politics or our hobbies or our entertainment obsessions — to an extreme. (That is, after all, one of the classic drivers of science fiction invention: “If this goes on…”)
In the world of my story, humans, at least in North America, have been segregated into physical bubbles — guarded and gated enclaves (though they can be quite large, like, say, the city of Chicago) where they are surrounded by like-minded people. All of this is overseen by artificial intelligences, who also control travel among the bubbles — mostly by killing anyone who attempts it.
My main character is the Guardian of a particular Bubble inhabited by those who love fantasy; within the Bubble, he is seen as a wizard. But one night, a Canceller arrives, one of those who deal with deviations from what is permitted within the Bubbles. Except, it turns out she isn’t what she seems…
I very much enjoyed writing this story and hope readers like it, too. The world I portray is very much a reductio ad absurdum version of our current tendency to separate ourselves from and abhor those who do not think exactly like us. I don’t imagine it will change that tendency, but it was cathartic to write it.
Shapers Of Worlds Volume IV is obviously the fourth anthology in this series. Do you think you learned anything from editing the previous three that made assembling Volume IV easier?
The editing process hasn’t changed; I always edit stories the same way I edit my own fiction. I’ve also been an editor, writing instructor, and writer-in-residence for many, many years; at this point, it’s second nature.
And then what is the plan moving forward for the Shapers Of Worlds series?
I’ve already reached out to the fifth-year guests of my podcast to see who would be interested in being part of Shapers Of Worlds Volume V, and it looks like I’ll have another amazing list of authors. I’ll be building the Kickstarter in February and hope to launch it sometime in March or, at the latest, April.
After that, we’ll see. I’m now interviewing authors who aren’t science fiction and fantasy writers. On the other hand, I’m still interviewing lots of sci-fi and fantasy authors, and I’m also picking up the pace, doing one interview a week when possible. So I’ll probably have plenty of authors I could reach out to for a Shapers Of Worlds Volume VI. We’ll see.
Shapers Of World Volume IV contributors
Lavie Tidhar and Sherrilyn Kenyon
So, is there anything else you think people need to know about Shapers Of Worlds Volume IV?
The most important thing I haven’t mentioned is that Shapers Of Worlds Volume IV is the first in the series to feature illustrations. Each story is accompanied by an original black-and-white illustration by Wendi Nordell, a talented Calgary artist who also happens to be my niece.
Back in 2019, I published a collection of science fiction and fantasy poetry called I Tumble Through The Diamond Dust. I’m not a poet, but in 2018, for Poetry Month, the Poet Laureate of Saskatchewan, Gerald Hill, came up with an interesting challenge: each weekday for the whole month, he sent out two lines of poetry from published Saskatchewan poets to all members of the Saskatchewan Writers Guild, challenging them to write new poems either incorporating or responding to those lines. I took up that challenge and, somewhat to my own surprise, wrote a poem every day incorporating the two lines — except, being who I am, they all turned into science fiction / fantasy poems. By the end of the month, I had enough for the collection. I knew from the beginning I wanted each poem illustrated, but it took me a while to realize the obvious choice was my talented artist-niece.
The result was wonderful and led to Wendi being hired to illustrate many more books, so it was natural, when I thought of how I could up the ante for Shapers Of Worlds Volume IV, to think of having her illustrate it. The results were fabulous, and the authors loved the drawings. That’s one thing that sets this volume of the anthology series apart from all the others.
Finally, if someone enjoys Shapers Of Worlds Volume IV, and they’ve already read the first three volumes, what anthology of sci-fi and fantasy short stories that someone else edited would you suggest they check out and why that one? Oh, and to keep things interesting, it can’t have the world “Best” in the title.
I would recommend any of the anthologies published by Zombies Need Brains LLC, a publishing company founded by my fellow DAW Books author Joshua Palmatier (who has a story in Shapers Of Worlds Volume IV). These are themed anthologies, and I’ve been honored to be asked to be an “anchor author” for two of them. So I’m going to cheat and mention two because one is science fiction, and one is fantasy.
The science fiction one I was part of is My Battery Is Low And It is Getting Dark. “Explore the myriad ideas of what happens when out-of-date and abandoned technologies are given a second life — one that takes them in a new direction, far outside their intended programming and beyond their original purpose.” My story, “Beneath The Pall,” features a sentient submarine.
The fantasy one I was featured in was A Modern Deity’s Guide To Surviving Humanity. “In this anthology, fifteen science fiction and fantasy authors tackle how gods and goddesses have adapted to the surge in technology and the mercurial beliefs of humanity.”
As I said, any of the Zombies Need Brains anthologies are worth reading — I recommend them all.
