FlagShip: Sci-Fi From Flying Island Press

As a long-time science-fiction fan, I grew up loving monthly journals like Analog and Asimov's. Every month brought a smorgasboard of new stories from the best writers in sci-fi which I and my friends greedily devoured. Now, as the bright future imagined in those pulp pages becomes reality, reader subscriptions continue to fall off, and print journals seem to be spiraling down into a black hole of obsolescence. Thanks to the Kindles, iPads, Nooks, and other e-readers, it's a Brave New World out there for authors, publishers, and readers alike.

We recently looked at WitchKids, an experiment in self-publishing by a lone author, and now it's time to take a look at FlagShip, a bi-monthly electronic publication from Flying Island Press. We recently spoke with Scott Roche of Flying Island, and he had this to say about the organization:

Flying Island Press was born of a conversation that the staff had about 18 mos-2yrs ago. We're all writers and most of us are dads. We wanted to find a publisher who paid us for the kind of stories we put out (positive/upbeat sci-fi and fantasy) and who was also forward looking in the methods of distribution. We realized that there weren't any or at least very few. So, we decided to start our own.

We wanted to put out a short story anthology in various electronic formats and in audio. We're all podcasters and some of our team are well versed in CSS and the necessary skills it takes to create e-pubs. We also wanted to pay our authors and see if people were willing to pay for content. Thus, Flagship was born. We put out a magazine every other month containing five to eight stories. It's available in the MOBI format for your Kindle and the e-pub format for just about everything else. You can also get audio for every issue if that's the way you want it (or both for that matter).

If we can get Flagship to be self sustaining we also want to use the same methods for other sorts of anthologies. We released an Autism benefit issue recently, for example, and we want to do something similar in the psychological horror vein. We're also moving towards helping authors create e-pubs and audio versions of novella and novel length fiction.

I recently had the pleasure of reading FlagShip's best-of digest for 2010/2011, and was immediately reminded of the pulp sci-fi digests of my youth. The writing was easily the equal of anything I've read in a traditional print anthology, and the stories resonated strongly enough that I was left thinking about them for days after I finished.

The best-of digest included the following stories:

• The Pirate - a touching story of a man misplaced in time
• Mr. Silky Strikes Back - a tale of the comeuppance of an interstellar animal smuggler
• ggg.earth.gxy - an amusing farce involving extraterrestrial spammers, global warming, and an alien food fetish
• Revival - a classic deep-space mystery/thriller
• Broken Dolls - a story of despair and redemption in the aftermath of disaster at a space station
• All Elves Are Stupid - a whimsical quest for a daughter's hand in marriage, complete with Elves, Trolls, and magic
• Of Salmon's Tail and Green-Eyed Girls - an ethereal tale of gods, creation, treachery, and lost love

The stories in FlagShip are all excellent, and entirely suitable for both GeekDads and GeekKids. As you can tell from the list above, the selections include a broad range of subject matter and writing styles, so there is sure to be something for everyone.

FlagShip is available in ebook or audiobook format from Flying Island. Single issue prices are about $2 for text or audio, or $3 for both. Better yet, a full-year subscription is $9 or $13. Head over to FlagShip at Flying Island for full details...

One more thing: Here's a YouTube video interview with Scott and Zach from Flying Island to give you a better idea of what Flying Island is trying to accomplish: