AN INTERVIEW WITH IAN REDMAN

Ian Redman is one of the most experienced and long lived editors in the UK Small Press, having published Jupiter for four years now (and before that Zest), and kept it on a quarterly schedule, gaining the magazine an enviable reputation for quality and reliability.

For this interview we wanted to do something a little different, and so threw it open to the floor, inviting the members of Whispers Forums to submit questions for Ian.

What follows is the result:-

Q: How do the PDFs compare in popularity with the print copies of Jupiter? And do the PDFs have colour covers?

A: The PDFs sometimes have colour covers; obviously it depends on the original artwork. In terms of popularity, PDFs have been a complete failure, well, not a complete failure, but they don’t exactly fly of the metaphorical shelves. In some ways I’m glad. I feel magazines and fiction in general is always read best when it’s on paper held in front of you; it’s easier to get comfortable that way, and I enjoy reading much more when I’m comfortable. It’s reassuring that my readership seems to agree, they’d rather hold something physical than just look at words on a screen.

Q: I'm reminded, at times, of a 21st Century version of John Carnell's New Worlds when reading Jupiter (this is a compliment in my world), but what magazines does Ian have a fondness for (past or present)?

A: Top Gear… but seriously Kimota and Odyssey used to be favourites; it seems a shame that in the gap between publishing Zest and Jupiter so much of the ‘old’ small press seems to have vanished.

Q: What's your favourite science fiction story or novel that features the planet Jupiter?

A: 2010: Odyssey Two. I remember watching this for the first time at my friend’s house. I’d already read the book and found this a fantastically realistic film of space exploration, and unlike 2001, I found it made sense too.

Q: Does the name reflect a fondness for hard SF or is it deliberately ambiguous given the mythical nature of the Olympian Jupiter?

A: I have a huge fondness for hard SF. I’m an engineer by trade, so I love reading about the technology of the future.

Q: If he does lean towards hard SF, does Ian feel that he gets enough stories of the type that he is looking for?

A: There will never ever be enough good hard SF. That said, I only publish stories I like, and I manage to fill my 4 issues a year, so I guess that means I get enough.

Q: Did he learn much from Zest when setting up Jupiter?

A: Mainly I took on board the knowledge that I could do it, but like everything, the more you do something the better you get at it. I keep looking at the very first copy of Zest, as a reminder of how much better Jupiter is!

Q: Are there any plans to do any more one-off publications such as A Ship To Nowhere?

A: No. It didn’t sell very well, the market for it just doesn’t seem to be out there.

Q: Does he write fiction or poetry himself?

A: Yes, but none of it is any good. A story got accepted once, but fortunately the magazine folded shortly before publication.

Q: Does he see Jupiter expanding to include interviews or features in the future?

A: I don’t see it happening, but it could do. Zest used to have the odd interview and feature and they worked well. Personally I feel more at home with fiction, and I always feel it’s best to play to your strengths. While I’m not against interviews or features, I’m happy to leave them to others who can do a much better job than I.

Q: Any plans for expanding into the North American market, or does the PDF format negate the necessity of American distribution?

A: Ironically none of our American subscribers take the PDF format. I did at one stage seriously consider trying to tie up with an American distributor, but decided I couldn’t afford to invest the time into doing it right. Distribution is a tricky issue. It has to be done well, as getting it wrong has the potential of doing a lot of damage to a magazine’s image, and in the end I felt the risk of doing it badly was worse than the risk of selling fewer copies. That was when I decided to do a PDF version, to try and negate the extra postage costs being an issue to overseas subscribers; as I said before, it didn’t exactly work out that way!

Q: Who are his favourite authors?

A: Doesn’t anybody read the writers’ guidelines…. For those of you who aren’t writers, Peter F. Hamilton, Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter, Kim Stanley Robinson, Robert Silverberg and Stephen Lawhead rate at the top of my list.

Q: Who are his favourites amongst the authors (and stories) that he has published?

A: I don’t have favourite authors amongst those I publish. I have favourite stories, but not authors. I feel all my authors are capable of producing great work.

Q: Does he attend conventions?

A: No

Q: Has he been in touch with Gardner Dozois to correct the Jupiter mention in last year's Year's Best SF? (Dozois said that, as he hadn't seen a copy all year, he had to assume that the magazine was defunct.)

A: Yes, it’s a shame a simple web search couldn’t have been run first, but hopefully he’ll run a correction next year and we’ll get a bit more publicity.

Q: Does a good review make a noticeable difference to orders?

A: It’s difficult to tell as most of our readers are subscribers; however I have noticed that bad reviews seem to help. People have a strange desire to find out if it really was all that bad.

Q: How does he manage to get four issues out in a year?

A: Same way I manage to breath; it just happens. Perhaps I’m a little too relaxed about that, but I always seem to be sent just the right amount of fiction. Occasionally I’ll be sat waiting, a story short, desperately hoping to receive something. Strangely that’s often when the very best stories appear.
 

Q: Are you selling fewer or more issues now than at the beginning?

A: Fewer of issue 1, more of issue 16

Q: Have you got the same readership as then or has it evolved?

A: Readers have come, readers have gone. It is the way of the world.

Q: Do you think your religious views ever influence your acceptance or rejection of a story?

A: Yes they do. There are some stories I just won’t publish. For example, I’ve received a few stories in the past where the final outcome is that God doesn’t exist. It’s the sort of thing that I couldn’t publish. At the end of the day I feel I’m responsible to God for how I live my life, and if I don’t feel I could look God in the face after publishing a story, I won’t publish it. If I do reject a story on religious grounds then I always make it clear to the author. I also try especially hard to provide useful objective feedback. I’ve probably only rejected 4 or 5 stories like this and some of them have been really good otherwise.

Q: As in the above question, do you allow your own views on life to influence you more than the actual internal quality of a story? 

A: Obviously my views of life can shape whether I enjoy a story more or less. I tend not to enjoy stories with excessive swearing or sex in them. I would never objectively let my views override the quality however. I don’t care whether a story includes God or not; I’ve read awful stories which do, I’ve read great stories which don’t. What matters to me is whether I’m going to remember the story in 5 minutes, or 5 days’ time. If it’s a good story, it leaves me with a good feeling and I remember it.

Q: Put another way, would you ever publish a story that didn't appeal to you at all - in subject matter, say - but that you recognised would/might appeal to your readers? 

A: No, if it doesn’t appeal to me I can’t comprehend how it could appeal to anyone else. I think it would be wrong to publish any story I wasn’t convinced by. To publish a magazine that way would probably lead to a horrible mishmash of stories, a magazine I wouldn’t enjoy editing, and a magazine no one would enjoy reading. If I ever find myself editing something that doesn’t appeal, that’s when I stop editing.

Q: Do you receive enough submissions to choose, not just the best of the submissions, but a batch of stories that you would consider good even if ten times as many had been submitted?

A: That’s how I work, I don’t set targets of accepting x number of stories. I read pieces as they come in, and if I like them, I publish them. I’d rather publish fewer issues or smaller ones than publish a piece I wasn’t convinced by. It’s difficult sometimes when readers don’t agree with my choices, but ultimately, if it’s published, it’s because I like it; either the way it was written or the story itself, but I liked something. That’s one of the reasons I don’t go back and read old stories I’ve published. I’ve done it occasionally and have always ended up feeling a little unsure, the story wasn’t as fantastic as I thought it was – but that’s just changing tastes. I recently read a book I loved as a teenager, and it was OK; my imagination just worked better with the book a few years ago, my memories of reading it were fantastic, and I guess I’d like to keep it that way with the stories I publish, each one of them as a treasured memory.

Q: Do you ever make a preliminary selection, and then give them to a third party to help you choose/verify your choice?

A: No, but very occasionally I’ll re-read a piece a few days later to check my mindset wasn’t off when I first read the piece. I tend to feel my readers will judge the magazine and its stories on their first read through, so I don’t like doing anything different before accepting a piece. At the end of the day, I don’t want to risk publishing a compromise.

Q: How did you come up with the title for Jupiter? Why the planet Jupiter in particular?

A: I love space and I wanted to do something interesting with the title. Moons around planets are technically numbered; the names come later, so our moon is described as Earth I. I thought this would be an interesting way of numbering issues of a magazine so picked the Planet with the largest number of moons – Jupiter.

Q: And why with every issue that comes out quarterly named after one of its moons/bodies?

A: That would be why I chose it!

Q: Ian was wondering about putting out a smaller Jupiter five times a year in order to keep the same page count and defeat the foul evil that is Royal Mail. What was his conclusion?

A: When it came to it, it simply wasn’t necessary, as my post office is happy that Jupiter fits though the slot just fine. I haven’t been alerted to an excess amount of issues not turning up so all seems to be well.

Q: Is Eric S. Brown who appeared in Jupiter a different writer to Eric Brown?

A: Assuming you mean the Eric Brown who resides at www.ericbrown.co.uk, then yes, they are different people. Eric S Brown can be found here and is an entirely different person. Or a very good double bluff.

Editorial Codicil

Questions were submitted by Jim Steel, Lawrence Dagstine, Steve Redwood and X the Unknown. Our thanks to them and Ian for making this happen.

Finally, go here if you wish to discuss this interview or provide feedback.