subQjam 2019 opens soon!

It’s the beginning of November, and that can only mean one thing: NaNoWriMo!

No, wait, that’s not what it means in this context (although if it’s on your agenda we wish you the best!).

Let’s try again: subQjam 2019 is on the horizon!

That’s right, folks. Following the success of last year’s subQjam (theme: love), we’ve decided to make the game jam an annual tradition. Between November 15th and December 15th, you’ll be able to submit your 1000-words-or-less piece of interactive fiction for a chance to land in our February issue alongside our amazing guest authors. (Yes, 1000 words or less. It’s a challenge, but also a lot of fun. Or at least we think so.)

Although we aren’t going to announce the theme this year until the jam opens on the 15th, we’re thrilled to share that one of our guest authors for 2019 is author and translator Ken Liu!

Photo © Lisa Tang Liu

Ken Liu (http://kenliu.name) is an American author of speculative fiction. A winner of the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy awards, he wrote The Dandelion Dynasty, a silkpunk epic fantasy series (starting with The Grace of Kings), as well as The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories and The Hidden Girl and Other Stories. He also authored the Star Wars novel, The Legends of Luke Skywalker.

Prior to becoming a full-time writer, Liu worked as a software engineer, corporate lawyer, and litigation consultant. Liu frequently speaks at conferences and universities on a variety of topics, including futurism, cryptocurrency, history of technology, bookmaking, the mathematics of origami, and other subjects of his expertise.

If by some chance you haven’t encountered his work before, you’re in for a treat. (Also, do yourself a favour and go read his award-winning “Paper Menagerie,” or some of his other fiction!)

If you’re already a fan, get those interactive fiction engines revving! Two of the entrants in subQjam 2019 will share a table of contents with Ken and our other guest author in our February 2020 issue.

We’re every bit as excited about our other guest author, by the way, but we haven’t gotten the final all-clear to share their name yet. But as soon as we have that, we’ll share it!

In the mean time, you can head on over to our subQjam 2019 sign-up page on itch.io for a full list of rules and to join the fun. And if you’re curious to see what did well last time, check out our February 2019 issue, which contains the winning entries for last year’s jam.

If you’ve already signed up, we can’t wait to see what you put together!