TFF relaunch and guest blog series

Those of you who follow this blog are probably aware that The Future Fire has been on publishing hiatus for just over a year. We always said we'd reopen to fiction submissions in 2011, and so we shall a little later this summer. In the run up to the relaunch (which will be announced very loudly here, on Twitter and via various other channels) we have a couple of events planned.

1. A blog series: in the 26 days running up to the reopening of submissions, we (and several very cool guest bloggers) will post a short piece per day addressing one subgenre, theme or topic that we'd like to see in the TFF slushpile in the future. (As our guidelines have always made clear, we don't discriminate by genre or content, but only by (a) quality and (b) social-political relevance.) Hopefully these posts will help to make this point more clearly, and will provoke some discussion.
2. Some book giveaways: a couple of generous authors or publishers have made copies of their recent books available for a giveaway in honour of our reopening. We'll find some excuse to get them to a deserving home. If anyone else would like contribute titles or objects, and raise some profile for the magazine as well as themselves, please give me a shout.
3. Featured artists/contributors: the unsung heroes of TFF have always been our artists. It's shameful how we underpay them, and it's heroic how great the artwork they produce is. We'd love to feature some of our favourite artists' work and send adoring eyeballs their way. If you have any ideas for people/works to feature, leave a comment. (Which TFF art has impressed you the most over the years?)
4. Invite guest co-editors: as I hinted a few months ago, we're also going to put out a call for guest co-editors (more on this in a post here closer to the time). The idea will be for people to suggest a themed issue or anthology, and we'll pick one every now and then to collaborate with on making that issue a reality. Themes need to fit with the general ethos of TFF (see above), but we're open to all suggestions.

If anyone wants to take part in any of the above, or has other ideas for celebrating/publicising/expanding our relaunch, we'd love to hear about it. (Comment here, or tweet me, or find the email addresses on the website.)