Jason Sanford

Sanford was born in Alabama and raised outside of Wetumpka. He attended Auburn University, where he studied anthropology and archaeology.[http://www.peacecorpswriters.org/pages/2007/0711/711talk-sanford.html "An Interview with Jason Sanford"] by John Coyne, Peace Corps Writers, July 2007, accessed Feb. 20, 2010. After college Sanford served for two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand, where he taught English in a junior high school. He also met his wife, a fellow Peace Corps Volunteer, while in Thailand. After the Peace Corps they moved to Minneapolis, where Sanford worked as an editor.

In 2001 Sanford, along with poet Jake Adam York, founded the literary magazine storySouth, which focuses on literature from the "New South."[http://www.storysouth.com/about/ storySouth "About Us" page], accessed Feb. 20, 2010. One of the early journals of the online literature movement,The 100 Best Trends, 2006: Emerging Developments You Can't Afford to Ignore by George Ochoa and Melinda Corey, Adams Media Corporation, 2005, page 55. works published in storySouth have been reprinted in anthologies such as Best American Poetry 2008, Best of the Web 2008, and e2ink: The Best of the Online Journals, and have won a number of awards and honors.http://www.storysouth.com/about/storySouth{{Dead link|date=February 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} "About Us" page, accessed Feb. 20, 2010. Sanford served as the fiction and nonfiction editor, while York served as poetry editor. Both editors were heavily involved in the debate around the alleged plagiarism of Southern author Brad Vice, with Sanford defending Vice's work[http://www.storysouth.com/comment/2005/11/the_literary_lynching_of_brad.html The literary lynching of Brad Vice] StorySouth November 4, 2005, accessed February 20, 2010 and his essays on the affair being mentioned in the subsequent press coverage.[http://www.nypress.com/18/48/news&columns/RobertClarkYoung.cfm "A Charming Plagiarist: The downfall of Brad Vice" by Robert Clark Young] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090108090449/http://nypress.com/18/48/news%26columns/RobertClarkYoung.cfm |date=2009-01-08 }} New York Press, Vol 18, Issue 48, November 30-December 6, 2005. Accessed February 20, 2010"The Strange Case of Brad Vice: In defense of a destroyed treasure" by Michelle Richmond, The Oxford American, Issue 55, winter 2006.

Sanford turned over publication of storySouth to Spring Garden Press in 2009[http://www.monstersandcritics.com/books/news/article_1469001.php/Southern_Literary_Journal_Relaunches_with_New_Editors_Publisher "Southern Literary Journal Relaunches with New Editors"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100308093520/http://www.monstersandcritics.com/books/news/article_1469001.php/Southern_Literary_Journal_Relaunches_with_New_Editors_Publisher |date=2010-03-08 }} by Jessica Schneider, April 4, 2009, Monsters and Critics, accessed Feb. 20, 2010. and now serves as Editor Emeritus for the journal. In 2004, Sanford started the storySouth Million Writers Award, which highlighted each year's best online short stories.[http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2009/04/million-writers-award-more-than-100-top-short-stories.html "Million Writers Award: more than 100 top short stories"] by Carolyn Kellogg, The LA Times Jacket Copy column, April 23, 2009. In 2012 he edited two anthologies of stories from the Million Writers Award.

Sanford is best known as a science fiction author, although he also writes fantasy and has been published in other literary genres. His fiction has been described as "new weird SF", and compared to both the anime of Hayao Miyazaki and the early writings of Brian Aldiss.Introduction to "The Ships Like Clouds, Risen by Their Rains", Year's Best SF 14, edited by David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, HarperCollins, 2009, page 377. Sanford has described his writings and those of others as part of an emergent storytelling form called SciFi Strange, "which sets high literary standards, experiments with style, is infused with a sense of wonder, takes the idea of diverse sexuality for granted, focuses on human values and needs and explores the boundaries of reality and experience through philosophical speculation."Confronting the Unfamiliar: Interview with Jason Sanford" by Andy Hedgecock, Interzone 231, page 48.

Sanford's science fiction and fantasy has been published in Interzone, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Year's Best SF 14, InterGalactic Medicine Show, Tales of the Unanticipated, and other magazines and anthologies. His non-genre works have been published in The Mississippi Review, Diagram, Pindeldyboz, and other places. He is a three-time winner of the Interzone Readers' Pollhttp://ttapress.com/846/2009-readers-poll-results/0/4/2009 Interzone Readers' Poll, Interzone, May 7, 2010.[http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/Izpoll2009.html The Locus Index to Science Fiction Awards], compiled by Mark R. Kelly, accessed Feb. 20, 2010. and a three-time finalist for the Nebula Awards. He has also received a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship and been nominated for the BSFA Award, the British Fantasy Award, and the Pushcart Prize. SF critic and reviewer Patrick Wolohan named Sanford to his list of 25 authors worth watching in 2010 and beyond.[http://yetistomper.blogspot.com/2010/02/25-authors-worth-watching-in-2010-and.html "25 Authors Worth Watching in 2010 and Beyond"], Stomping on Yeti, Feb. 15, 2010, accessed Feb. 20, 2010.

His critical essays and book reviews have been published in The New York Review of Science Fiction,Review: From the blogs by Sarah Crown, The Guardian Newspaper, page 23, July, 07 2007. The Pedestal Magazine, and The Fix Short Fiction Review. Among Sanford's more influential essays is "Who Wears Short Shorts? Micro Stories and MFA Disgust",{{cite web|url=http://www.storysouth.com/fall2004/shortshorts.html|author=Sanford, Jason|publisher=StorySouth, Fall 2004|title=Who Wears Short Shorts? Micro Stories and MFA Disgust |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041208021102/http://www.storysouth.com/fall2004/shortshorts.html|access-date=20 March 2021|archive-date=2004-12-08}} which ripped both the claimed incestuous nature of Master of Fine Arts programs and flash fiction. The essay prompted a large amount of online discussion on the merits of Sanford's claims.[http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/37141 Short shorts, Meta Filter discussion], November 22, 2004, February 4, 2007; [http://grumpyoldbookman.blogspot.com/2005/02/mfa-many-fools-available.html MFA: Many Fools Available] on The Grumpy Old Bookman, February 25, 2005, accessed February 20, 2010.

Apex Publications released Sanford's first novel Plague Birds in 2022. The novel was selected as a finalist for both the Nebula Award for Best Novel and Philip K. Dick Awards. Publishers Weekly called Plague Birds "something like The Wizard of Oz as retold by A.E. van Vogt."Plague Birds, Publishers Weekly, 7/26/2021. Maurice Broaddus called the novel "a perfect blend of sf and fantasy weaving memory, loss, technology, and family into a wholly unique tapestry that left me turning the pages just to see what he would do next."

{{Incomplete list|date=February 2017}}

• Plague Birds, Apex Books, 2022.

• Never Never Stories - Short story collection, Spotlight Publishing, 2011.Short Fiction Reviews by Richard Horton, Locus, October 2011, Issue 609, Vol. 67 No. 4, page 17.

• Million Writers Award: The Best Online Science Fiction and Fantasy - (edited), anthology of short fiction, Spotlight Publishing, 2012.[http://www.spotlight-publishing.com/million-writers-award-the-best-online-science-fiction-and-fantasy Spotlight Publishing website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529052826/http://spotlight-publishing.com/million-writers-award-the-best-online-science-fiction-and-fantasy |date=2014-05-29 }}, accessed March 20, 2012.
• Million Writers Award: The Best New Online Voices - (edited), anthology of short fiction, Spotlight Publishing, 2012.[http://www.spotlight-publishing.com/million-writers-award-the-best-new-online-voices Spotlight Publishing website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529052654/http://spotlight-publishing.com/million-writers-award-the-best-new-online-voices |date=2014-05-29 }}, accessed March 20, 2012.

• "Sublimation Angels" (published in Interzone). Finalist, Nebula Award for Best Novella, 2009.
• "Blood Grains Speak Through Memories" (published by Beneath Ceaseless Skies). Finalist, Nebula Award for Best Novelette, 2016.
• "The Eight-Thousanders" (published in Asimov's Science Fiction). Finalist, Nebula Award for Best Short Story, 2020.

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• {{official website |http://www.jasonsanford.com}}
• {{LCAuth|no2011074089|Jason Sanford|1}}
• {{ISFDB name|id=Jason_Sanford|name=Jason Sanford}}

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