Enfield Woman Is Part Of Science Fiction Site That Wins Industry Award

  • Kate Baker stands by the recording studio built for her by her brother Evan which resembles the public call box which the science fiction character Doctor Who.
Kate Baker stands by the recording studio built for her by her brother Evan… (RICK HARTFORD|rhartford@courant.com )
September 26, 2013|By MICHAEL WALSH, micwalsh@courant.com

Kate Baker, the podcast director and nonfiction editor of Clarkesworld, the online science fiction magazine, has also narrated more than 150 works of fiction in the past seven years.    

The Enfield resident likes to thank her original fans -- her three children -- for getting her started.

"I read bedtime stories to my three kids," Baker, 36, said about discovering that she had the kind of vocal techniques needed for professional narration. "I claim them as my first fans."

After becoming more confident of her skills while narrating a friend's writing, she starting working with the United Kingdom-based StarShipSofa, an audio science fiction magazine published online. Baker now commissions narration projects through her website, katebaker.net.

As a member of the Clarkesworld editorial board, she and the magazine are three-time Hugo Award winners for best "semipro" online magazine. The site's most recent win came earlier this month at the 2013 World Science Fiction Convention in San Antonio.

"It's kind of like the Oscars of science fiction and fantasy," Baker said about the Hugo Awards. "It's amazing. These are probably some of the best people I've worked with. They enrich me."

Clarkesworld was founded by New Jersey-based publisher and editor in chief Neil Clarke in 2006. Baker began as podcast director in 2009 and became nonfiction editor earlier this year.

The publication is a web-based science fiction and fantasy magazine that commissions pieces from top writers in the genre but also considers submissions by other writers. The award it won is given to the best semi-professionally edited magazine, which is determined by a strict set of rules. For example, their magazine must fall within a certain revenue bracket to keep it at a semi-professional level.

A graduate of Enrico Fermi High School, Baker was working as an administrative assistant before finding her way to narrating fiction and working for Clarkesworld. She welcomed that change.

"You've got to jump off somewhere. You can't get too complacent in your career," Baker said. "Falling into this is one of the best things that's ever happened to me."
 
Baker admits she never thought this would be her career, but that she's always had an interest in science fiction and fantasy. Her father was a great admirer of science fiction B-movies and because of that Baker became interested in all aspects of science fiction, particularly the literary side.

Baker is also the operations manager of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
 
"One of the things I absolutely love about this community is that we're there for each other," Baker said. "We may have our struggles. There are lots of politics that go on in the community, but we also rise up and help somebody in need."

Since joining Clarkesworld, the number of podcast subscribers and downloads has risen. Baker said the magazine is close to jumping past the semiprofessional threshold and into the professional category, which is one of the editorial team's goals.

"It's constant growth," Baker said. "The more good-quality product you can offer out into the universe is what gets you more listeners and more readers."

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