The Sunday Morning Transport | Julian Yap | Substack An amazing science fiction/fantasy short story each week. Click to read The Sunday Morning Transport, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.

Received my 20th rejection of 2026 this morning, but since I also recently learned the short story I'd sold to Sunday Morning Transport will be delivered to subscribers on May 17, it wounds me not. I hope you're already one of those, but if not, why not check them out? www.sundaymorningtransport.com

Comic book panel showing a balding man sitting in an aisle seat on an airplane, looking down at his hands in despair. There's a woman with a pillow in her lap in the window seat, but only part of her can be seen. HIS WORD BALLOON #1: "I never finished writing my novel ... " HIS WORD BALLOON #2: "I never even started writing it." [from Ice Cream Man #25, August 2021, written by W. Maxwell Prince, art by Martin Morazzo, colors by Chris O'Halloran.]

Your context-free comic book panel of the day.

A photo of the back cover from the program to the NY Gilbert & Sullivan Players production of Utopia, Limited. It has the following text about the Isaac Asimov Award for Artistic Achievement, as well as a pic of the recent winner. THE ISAAC ASIMOV AWARD FOR ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT The Isaac Asimov Award for Artistic Achievement was established on the occasion of the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players' 25th Anniversary to honor the memory of a legendary Gilbert & Sullivan enthusiast and to recognize outstanding achievement among the Company's many talented artists. On this occasion we acclaim the 2025-26 awardee, Laura Sudduth. Laura made her NYGASP debut at New York City Center in the 2012-2013 season, and has twirled around the stage as Isabel, Zorah, Giulia and various wards/fairies/sisters/cousins ever since. Laura's professional credits range from Broadway (Les Liaisons Dangereuses) to TV (HBO's The Undoing, Amazon's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), as well as regional theatre PAST ASIMOV AWARDEES 2024: Cameron Smith 2023: Sarah Hutchison 2022: Matthew Wages 2021: Amy Maude Helfer 2019: James Mills 2018: Sarah Caldwell Smith 2017: Lance Olds 2016: Katie Hall 2015: David Auxier 2014: Erika Person 2013: David Macaluso 2012: Stephen O’Brien 2011: Vicky Devany 2010: Bill Whitfield 2009: Angela Christine Smith 2008: Michael Galante 2007: Andrea-Stryker Rodda 2006: Laurelyn Watson Chase 2005: Louis Dall’Ava 2004: Alan Hill 2003: Susan Case 2002: Keith Jurosko 2001: Stephen Quint 2000: Richard Holmes 1999: Phil Reilly ABOUT NEW YORK GILBERT & SULLIVAN PLAYERS New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players (NYGASP) is a professional repertory company giving vitality to the living legacy of Gilbert & Sullivan through performance and education. Now in its 51st Season, NYGASP is America's preeminent professional Gilbert & Sullivan repertory ensemble. Founded by Artistic Director Emeritus Albert Bergeret, NYGASP has created its own special niche in the cultural mosaic of New York City and t…

I knew Isaac Asimov loved Gilbert & Sullivan, but until I spotted this announcement on the back cover to the production of Utopia, Limited we attended Saturday night, I had no idea the Gilbert & Sullivan world loved him back.

A screen grab of the sound waves of our voices in GarageBand reflecting myriad snips and a time stamp of 30:06.000.

Ended the night editing another 15 minutes of raw audio from my recent breakfast with @effjayem.bsky.social discussing their new book Considering The Female Man. I hope you'll take a seat at the table Friday to eavesdrop on us during the next episode of Eating the Fantastic! pod.link/1083737796

Good luck!

A collage of images with two rows and three columns. Five are photos of the nominees across the table from me, and the sixth is the Eating the Fantastic podcast icon. The people pictured are Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Amal El-Mohtar, Fonda Lee, Ai Jiang, and Jo Walton.

Congratulations to all those who made the 2026 Aurora Awards final ballot! I'm especially pleased five of them have chatted and chewed with me on my Eating the Fantastic podcast. If you'd like to learn more about these amazing creators, here's how to take your seat at the table. pod.link/1083737796

A screen grab which includes two of the photographs used in the newsletter as well as some of the text. Photograph number one is from a reading at Charm City Spec. It is a close-up of me from the waist up inside a bookstore with a window behind me facing the streets of Baltimore. I'm wearing a black sweater which depicts a flying saucer lifting up an abductee, a spread of colorful stars, and aliens down one arm. I'm holding a copy of my collection 101 Things to Do Before You're Downloaded. The cover is in pastel pinks, purples, blues, and yellows. The bottom of the cover shows the skyline of a futuristic city from which a rocket zooms and goes into orbit parallel with the subtitle. Vertical along the right side of the cover is a digitized human form rising up from the city and wrapped in an atomic nucleus. Photograph number two shows me standing behind four other panelists seated at table and in front of a purple screen reading Iridescence. Eastercon 2026. The other panelists are Tiffani Angus, Penny Hill, Aliette de Bodard, and Nikita Andester. I'm wearing the same sweater as in the first photo. The text except reads: "I’ve been back from my trip to the British national convention Eastercon just about a week now . . ." ". . . and the discombobulation from my double time zone shift has finally faded. But regardless of the way my circadian rhythm revolted. "I wouldn’t have missed a minute of it. I got to hang with old friends I’m no longer seeing on my side of the pond, plus I made many new ones." "Highlights included the many panels the con offered designed to spread hope, and I even appeared on a couple of them, such as "Why Writing and Making Tactile Art is Revolutionary” and "Writing about Darkness in an Ever Darkening World". I also gave the first public reading from my recent PS Publishing collection 101 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOUR'E DOWNLOADED, where I shared a slot with Emily Tesh (who was with me in the room) and Wole Talabi (who beamed in from elsewhe…

The latest PS Publishing newsletter includes a writeup (a fragment of which appears below) of my recent appearances at Eastercon and Charm City Spec, which will encourage you, I hope, to check out my short story collection 101 Things to Do Before You're Downloaded. pspublishing.co.uk/101-things-t...

A photo of me and George Takei taken at the 2007 Yokohama Worldcon. I'm wearing a black kimono, while he is in a dark suit with a gold tie.

Happy 89th birthday to @georgetakei.bsky.social — an inspiration to us all!

Comic book panel showing a woman in the distance, seen from the back as she raises one hand high over her head and walks away from two coworkers in the foreground. They look at her in surprise. CAPTION: Tomorrow is too late. HER WORD BALLOON: "I've got writing to finish." [from Ice Cream Man #17, January 2020, written by W. Maxwell Prince, art by Martin Morazzo, colors by Chris O'Halloran.]

Your context-free comic book panel of the day.

YOUR RESULTS Millennial You came of age when jeans were skintight and slung at your hipbones. You rolled with the punches as waists got higher and the legs got looser. You're suspicious of a barrel cut, but you're more than willing to try new things. After years of being made fun of by younger and older generations, you mostly just dream of a pair of pants that exist outside of online discourse.

According to the Washington Post, I am somehow a Millennial. www.washingtonpost.com/style/fashio...

A photograph of the vehicle in front of us on the highway. (And don't worry: my wife was driving.) We were following a van pulling an open trailer packed with large wooden crosses and a sign reading: FREE CROSSES 936-225-1660 CALL I'LL PULL OVER

In case you're wondering ... no, I did not call.

An issue I know quite well ... for reasons.

Don Schlitz "The Gambler" YouTube video by Music City Roots

R.I.P. Don Schlitz, writer of "The Gambler," a Kenny Rogers song I decided not to strum during one of my ukulele group's appearances at a nursing home because I thought the line "the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep" might not play well with that audience. youtu.be/mgnniR7OG_w

A photo of me at Ohio Deli & Restaurant during WFC 2010, visited after having seen Adam Richman take a food challenge there. I'm holding up a sandwich larger than my head and giving it the side-eye in disbelief.

❗️❗️

A photo of me at the counter of Lulu’s Bakery & Cafe in San Antonio visited during LoneStarCon 3 in 2013 holding up their world-famous three-pound cinnamon roll. There's a giant knife jammed in the center. I'm wearing a Franklin BBQ T-shirt.

You can't forget what you never knew.

I've had good step totals for cons as well, but my best day had nothing to do with a con. It was a previous day in NYC, on October 17, 2015, when I walked uptown from Penn Station to Columbia University, then back downtown and over the Williamsburg Bridge, then more. I did 35,294 steps/17.57 miles.

Home from our 48-hour trip, which involved a pastrami sandwich larger than my head, my first taste of a Moe's Doughs donut, a 3+ hour lunch with old friend Ted Klein, getting lost in Central Park as I made up way from East Side to West, a performance of Utopia, Limited, a sunburn, and a flat tire.

Selfie in the front seat of my car scowling with a reddened face.

I woke this morning fearing I had a fever, but quickly realized no — I’m sunburned from yesterday’s 3+ hour al fresco lunch with a friend on the corner of Broadway and 89th Street. I should have worn sunscreen!

A screeen grab of my Fitbit stats — Sat, Apr 18 26,278 Steps 13.01 mi 4,312 cal 30 Floors

Now that I’m on the other side of midnight, I can see what NYC did to my tootsies Saturday. If I ever moved back, I’d never need a treadmill.

Indeed it was!

A photo of me, dressed mostly in black, kneeling in front of a fence surrounding the lot on which Joe Shuster's apartment building once stood. To my left is the cover of Action #1, to my right, the first page of Superman's origin, both as tall as the fence.

Happy Superman Day!

A toasted coconut donut on a white paper plate.

First bite of the day — a toasted coconut donut at Moe’s Doughs in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

Harold’s in Edison, NJ.

Selfie in front of Moe”s Doughs Donut Shop. The sign above me is white lettering on a maroon background. Donuts are painted in the window.

Starting my Saturday in NYC by hopping over to Greenpoint for a taste of Moe’s Doughs.

A sign in front of a house with white letters on a green background reading “If your dog pees on my plants, my dogs will both hump them amorrow at the park.”

A warning on the streets of Brooklyn.

Sitting on a blue bench with my arm around the Toys ‘r’ Us giraffe.

Made a new friend tonight.

A photograph of me holding up a plate with a pastrami sandwich almost as large as my head. There’s also a cup of cole slaw on the plate.

Would you care to share this pastrami sandwich? There *might* be enough for two.

View out a hotel room window. A near empty parking lot immediately below, low rise houses and condos mid-shot, trees stretching into the distance, and storm clouds above.

Here’s the legally mandated photo required whenever I check into a hotel room. The only problem is … I can’t seem to find the con.

Thanks for the good company and conversation!

Some light listening! A week ago my Eating the Fantastic interview with the great @scottedelman.bsky.social went live, but I didn't have the bandwidth to publicize it. So here it is: our chat about my Apollo Rising series, my new cryptid tale, the joys of "retirement" and travel, and lots more.