Right about now, many of you are wishing that you never had to deal with about half of SFWA ever again, but let’s step back momentarily from the fury and heartaching, and look at the discussion for what it really is: a family argument. No, it won’t ever be settled to everyone’s satisfaction. Many families […]

  I first heard about SFWA in my senior year of college, through the Columbia University Science Fiction Society (CUSFS). We had invited Paul Levinson, then president of SFWA, to talk to our group about his work, and in turn he invited us to volunteer at the 2000 Nebula Awards Weekend in New York – […]

In April 1995, I was a barely wet-behind-the-ears writer of science fiction. My first story was scheduled to appear in the July/August 1995 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, and so had not even appeared yet. The Nebula Banquet that year was held at the Grand Hyatt hotel in New York City on April […]

Perhaps because of my Midwestern upbringing, perhaps because of circumstances of education, one of my core values has always been volunteerism. It’s one of the things that keeps the human race muddling along and generally pointed in an upward direction, that willingness to pitch in as needed. I allot a part of my time to […]

There was a time—less than a year ago, in fact—when I dreamed of joining the SFWA. Among writers of speculative fiction, the organization represents the gold standard, the elite story crafters whose work I’d long read and admired. For someone like me who’d yet to nab a professional sale, SFWA membership seemed unattainable. Well, here […]

When I was a very young teen writer, I read articles on the SFWA website as a reward for meeting my writing goals. SFWA was a source I trusted and admired; they were some magical conglomerate of that elusive creature, the pro writer. The mystical awe of my youth has transformed into earnest appreciation for […]

A few years ago I attended Viable Paradise, which is a one-week writer’s workshop taught by some of the most talented authors currently writing SF/F. The year I went Steven Gould (our current SFWA president) critiqued my story, in fact, which was wonderful but more than a little surreal. Another indelible memory from that experience […]

I don’t remember exactly how long ago I joined SFWA. I do know that it was shortly after my stories were published in the early issues of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine, so that puts it somewhere around 1990, so this would be approximately my 25th year as a member. Therefore, as SFWA is celebrating its […]

I’m  a proud member of Science Fiction Writers of America.  It costs me in the neighborhood of  $100 a year in dues or so.  And it’s more than worth it. When I was starting out, membership in SFWA was a huge goal, an indication that you had “made it”.  Why?  Because SFWA has publishing standards […]

When I was a teenager back in the 1990s, I regularly prowled through my mall B. Dalton. Back then, monthly publishing bulletins were set out on the store counter. The purple-banded bulletin for science fiction and fantasy is where I first learned about SFWA. I don’t remember what authors were mentioned in relation to it, […]