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So, you think your publication is working to advance equity in SFF?

by Sabrina Vourvoulias   First, a quick quiz: Did you read the headline, and automatically compile a mental checklist of the authors and staffers from underserved communities you’ve published or hired?  Congrats, but … you were gauging diversity.  Did you read the headline and start enumerating the kind of outreach you’ve done to ensure underserved […]

SFWA Market Report—September 2021

Welcome to the September edition of the SFWA Market Report. Please note: Inclusion of any market in the report below does not indicate an official endorsement by SFWA. The markets included on this list all pay at least $0.08/word in at least one length category of fiction. New Markets Death in the Mouth: an Anthology […]

In Memoriam – L. Neil Smith

L. Neil Smith (b.1946) died on August 27. Smith began publishing in 1980 with the story “Grimm’s Law” that appeared in Stellar 5. That same year, he published his first novel, The Probability Broach, which launched his North American Confederacy series.  In 1983, he published the Lando Calrissian series, among the earliest Star Wars tie-in novels. […]

USPS Stamp Honors Ursula K. Le Guin

The following is a SFWA Member Report. A modified version originally ran in the SFWA Singularity #71. A USPS Tribute Video to Le Guin can be viewed here on Facebook. July 27, 2021 – Downtown Portland, OR, was the perfect venue for unveiling the USPS stamp honoring Ursula K. Le Guin because the SFWA Grandmaster […]

SFWA Surveys Comics Writers and Graphic Novelists on Pay

SFWA’s Comics Committee has announced the results of two surveys they’ve conducted to document current industry norms for advances and per-page rates for the work of comics writers and graphic novelists. The reports can be downloaded here: Survey of Industry Professionals Survey of Comics Writers and Graphic Novelists Sixteen acquiring editors (50%), publishers (25%), and […]

Unusual Governments to Take Inspiration From

by Eleanor Konik   Often, speculative fiction relies on common government types, like monarchies and republics, because they’re familiar to readers. History, however, offers other examples of sociopolitical systems. They can be a gold mine for worldbuilding ideas that stretch beyond the mainstream. Informal Governments Many societies worked just fine without strict hierarchical leadership. Power […]

SFWA Market Report—August 2021

Welcome to the August edition of the SFWA Market Report. Please note: Inclusion of any market in the report below does not indicate an official endorsement by SFWA. The markets included on this list all pay at least $0.08/word in at least one length category of fiction. New Markets Buckmxn Story Service Xenocultivars: Stories of […]

In Memoriam—Patricia Kennealy-Morrison

Patricia Kennealy-Morrison’s (b. Patricia Kennely, 1946) death was announced on July 22. Kennealy-Morrison got her start as a music journalist, serving as the editor-in-chief of Jazz & Pop and becoming one of the first female rock critics. In the 1980s, Kennealy-Morrison began publishing an epic space opera series, The Keltiad, which followed a group of Celts who […]