Archive for the ‘The SFWA Blog’ Category

ROMANCING SFF: 5 Ways Fighting and Kissing Scenes Are the Same

by Chelsea Mueller There’s significant power in fighting and kissing scenes. When done well, they’re often reader favorites. Look at how readers talk about stories with excellent fights or swoonworthy sex, and you’ll see them call out these scenes specifically. In books that bring violence and romance to the page well, readers may even praise […]

SFWA Market Report – July 2022

Welcome to the July 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 Alternate History (Flame Tree Publishing) Gargantua (Upcoming) Hidden […]

Tired Disability Tropes In SFF: Do Better

By Anessa Kemna  Science fiction and fantasy should be the perfect places for disability representation. Writers make the rules in their worlds. But it’s difficult to find disabled characters and even harder to find quality representation in the SFF genres. It’s difficult in mainstream fiction too, but a genre built on imagination should have higher […]

THE INDIE FILES: Advantages of Independent Publishing

by Michael Edelson I’m old enough to remember widespread use of the term “vanity press,” and although that is thankfully a thing of the past, the stigma attached to self-publishing still persists. But the reality is that the publishing industry is changing, and independent publishing is gaining an ever-increasing market share. [1–3] As early as […]

ROMANCING SFF: Why Romance Should Be Part of Your Worldbuilding

by R. K. Thorne Worldbuilding is a fun aspect of writing fantasy and science fiction. It is so tempting to get lost in drawing maps, hoarding pictures, plotting lineages, or researching how that awesome weapon system could actually work. Our efforts often focus on geography, history, and politics. But part of worldbuilding should be envisioning […]

Numinous Fantasy

by Gabriel Murray We tend to remember our first brushes with the imaginary vast: when we read our first children’s portal fantasy, were enchanted by the animated world of our first Studio Ghibli film, or got lost in our first strange, endless game map. As writers, we often want to bring our own readers there […]

SFWA Market Report – June 2022

Welcome to the June 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 Monstrous Futures Currently Open for Submissions Al […]

Preliminary Observations From An Incomplete History of African SFF

by Wole Talabi Introduction Since 2016, I’ve maintained a database of published science fiction and fantasy (SFF)[1] works by African authors[2] for the African Speculative Fiction Society (ASFS). It is, admittedly, incomplete and limited by my collection methodology, which mostly involves soliciting information from the public (requiring validation) and trawling the internet for unreasonable periods […]

THE INDIE FILES: Make the Most of New Book Announcements

by R J Theodore An author promoting their upcoming release might feel like Sisyphus, because the effort to keep people aware of your book is neverending. When you let up on promotion, you and your boulder wind up back at the bottom of the slope. When you do benefit from a flash of attention, you […]