Planetside Full Archives

The Bulletin #216 is now available for download for SFWA members and participants of the 2021 Nebula Conference Online. Cover: “La Cantarita” by John Picacio This issue is special in more ways than one. Not only does it cover Winter/Spring…

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America has released our newest fantasy StoryBundle! The “Magic and Mayhem” Bundle is only available from October 13 to November 4, 2021. Once November 4 passes, this collection of novels curated by the…

by Nick Wood (NW) & Isiah Lavender III (IL) After finishing a working stint as a psychologist in Aotearoa, New Zealand, I (NW) visited the signing site for the Treaty of Waitangi (1840). This was a bilateral treaty between the…

Welcome to the October 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…

~DEADLINE EXTENDED TO OCTOBER 20!~ The SFWA Self-Publishing Committee (SPC) is happy to announce that we are open for submissions October 3–1720, 2021, for two science fiction StoryBundles that will be released in 2022. This is a great chance for…

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…

by Benjamin C. Kinney   Rejection letters are an inescapable part of the writing life, especially for authors of short fiction. The internet is full of advice to build persistence in the face of rejection – which is good advice,…

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…

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…

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…

by Naomi Norbez With the release of Cyberpunk 2077 a few months back, there has been some debate about what it means to be cyberpunk, and how that genre should be executed. As someone making a response game called Eyewear Cleaner…

William F. Nolan (b.1928) died on July 15 from complications due to an infection. He was 93. Nolan was best known for his work on Logan’s Run in 1967, co-authored with George Clayton Johnson. The work was later made into a film for…

by Matthew Broberg-Moffitt Part 1 of this series focused on the importance of #OwnVoices stories and the representation of neurodiversity and the neurodiverse (ND) in modern media. Part 2 covers the business of traditional publishing and the unique challenges that…

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. New Markets Life Beyond Us: An Original Anthology of SF Stories and…

by Gabriel Ertsgaard From Hector and Achilles to Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, the heroic duel is a fiction staple. However, my special interest (and the topic of my unfinished book) is how to tell stories of nonviolent heroism. How…

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. New Markets Muddy Paw Press Contest Opulent Syntax: Irish Speculative Fiction Shadow…

by Julie Nováková   SF authors are accustomed to creating intelligent spaceships, spinning space stations, flying cars or super-advanced robots, but what real-world technology can’t they live without in their everyday life, especially with relation to their writing process? Authors…

by Alice Speilburg Nearly every summer, I bring on an intern for the agency, and each week we cover a different publishing topic, focusing on traditional publishing paths in the US. When we get to author payment structures—advances and royalties—I…

by Matthew Broberg-Moffitt   If you are a writer and an avid Twitter user, you may be familiar with the term #OwnVoices and pitch events such as #PitMad and #DVPit. There is some measure of controversy in the writing community…

Welcome to the May edition of the SFWA Market Report. Please note: Inclusion of any market in the report below does not indicate an official endorsement by SFWA. New Markets Friends Journal: Quaker Speculative Fiction Special Issue Inclusive Future Magazine…

by J.D. Harlock Sometimes, outlining is a never-ending struggle. Too much? Too little? You can never really tell until you finally start writing that first draft. That may seem like a stretch, but keep in mind that for a good…

Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote in the SFWA Board elections. The results as certified by the Elections Committee and the Executive Director are as follows:   President: Jeffe Kennedy Secretary: Adam Rakunas  Director-at-Large through 2023…

by Andrew Hoe Human martial arts styles are biased: they’re specifically designed to fight other humans. Of course, watching Neo trade Kung Fu blows with Agent Smith is awesome, but perhaps our focus on human fighting systems in sci-fi affects…

by Holly Schofield As a published writer beginning to get some attention, I hear it over and over: How many books have you written?  Are your short stories set in the world of your novel?  When will you advance beyond…