Planetside Full Archives

Welcome to the April 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 Africa Risen Blood Knife The Needle Drops… Anthology Series Currently…

by Melanie Ashford Choosing to include characters with disabilities in your speculative fiction is an excellent thing to do, but you’ll need to do your research. A poorly written hard of hearing character will do much more harm than good,…

by Aigner Loren Wilson Like many writers, when I first started out writing speculative fiction, I felt lost when it came to who to talk to or where to “hang out” with the other cool kids. I knew there were…

by Navarre Bartz   If you pick up a book or movie about Artificial Intelligence (AI), there’s a good chance you’ll find a story where robots or AI have subjugated humanity. The Terminator, the robots in The Matrix, and the…

Welcome to the March 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 Darkness Blooms Orion’s Belt Currently Open Al Blanchard Award Analog…

by L.A. Young Humanity tends to bury whatever history those in charge deem “inappropriate” or “pointless” for posterity. However, this erasure was only effective on the written word. Oral tradition allowed many civilizations and societies to pass down these stories…

by Priya Chand   All narrators are unreliable. If you’re reading this thinking “hey, you’re misusing the term; ‘unreliable narrator’ refers to a specific convention”–well, I’m narrating this post, so what follows is all my interpretation! I do, though, genuinely…

by C.K. Larsen   Surely, nothing screams sexy like a bisexual+ woman asking, “How does it feel to kill someone?” Cue the eye roll. Sharon Stone’s persona in Basic Instinct depicts an openly bisexual+ character who is revealed as a…

Welcome to the January/February 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 It Gets Even Better Mermaids Monthly Mike Resnick Memorial Award…

by Gillian Polack   It’s suddenly harder to make a living as a writer. It was never easy. Setsu Uzumé recently wrote on the possibility of obtaining grants from regional or local governments. This article will walk you through some…

by Arkady Martine Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in The SFWA Bulletin #215. On the dining-room table which has become my desk during the endless time-is-a-flat-circle of this pandemic, is a book called Cities that Think Like Planets, by…

by Karintha Parker (This article originally appeared in The SFWA Bulletin #215.)   Like so many others connected to this [small-yet-all-consuming] publishing industry, books were my first love. Legend has it that a tiny version of me set eyes on my…

by Rosemary Claire Smith ‘Tis the season when many writers blog and tweet lists of what they’ve published this year in hopes of generating reader interest and consideration for awards. Full stop. Does the prospect of preparing a social media…

by Noah K. Sturdevant   It seems fair to say that authors are constantly scrambling for time to write. I previously wrote about managing this with a baby, and I thought I had things covered. Now I have a two…

by Henry Lien (This article originally appeared in The SFWA Bulletin #215.)   Something I’ve noticed repeatedly in my author appearances, conference panels, and lectures is that discussions about representation and diversity in the arts today focus on the importance of…

by Evan Winter (This article originally appeared in The SFWA Bulletin #215.)   Not long ago, I was asked where traditional publishing spaces are failing self-published writers, and I think I may have an answer: everywhere. This is because traditional publishing…

by Shiv Ramdas Supernatural Or Super Unnatural—an Examination Of Postcolonial Horror (This article originally appeared in The SFWA Bulletin #215.) When analyzing postcolonial horror in the context of the supernatural, it’s striking how disparate the terms “postcolonial” and “supernatural” are within…

By Sunny Moraine The origins of this piece lie in an annoyed Twitter thread I posted, in response to a tweet (possibly joking, I don’t know) to the effect of “movies shouldn’t have sex scenes in them, we’re past that…

by Tochi Onyebuchi Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in The SFWA Bulletin #215. What about the serial killers? What about the rapists? asks the skeptic in the face of the prison abolitionist. What about the violent crime and the…

Welcome to the December 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 1986 Anthology Currently Open Analog Science Fiction & Fact Asimov’s…

By Piper J. Drake Earlier this year, an author of color announced the acquisition of her new historical romance series. In direct reply to her tweet, someone publicly questioned the historical accuracy of the series. The author of color was…

For updates on #DisneyMustPay and the writers who have and have not had their missing royalties and/or statements resolved with Disney, please visit the #DisneyMustPay Task Force’s website, WritersMustBePaid.org. (note added 24 May 2021) A message from SFWA’s President, Mary…

By Cat Rambo In late 2019, Harry Turtledove approached me about a collaborative project he was doing for Arc Manor. He would write a near future novella in which the western part of the US seceded from the country in…

Welcome to the November 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 Beyond the Veil Currently Open Analog Science Fiction & Fact…