Planetside Full Archives

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…

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…

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…

The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America website has been selected by Writer’s Digest Magazine as one of the “101 Best Website for Writers.” A reminder: The SFWA Blog pays 6 cents/word for original material related to writing and/or science…

I set out to write science fiction and fantasy quite a number of years after having received one of the best gifts of my life. In fact, so many years had elapsed that I no longer thought much about this…

In my mind SFWA has always been associated with Robert Silverberg. Bob was of course the second president of the organisation, and he introduced my young mind to the very conception of SFWA through his editing of the first of…

The aging writer hunches over her pen and paper in a cramped and cluttered room. The hour has grown late, daylight long since fled. The wicks of candles gutter as a cold draft of wind blows through the crevices of…

As a young geek, I excelled at school and struggled in only one thing, really:  making friends.  Oh, I had one or two, and the occasional furtive acquaintance who was a little embarrassed to be seen with me. It’s a…

I began my writing career, as have many writers, with short fiction. After I’d made my first few professional sales, I came across a new set of markets I’d never considered before: foreign language (meaning non-English) magazines and anthologies. I…

Soon the tribe of misfits, dreamers, and outcasts will gather in Chicago for the 50th Annual Nebula Awards. Think about that for a moment – Fifty Fucking Years!  Lord-a-mercy, could Damon Knight have ever foreseen such an event when he…

Once upon a time, in an elementary school far, far away, I read a banned book. My teacher was the one who gave it to me, hoping that introducing me to genre fiction would spark something in me. When I…

At the Milford Writers’ Conference in September, 1966 Damon Knight cornered me in his kitchen and said, “I want you to run for President of SFWA when my term is up next year.” I was startled by that.  I was…

SFWA is pleased to announce Joanna Russ and Stanley Schmidt as the recipients of the 2015 SFWA Solstice Awards. These awards are granted in recognition of the positive impact and influence the recipients and their work have had on the…

Voting for the 2014 Nebula Awards ends today, Monday March 30, 2015 at 11:59pm PDT!!! Active SFWA members, the ballot is here: https://www.sfwa.org/nebula-awards/vote/