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SFWA Members and Committee Leads: Submit items to communications@sfwa.org for inclusion on this page. Singularity‘s monthly e-blast, with highlights from this page, goes out the first Tuesday of every month.

Welcome to Our Newest Members!

The end of 2025 and start of 2026 saw a wealth of new authors joining SFWA.

First-Year SFWA Members: We are honored to have you here, and we appreciate just how hard you’ve been working on your craft to become eligible.

Seasoned SFWAns: Please look for these names on our networking spaces, and make our newest members feel welcome:

  • Millie Abecassis
  • Chris Baker
  • Derek Blackwell
  • EH Casteele
  • Julie Duffy
  • Dennis Himes
  • Juliet Kahn
  • Brad Kelechava
  • EM Kerkman
  • Liz Levin
  • Utunu Mapaku
  • Brian McNett
  • Miguel Mitchell
  • Joseph W Pitha
  • Ramprasath Rengasamy
  • Buck Richards
  • Brian H Roberts
  • John Shirley
  • CP Silver
  • A’liya Spinner
  • Molly Sullivan
  • Nicole Thomas
  • TK Toppin
  • Sophia Turner
  • Verdell Walker
  • Zander Woolley
  • Samantha Wren

Notes from the Board & Operations

Welcome, SFWA Member, to our new Singularity. For years, this member benefit has been provided as an e-blast to all SFWA Members in good standing, but we’ve run into a wonderful problem in recent months: too much content! With all that SFWA Members are doing today, both for their own creative careers and as SFWA Volunteers giving back to their communities, we started running into hard limits on how much our old newsletter format could support.

Also, as SFWA deepens its ties with industry peers, we want a place that can better capture all the nomination, application, and voting windows in our genre community. Publishing just once a month made it harder to signal-boost so much of the terrific work going on elsewhere in SFF.

We are keen to keep improving. In the coming months, we will add to the Events Calendar and our User Profile integrations to improve member networking and uplift. We will also still have a monthly e-blast to bring SFWA Members back to this page. You can always find Singularity in your Membership Portal and in the Top Menu under Publications.

Thank you for making this move a necessity, through all your hard work in genre!

We look forward to growing with you in this new era for SFWA member benefits.

Recent Publications

The Latest from Planetside

The New Release Newsletter is a monthly service that provides all SFWA Members in good standing with an opportunity to promote their latest new release. Learn more about the publication here, click below to get your copy of the latest issue, and subscribe to the newsletter via e-blast so you never miss a title!

Our newest Publications offering, Games & Comics Quarterly, is a quarterly extension of the New Release Newsletter dedicated to providing SFWA Members in good standing with an opportunity to promote their latest new releases in games and comics writing.

Unsurprisingly, it is curated by our brilliant teams in the Game Writing and Comics Committees! These volunteers are also working to explore more promotions and networking opportunities through this platform in the coming year, so make sure you’re subscribed for Issue #2!

Committee Updates

Comics

The Comics Committee had a highly successful Constellation weekend, in collaboration with Game Writing, this past December. Events included a riveting workshop on optimizing your next crowdfunding campaign, with Kat Calamia and Phil Falco of Lifeline Comics (curated by Jessica Maison), and a “Hard Knocks & Hidden Gems” joint panel exploring mid-career insights, with A. A. Rubin and Madeleine Holly-Rosing representing the committee.

ICYMI: We held our first Comics Chat of the year, featuring James B. Emmett, on January 15, 2026 at 10am PST! James is the Senior Editor of Creator Owned Content at Mad Cave Studios. His presentation on working with a comics editor was followed by an informal Q & A and chat about comics.

Reach out to comics@sfwa.org to learn more!

Contracts

Contracts is always keen to receive sample contracts from authors active in industry. Please submit contracts with personal information redacted to contracts@sfwa.org.

The Contracts Committee continues to seek volunteers with a knowledge of standard contracts for poetry and comics. In December, Contracts worked with the Game Writing and Comics Committees to set preliminary goals for growing our model contract documentation on SFWA.org.

If you are interested in contracts work to support fellow and future SFF writers, please write to Contracts today.

Emerging Tech

SFWA extends the warmest “welcome back!” to our Emerging Tech Committee, which met for the first time in 2026 on Tuesday, January 13. Welcome Ruthanna Emrys Gordon [Chair] and Kenna Alexander [Co-Chair]!

We have a dynamic range of goals to firm up and tackle this year, and we are so very thankful for all the people who signed up to support this vital initiative going forward. Check this space for more updates in the months ahead!

Estates-Legacy

In addition to responding to numerous requests for contact information for the representatives of deceased science fiction and fantasy authors, the Estates Committee initiated an outreach program to notify the representatives of deceased SFF writers whose work may be included in the Anthropic Settlement. This initiative, which is only possible because of the Estates Committee’s database, will assist in updating the representatives’ contact information and responding to questions regarding legacy management.

The Estates-Legacy Program’s co-chairs, Michael Capobianco and Jean Marie Ward, also conducted an Office Hours session on November 16 as part of Quasar, SFWA’s first fall online Nebula event.

The Legacy Committee conducted its quarterly review of the links contained in the Legacy Kit website and PDF. This quarter’s review found two needed changes. These will soon be incorporated into the kit.

Game Writing

The Game Writing Committee had a highly successful Constellation weekend, in collaboration with Comics, this past December. Events included a thoughtful workshop on alternatives to crowdfunding, with Wolfgang Baur of (curated by Will McDermott), and a “Hard Knocks & Hidden Gems” joint panel exploring mid-career insights, with John Ryan and Will McDermott representing the committee.

ICYMI: Don’t sleep on our first-ever games and comics creator showcase! Featuring many of our talented game writers and a powerhouse from comics, you’ll be inspired by the storytelling strategies on display here!

History

The History Committee continues to look for new members who have some expertise in conducting interviews. We are looking forward to developing projects in 2026 that allow us to keep legacy knowledge in our genre and industry alive. Interviews with past presidents and Grand Masters are a key component of how we will pursue this work.

If interested, please write to office@sfwa.org for more information.

Independent Authors

SFWA is proud to announce our new co-chairs for the Independent Authors Committee, Joyce Reynolds-Ward and Bert-Oliver Boehmer. We would also like to offer our deepest thanks for all the work done by outgoing co-chairs John Wilker and Dave Walsh, who carried this committee through challenging seasons in industry and the medium. Your work made a real difference!

The Independent Authors Committee has a new meeting time, so if you would like to get involved please write to independent-authors@sfwa.org for more information.

Indie is also looking forward to its next membership-accessible meetup! Join the team for “The Ins and Outs of Print Profit” at 4pm PST on February 7.

Mentorship Program

SFWA Career Mentorship Program Applications Opening

Applications to the SFWA Career Mentorship Program will be open February 7, 2026, at 9AM PST and will close February 21, 2026, at 9PM PST.

The aim of the Program is to create an informative, nurturing, and diverse environment that will foster the professional development and community connectedness of writers at any stage in their career. This all-volunteer program is free of charge and open to all SFWA members as well as to aspiring members. You do not need to be a member of SFWA to participate.

Mentorships will run from March 21, 2026 – June 21, 2026.

All applicants must be 21 or older in order to participate.

After the application period is over, the SFWA Career Mentorship Program will use a lottery system to select participants. Matches will be made in March with selectees informed by March 21, 2026. Due to high demand for mentorships, the Program asks that if you have had a successful match as a mentee in the last three years, then you don’t apply again until three years have passed, unless someone on the Mentorship Team has invited you to do so.

In the future, to stay informed about when the program opens, you can sign up here, monitor the SFWA Mentoring Initiative page here, or look for announcements here in Singularity.

Poetry

The Speculative Poetry Committee now has a YouTube playlist complete with all back-catalog offerings from its Open Mic series. You can enjoy the following Featured Poets on the channel, and let non-members know that the next addition to the series will be available in late February.

Sumiko Saulson – October 26, 2024
Sultana Raza – March 29, 2025
Marissa Lingen – June 28, 2025
C.S.E. Cooney – September 27, 2025

SFWA Members! Are you ready for the next meeting of Speculative Poetry Book Club, hosted by Mary Soon Lee and featuring Katherine Quevedo, on February 7 at 11am PST? The topic is Quevedo’s chapbook “The Inca Weaver’s Tales,” winner of the 2025 Elgin Award. RSVP to Mary at marysoonlee [at] gmail [dot] com.

Also, You get first and priority access to our next Featured Poet, who will be presenting on Saturday, April 25, 2026 from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. PST, at the next Speculative Poetry Open Mic, with event host Gwynne Garfinkle.

This quarterly open mic is an unrecorded meetup where we share our work with each other. You are welcome to read works in progress or published work in the privacy of Zoom. (You are also welcome to just listen!)

At the half hour, our feature will be introduced and read for twenty minutes. This will be recorded and available on the events page to view. Bring a poem or two to read, hear our featured poet, and hang out afterwards.

More about our next Featured Poet:

Angela Liu is a Nebula-, Ignyte-, and Rhysling-nominated writer/poet from NYC who writes about intergenerational trauma and weird things. She formerly researched mixed reality storytelling at Keio University in Japan. Her stories and poetry are published in Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld, The Dark, Interzone Digital, Lightspeed, khōréō, Uncanny, and Logic(s), among others.

Full event details are available here.

Member Events & Campaigns

The times, they are a-changing! SFWA members have readings, signings, panel appearances, related presentations… and crowdfunding campaigns!

Please keep sending your events to communications@sfwa.org with “Singularity” in the subject line. If you would like your crowdfunding campaign included on this page and in our dedicated #crowdfunding Discord channel, send us those details, too. Note: SFWA posts these campaign links as a courtesy, not an endorsement, and work may be removed from the program if a breach of professionalism (e.g., genAI use in art or text materials) is involved.

Be the First to Join Wu Ying’s Next Journey

This Kickstarter for a project by Tao Wong brings the newest book in Wu Ying’s saga directly to readers with the eBook, audiobook, and signed hardcovers. Backers will help bring the launch to life, get early access to updates, and secure their copies before the book releases on Amazon.

Don’t miss out on this first print run edition – follow along to stay up to date!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/starlitpublishing/immortal-connections

Claire Houck is kicking off 2026 with a range of crowdfunding projects for Duck Prints Press, and conventions!

Crowdfunding:

The Twinned Trilogy: Contemporary Fantasy with a Queer Twist ( by SFWA author Tris Lawrence)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/duckprintspress/the-twinned-trilogy-contemporary-fantasy-with-a-queer-twist

Wild and Full of Marvels: Queer Fanworks Inspired by Folklore and Fairy Tales (Editor) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/duckprintspress/wild-and-full-of-marvels-queer-works-inspired-by-folklore

Ducks in a Row and Duxxx in a Row: Curated Collections of Duck Prints Press stories (with contributing SFWA members Dei Walker and Tris Lawrence) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/duckprintspress/ducks-in-a-row-curated-collections-of-queer-stories?tab=prelaunch-updates

Conventions:

Visit her in Geneseo, NY, for gaming con Running Gagg, from January 30 to Feb 1. https://www.geneseo.edu/gagg/runninggagg

And if you miss her there, join her at Boskone, in Boston, MA, from February 13 to 15.
https://boskone.org/

Brooklyn Books & Booze‘s first ever Author Book Fair will be held on Saturday, February 7 from 11am-5pm at Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room in Industry City in Brooklyn, New York.

Over 15 authors will be on hand to sell books and meet readers, plus there’ll be a raffle and three separate special events — including a presentation from author/agent Lucienne Diver; a “Speed Pitching Date” with agents; and a drinks-creation demonstration from “Cocktails and Consoles” author Elias Eells. Authors schedule to attend include Keith R.A. DeCandido, Ian Randal Strock, C.W. Rose, Alex Shvartsman, Leanna Renee Hieber, John Foster, Nicholas Kaufmann, Magnolia Xen, Sarena Straus, Lara Frater, Barbara Krasnoff, Jean Joachim, Randee Dawn, Eskay Kabba, Elias Eells, and Crazy 8 Press’ Hildy Silverman and Aaron Rosenberg.

For more information, and to sign up to possibly get a slot pitching an agent, go to BrooklynBooksBooze.com. This event is free!

Then join Brooklyn Books & Booze for its regular month event on Tuesday, February 17 at 7pm at Barrow’s Intense Tasting Room at 86th 34th Street, Brooklyn, NY (in Industry City)! Our readers this month are Fonda Lee, Leanna Renee Heiber, Shveta Thakrar, and Victor Manibo. This is a monthly in-person event that showcases four (or more!) authors reading from their recent works. And it’s FREE as well!

Pledge your support for Grahame Turner‘s next BackerKit, which launches this April.

Vaporwave Wanderlust is an upcoming adventure and mini-setting within the Orbital Blues universe, for use with the main Orbital Blues game. Prepare for a high-tech data heist in a polygon-filled, VR-powered network. The module is standalone, but has links to the other modules in the same series: Electric Sheep Shuffle Jumpgate Charade Station-bound Semitones Learn more and pledge today!

https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/7de929ed-5f8c-4ff2-8275-df2fb3f18c18/landing

Join Anthony Eichenlaub at ConFusion from January 30 to February 1. You can find him at a number of panels, and a special event with Ursula Whitcher at 12pm local time (Michigan) on Saturday, January 31.

For more information, follow updates at the conference website, Magical ConFusion!

Join Jennifer R. Povey at Farpoint from January 30 to February 1 in Towson, MD. More on her schedule forthcoming closer to the date!

For more information, follow updates at the conference website, Farpoint Convention 2026!

Launch events for Lauren C. Teffeau’s Accelerated Growth Environment:

February 22, 2026
7pm (Pacific)
Nook & Cranny Books
5637 University Wy NE Ste 102
Seattle, WA 98105, USA

Join Lauren C. Teffeau and friends at Nook & Cranny Books in Seattle to celebrate the launch of her new book Accelerated Growth Environment, a hopepunk eco-thriller and the inaugural release for Shiraki Press, a new publisher based in the Pacific Northwest.

https://www.nookandcrannybooks.com/
http://laurencteffeau.com/
https://www.shirakipress.com/

March 12, 2026
5:30 pm (Mountain)
Books on the Bosque
6261 Riverside Plaza Lane NW, Suite A-2
Albuquerque, NM 87120

Lauren C. Teffeau will be reading and signing at her local independent bookstore Books on the Bosque in Albuquerque on March 12 to celebrate the launch of her new book Accelerated Growth Environment, a hopepunk eco-thriller and the inaugural release for Shiraki Press.

https://www.booksonthebosque.com/
http://laurencteffeau.com/
https://www.shirakipress.com/

Calling all writers! Get your stories ready.

Jennifer Brozek has an open call on Flash Fiction Online.

Theme: Tiny Gods.

For this special call, we are asking you to break from world-spanning, giant acts of heroism and sacrifice to focus in on small daily rituals and tiny acts of worship to personal gods—named and unnamed. Think about all of the small moments of belief, worship, gratitude, and entreaty that come about organically or are passed down from parent to child, from mentor to apprentice, or from friend to friend.

Blind submissions sub window: March 1 to 31.
Expected publication date: September 2026, eBook.

Learn more here.

Industry Peer News

From Oliver Pulleyblank, CFM Lawyers, Vancouver BC Canada:

I wanted to provide an update on the Anthropic and Meta Class Actions, and make an important and time sensitive request.

For Anthropic, we are in the midst of finalizing our certification materials. This is what we file in Court in support of our position that the matter should be allowed to proceed as a class action. Our certification materials are due February 2, 2026.

As part of our certification materials, we want to show the Court that there is still a need to proceed with the Canadian class action notwithstanding the U.S. settlement.

We know as a fact that it is a small minority of Canadian authors who hold U.S. registered copyright (and therefore can claim in the U.S. settlement) for each work they authored that appears in the LibGen or Books3 Datasets (and therefore may have been pirated by Anthropic to train their AIs). However, we need to make this clear to the Court.

To that end, I am hoping to be able to provide to the Court a list of authors (A) who have contacted me, (B) believe they have works that were in LibGen or Books3, and (C) do not hold U.S. Copyright for some or all of such works (and do not therefore fall on the “Works List” entitling the author to participate in the Anthropic settlement).

I would provide the Court a list of such individuals. I do not need you to give an affidavit, I will rather have a paralegal prepare a list people who have confirmed that I can share:

  • Their name
  • That they contacted me about this class action
  • The works they believe are in LibGen or Books3 (I will attach the Atlantic Data base results showing such); and
  • That they do not have U.S. Registered Copyright (I will attach a search result from the US Copyright office and the Anthropic Settlement Page)

If you believe you fall in this category and are okay with me including such information in our certification material for Anthropic, please respond to this email and let me know. This will mean that your name, books, and lack of U.S. registered will be included in our publicly filed material. I would ask you respond as quickly as possible, and by January 29, 2026.

If you are okay with providing this information so long as you fall into this category, but are unsure if you do in fact, I am happy to look to see if I can confirm if it appears you have US copyright or not.

If you would prefer not, please feel no pressure whatsoever, and I will not include the names of any person who does not reply to this email. Whether you provide this consent or not has nothing to do with whether you are entitled to participate in this matter if it is certified.

To give an update as to timing, after we file our material Anthropic has their opportunity to file responding material, then we will exchange written arguments. This will lead up to a five day hearing before the British Columbia Supreme Court, before Justice Brongers, which is scheduled to take place between November 23 – 27, 2026. I appreciate that this feels like it is moving slowly, but it is actually a fast schedule for certification in Canadian courts (which is a sorry statement).

Regarding Meta, we have decided to litigate that case in Federal Court. Meta has challenged the jurisdiction of Canadian courts to enforce Canadian copyright against them. That jurisdictional motion is set to be heard on June 10-11, in Toronto. We are due to file our certification material in that case on February 27, leading up to a certification hearing in early 2027.

As there is no US Settlement, we do not need at this time to include similar evidence in our Meta case.

CONTACT EMAIL: opulleyblank@cfmlawyers.ca

Dylan Marsh, M.S., a Doctoral Candidate in Counseling Psychology at Colorado State  University, is conducting a research study under the supervision of Principal Investigator, Bryan  Dik, Ph.D. We are interested in learning more about factors related to work and well-being  among science fiction and fantasy authors. 

We are seeking participants who meet the following criteria: 

• Are 18 years of age or older 

• Are a published author in science fiction, fantasy, and/or speculative fiction (broadly  defined) 

• Currently reside in the U.S., U.K., Canada, or Australia 

• Are capable of understanding and responding to a survey written in English • Have access to the internet and an active email address 

What to Expect: 

Participants will be asked to complete two online surveys. The first survey will be completed  now, and a second survey will be emailed to you eight weeks later. Each survey will take  approximately 25 minutes to complete, for a total time commitment of about 50 minutes. 

Compensation: 

Participants will receive $5 U.S. (or the equivalent in your country’s currency) in the form of an  Amazon gift card for each completed survey. This will equal $10 U.S. in total if both surveys are  completed. If you reside in the U.K., you will receive £5 per survey. You must reach the end of the survey to receive compensation. 

Confidentiality: 

Your responses will be kept confidential. Raw data will be stored on a password-protected  computer and will not be shared with anyone outside of CITI-trained researchers approved by the  institutional review board (IRB). Individual responses will not be shared in any way that is  identifiable. Quantitative data will be reported only in aggregate form. Some qualitative  responses may be quoted in a published form, but any identifiable information will be removed. You will not be asked to report your name. Email addresses will only be used to distribute the  second survey and to send Amazon gift cards. 

Voluntary Participation: 

Your participation in this study is voluntary. You may withdraw at any time without penalty. We  also ask if you to share this survey with other authors that you know in the community, if you are  inclined to do so. 

Questions? Please contact us at: Dylan.Marsh@colostate.edu (Dylan Marsh, M.S.) and/or Bryan.Dik@colostate.edu (Bryan Dik, Ph.D.)

January 2026 – The Speculative Literature Foundation will be accepting applications for the 2026 A.C. Bose Grant for South Asian Speculative Literature from Jan. 1-31, 2026.

The A.C. Bose Grant is awarded annually to a South Asian or Desi diaspora writer developing speculative fiction. It was established in 2019 in memory of Ashim Chandra Bose, a lover of books – especially science fiction and fantasy. Thanks to the continuing generosity of Bose’s children, Rupa Bose and Gautam Bose, the amount awarded annually is increasing from $1,000 to $1,500 in 2026.

For more information and to apply, visit speculativeliterature.org/grants. Grant applications are open to all: you do not need to be a member of SLF to apply for or receive a grant.

The Speculative Literature Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting literary quality in speculative fiction by encouraging promising new writers, assisting established writers, facilitating the work of quality magazines and small presses in the genre, and developing a greater public appreciation of speculative fiction. For more information, visit speculativeliterature.org.

The Speculative Literature Foundation is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, and by the Oak Park Area Arts Council, in partnership with the Village of Oak Park and the Illinois Arts Council; and by the Oak Park River Forest Community Foundation.

Volunteer Calls

One of the best parts of being an accomplished creator is being able to give back to your community. If you have ever chosen to do so through SFWA, thank you. If you are doing so right now? AMAZING. You’re the best! And if you would like to start volunteering, we have a series of open calls available with our sign-up form here.

Please also look out for opportunities with the Nebula Awards Conference in June!

SFWA’s History Comhttps://www.sfwa.org/about/volunteer/mittee
https://www.sfwa.org/about/volunteer/Writing Date Hosts
SFWA’s Contracts Commhttps://www.sfwa.org/about/volunteer/ittee
https://www.sfwa.org/about/volunteer/SFWA’s Moderation Team
Open call for art for SFWA's Publications Projects
SFWA Resources
Donate to SFWA

Your contribution makes a difference.
Learn more about our Where the Need Is Greatest, Givers Fund, Emergency Medical Fund, and Legal Fund here.
You can also send along a check to our mailing address:

2261 Market Street
Suite 86695
San Francisco, CA 94114

Contact office@sfwa.org if you have trouble making your donation.

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