The Best SFF Mags and Zines

Liosse de Velishaf · Dec 17, 2009

That big kerfluffle over Black matrix got me really interested in short fiction magazines. Unfortunately, I really don't have any knowledge of or experience in them in the genre of SFF. So, I was wondering if you guys could recommend some of the better ones. I don't really care if they are print or online, or whether they are SF or F.

For online zines so far, I have come across Beneath Ceaaseless Skies for Fantasy, and Futurismic for Science Fiction, both of which have proved to be very good. What else is there?

AceTachyon · Dec 17, 2009

Asimov's
Fantasy and Science Fiction (F&SF)
Analog

Those are the "big three."

Then there's Realms of Fantasy. Black Gate. Fantasy Magazine. Andromeda Spaceways.

There's also a new SF mag in the works called Lightspeed.

ELMontague · Dec 17, 2009

Strange Horizons.

Izz · Dec 17, 2009

Just listed in the order i thought of them:

Apex Magazine
Abyss & Apex
GUD (Greatest Uncommon Denominator) (not exclusively SFF, but they publish some good stuff)
Weird Tales
Electric Velocipede
Shimmer
Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show
Ideomancer
Pedestal Magazine (literary primarily, but open to SFF and what SFF they do publish is pretty darn good--they're also an SFWA qualifying market, even though they're not exclusively SFF)
Clarkesworld Magazine
ChiZine
Interzone
Cosmos
Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet

Those are all mags that are well-rated (added to what's already been mentioned).

I also quite like SpaceWesterns.com. Good fun.

Bull Spec is a new pro market as well.

As usual, duotrope is your friend for research purposes of this nature.

Liosse de Velishaf · Dec 17, 2009

Eh, I don't like Duotrope. I prefer personal recommendations.

I got the two I mentioned in the OP from Rachel Swrisky.

Bookewyrme · Dec 17, 2009

I recently found an online/iPhone....zine I guess? Anyway, it is for steampunk specifically, but so far I like it. I think I linked it in another post, but anyway, it is called Steampunk Tales.

I also like Black Gate, which seems to have both an online and a print mag.

eyeblink · Dec 17, 2009

Also Postscripts, which is multi-genre. It's more a quarterly anthology by subscription these days than a magazine though.

Polenth · Dec 18, 2009

This is copy/pasted from my blog link list. It includes token payers up to pro, over a variety of sub-genres. They're all ones I like.

Abyss & Apex
Analog
ASIM
Asimov's SF
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
Brain Harvest
Clarkesworld
Crossed Genres
Electric Velocipede
Every Day Fiction
Everyday Weirdness
F&SF
Fantasy Magazine
Farrago's Wainscot
Flash Fiction Online
GUD
Ideomancer
Interzone
OG's Spec Fiction
OSCI Medicine Show
Realms of Fantasy
Shimmer
Strange Horizons
Weird Tales

Poetry Only:
Every Day Poets
Goblin Fruit
Star*Line

Izz · Dec 18, 2009

Liosse de Velishaf said:
Eh, I don't like Duotrope. I prefer personal recommendations.

Yeah, but with Duotrope you can go check the magazine out, usually, and read some of the stories for yourself.

At any rate, the ones in my post are personal recommendations from me, on top of the ones that were mentioned previously.

Izz · Dec 18, 2009

Forgot about Tor.com.

Free to read, and featuring a lot more than stories by well known SFF authors.

SPMiller · Dec 18, 2009

There is nothing more depressing than reading through one of the professional short publications.

dmytryp · Dec 18, 2009

SPMiller said:
There is nothing more depressing than reading through one of the professional short publications.

I'll bite. Why?

Shadow_Ferret · Dec 18, 2009

Why?

And you can always go to duotrope.com and search by genre. Or go to ralan.com.

Liosse de Velishaf · Dec 18, 2009

dmytryp said:
I'll bite. Why?

I want to know as well.

SPMiller · Dec 18, 2009

I perhaps should have said depressing for me. Novels, I'm pretty sure I can do. But I'll never write a story one of the mags will want to buy.

Liosse de Velishaf · Dec 19, 2009

SPMiller said:
I perhaps should have said depressing for me. Novels, I'm pretty sure I can do. But I'll never write a story one of the mags will want to buy.

Oh, okay. Same here, then.

badducky · Dec 19, 2009

Plenty of good recommendations here, I just want to add for lurkers, that it's a very bad idea to sub to a magazine you haven't researched.

Also, it's a very bad idea to write short fiction if you don't actually enjoy reading it, yourself.

Oddly enough my favorite short fiction markets to read also bought stuff I wrote, with only two exceptions, that are both very likely to do so in the future, because I enjoy reading them.

JMBlackman · Dec 19, 2009

Izz said:
Tor.com.
.

I thought this was as good a place as anywhere, so, does anyone know how to submit to Tor.com?

Monomaniac · Dec 21, 2009

Unfortunatly, TOR does not accept short stories from unpublished authors.

JMBlackman · Dec 21, 2009

Monomaniac said:
Unfortunatly, TOR does not accept short stories from unpublished authors.

OK, thanks. I was getting that feeling. Sigh. I love that site.

badducky · Dec 21, 2009

Monomaniac said:
Unfortunatly, TOR does not accept short stories from unpublished authors.

They don't?

The guidelines at Ralans suggest they want highly professional quality stories and writers, not that their definition of that is a list of publication credits the length of your arm.

I wouldn't assume, without asking first, if that was truly true, if you think your story - honestly and truthfully - is at the level of Geoff Ryman and Elizabeth Bear.

I think it is unwise to assume without a definite thumbs up or down from someone on the inside, in this case.

JMBlackman · Dec 21, 2009

badducky said:
I wouldn't assume, without asking first, if that was truly true, if you think your story - honestly and truthfully - is at the level of Geoff Ryman and Elizabeth Bear.

I think it is unwise to assume without a definite thumbs up or down from someone on the inside, in this case.

I don't think I could presume that my story matches the talent of either one of them/theirs, but I think it has merit, and I think it would have a shot.

To get a definite thumbs up or down, do you suggest emailing someone at Tor.com?

badducky · Dec 21, 2009

I'd suggest e-mailing the man in charge, through the e-mail he lists at ralans, with a nice, polite query letter but no attached story. The worst thing that can happen is nothing, followed closely by a polite rejection.

If we aren't politely assertive about our careers, no one else will be.

Still, if your gut is telling you to doubt the quality, I'd take a good, long, hard look at your story first and foremost. It is a very tough market, and it is also not the fastest of markets.

It's your call, but, again, the worst thing that can happen is nothing as long as you're polite.

LOG · Jan 17, 2010

Does Fantasy Magazone take electronic submissions?
Also, I can't seem to find any guidelines for submitting to Realms of Fantasy, help?

waylander · Jan 17, 2010

Fantasy Magazine takes subs by an online form - it is currently closed to submissions

Guidelines for RoF http://www.rofmag.com/contact-us/
Slushmaster's blog http://douglascohen.livejournal.com/

The Best SFF Mags and Zines

Odd person

ELMontague

Doing the Space Operatic

Imagined half of it.

Barbara says hi

Mushroom

Doing the Space Operatic

Doing the Space Operatic

Prodigiously Hanged

Court Jester

Prodigiously Hanged

No Time For Chitchat, Kemosabe.

I’m trying.

(o)

I’m trying.

No Time For Chitchat, Kemosabe.

I’m trying.

No Time For Chitchat, Kemosabe.

Lagrangian

Who's going for a beer?