SFWA today issued a statement about “unusual rights inclusions” on contracts from MustRead, Inc., the new owner of several major sff prozines.
Recently, the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) was contacted in regards to contracts potentially being offered to writers submitting to a variety of magazines including Analog, Asimov’s Science Fiction, and F&SF, that contained some potentially problematic clauses. These magazines represent important and historic repositories of some of the best speculative fiction written in the past and the present.
After conversing with MustRead, Inc., the publisher of those magazines, SFWA is pleased to provide some additional clarification on the issues brought to our attention. To wit, contract clauses regarding performance or merchandising rights should not be included in agreements with the above magazines. If these clauses do appear, authors should negotiate to have them stricken or removed entirely from the agreement, as they are considered either an editorial error or a holdover from an outdated contract. While SFWA cannot and does not provide legal advice, we are suggesting that writers approach these specific agreements this way. SFWA appreciates the clarification from MustRead, Inc., on these clauses.
SFWA will continue to monitor agreements in the speculative fiction short story marketplace, and continue our work as advocates and defenders for our membership and the genre writing community at large. Our Contracts Committee provides model contracts for various types of written work and will also provide private review of contracts (with or without personally identifying information redacted).
Thank you for your attention to this matter. Remember to always read any contract you are being asked to sign with caution, and when possible, get proper legal advice before signing any agreement that you do not fully understand. And remember, contracts are always negotiable. Advocate for your work, and when you need our help, we are here.
On behalf of the SFWA Board of Directors, Kate Ristau, President
The Horror Writers Association has announced the lineup for its latest anthology, Scaring and Daring, edited by Eric J. Guignard.
Every one of these stories is remarkable and adds an original Middle-Grade appropriate “scaring and daring” element to a classic of literature.
Coming in August 2025 from HarperCollins, Scaring and Daring will include the following authors:
“Hook and the Hand of Fate” by Teel James Glenn and Maxwell I. Gold (from Peter Pan)
“What We Found Beneath Mount Etna” by Lisa Morton (from Journey to the Center of the Earth)
“Prince Badi az-Zaman and the Ogress Fattan” by Tanvir Ahmed (from One Thousand and One Nights)
“The Hound of the Basking Villas” by Kelley Armstrong (from The Hound of the Baskervilles)
“The Lost Musketeer” by Maurice Broaddus (from The Three Musketeers)
“The Secret (Thing in the) Garden” by Delilah S. Dawson (from The Secret Garden)
“The Shadows in the Rock” by Joe R. Lansdale (from Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)
“A Lucky Find” by Kristi Petersen Schoonover (from Moby-Dick)
“The Boy of La Mancha Rides a Ghost Horse” by Carlos Hernandez (from Don Quixote (or, El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha))
“The Glass Slipper” by Sherrilyn Kenyon (from Cinderella)
“Wolf in the Mirror” by Sarwat Chadda (from The Jungle Book)
“Vessel Eaters” by Ai Jiang (from “The Ballad of Mulan”)
“Freckle and Hide” by Jonathan Maberry (from The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde)
“Out on a Limb” by Nancy Holder (from Pollyanna)
“The Gruelmaster” by Nathan Carson (from Oliver Twist)
Cover art by Denis Zilber
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!
Get ready for a terrifying spin on some of literature’s most beloved tales—no story is safe! From Captain Hook’s run-in with dark magic to Sherlock Holmes narrowly escaping graveyard spirits to a happily never after for Cinderella, this horror anthology is anything but a bedtime story. In this terrifying new collection for young readers, the best-loved stories from the literary canon are revisited and reimagined with a deadly twist by some of the top authors working in middle grade today.
Liz Femi is the primary narrator of this meta-narrative about a paraplegic Nigerian American woman and her unexpected rise to fame. Suddenly unemployed, Zelu risks writing a novel unlike any she’s ever written before, a futuristic sci-fi epic about androids who exist after humanity becomes extinct. Femi’s distinct voices complement each character’s personality, thoroughly enriching this audiobook.
NORTH IS THE NIGHT: The Tuonela Duet, Book 1
by Emily Rath | Read by Khaya Fraites, Emily Lawrence
Khaya Fraites and Emily Lawrence give spirited performances in this introduction to a rich duology based on Finnish fantasy. Aina and Siiri have been separated by the death gods as they work to survive a very harsh winter. Aina is sent to endure Tuonela, the underworld, and Siiri travels to save her. Action scenes are plentiful and strongly performed, creating anticipation for the next installment.
Kobna Holdbrook-Smith narrates an immersive fantasy set in post-WWII London. When Dennis Knuckleyard suddenly and violently learns there is a second London alongside the one he knows, it causes his entire worldview to reshape itself. Holdbrook-Smith depicts Dennis as naïve and somewhat feckless, mostly harmless, and truly out of his depth. The vast scope of characters Dennis encounters is matched by Holdbrook-Smith’s incredible performance.
Susanna Clarke’s spellbinding performance of this enhanced audiobook brings out the alluring beauty of this mystical tale. Nineteen-year-old Merowdis Scot is most at home when she’s walking in the woods with her dogs and Apple, her pig. Evocative sound effects and music add to Clarke’s haunting narration, highlighting Merowdis’s deep connection to nature. The theatrical sensory experience intensifies the mystery of Merowdis’s encounters with a blackbird, a fox, and a strange figure, all of whom foreshadow a life-transforming vision.
WIND AND TRUTH: Stormlight Archive, Book 5
by Brandon Sanderson| Read by Kate Reading, Michael Kramer
The endearing husband-and-wife team of Kate Reading and Michael Kramer continue their stunning narration of the Stormlight Archive series. Reading and Kramer switch off narrating—with both bringing special touches to their performances. The story is nuanced with complicated characters, and Reading/Kramer imbue every one with intriguing nuance. This series offers thrilling action, sparring conversations, and a sense that the world is vibrant and evolving. The narration coupled with the fascinating fantasy epic is a must-listen for series fans.
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Asimov’s, Analog and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction have been purchased by a new owner. Jason Sanford reported the transactions on his Patreon page.
Sanford says the new owner of the magazines is Steven Salpeter and a group of investors. More information about the buyers is in Sanford’s report.
The Asimov’s, Analog and several other Dell magazines changed their websites to identify the new ownership over the weekend. F&SF, which was owned separately by Gordon Van Gelder, has yet to make an update.
The 63rd issue of Uncanny Magazine, winner of seven Hugos, plus a British Fantasy Award, a Locus Award, and World Fantasy Award, will be available on March 4 at uncannymagazine.com.
Hugo Award-winning Publishers Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas are proud to present the 63rd issue of their seven-time Hugo Award-winning online science fiction and fantasy magazine, Uncanny Magazine. Stories from Uncanny Magazine have been finalists or winners of Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Sturgeon, and World Fantasy Awards. As always, Uncanny features passionate SF/F fiction and poetry, gorgeous prose, provocative nonfiction, and a deep investment in the diverse SF/F culture, along with a Parsec Award-winning monthly podcast featuring a story, poem, and interview from that issue.
All of Uncanny Magazine’s content will be available in eBook versions on the day of release from Weightless Books, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, and Kobo. Subscriptions are always available through Weightless Books. The free online content will be released in 2 stages — half on day of release and half on April 1.
“The Uncanny Valley” by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas
Fiction
“10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days” by Samantha Mills (3/4)
“Butterfly Pavilion” by G. Willow Wilson (3/4)
“Red, Scuttle When the Ships Come Down” by Wen-yi Lee (3/4)
“The Prodigal Mother” (excerpt from Lessons in Magic and Disaster) by Charlie Jane Anders (4/1)
“The Life and Times of Alavira the Great as Written by Titos Pavlou and Reviewed by Two Lifelong Friends” by Eugenia Triantafyllou (4/1)
“The Island with the Animals” by Stephanie Malia Morris (4/1)
“Unbury” by Kirsty Logan (4/1)
“Infinite Halves” by J.L. Akagi (3/4)
Essays
“Breakout, Ripoff, Genre: How Fiction Outgrows Originality” by John Wiswell (3/4)
“Crawling out of the Laptop: On Reader-to-Character Interactions and Mixed Reality Storytelling” by Angela Liu (3/4)
“Ncuti to the Moon Take Two: Reflecting on the Fifteenth Doctor’s First Season” by Amanda-Rae Prescott (4/1)
“Green Walls, Castles, and Dark Rides: What I Learned about Worldbuilding from Imagineers” by J.R. Dawson (4/1)
Poetry
“The Birds” by Rafiat Lamidi (3/4)
“the bud of a dead dream” by Ai Jiang (3/4)
“Time loop for the day I die.” by Abdulrazaq Salihu (4/1)
“Red-Coded and Weary” by Lesley Hart Gunn (4/1)
Interviews
Wen-yi Lee interviewed by Caroline M. Yoachim (3/4)
Eugenia Triantafyllou interviewed by Caroline M. Yoachim (4/1)
Podcasts
Episode 63A (3/4): Editors’ Introduction; “10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days” by Samantha Mills, as read by Erika Ensign; “Butterfly Pavilion” by G. Willow Wilson, as read by Erika Ensign; “The Birds” by Rafiat Lamidi, as read by Matt Peters; and Lynne M. Thomas interviewing Samantha Mills.
Episode 63B (4/1): Editors’ Introduction; “The Island with the Animals” by Stephanie Malia Morris, as read by Matt Peters; “Time loop for the day I die.” by Abdulrazaq Salihu, as read by Matt Peters; and Lynne M. Thomas interviewing Stephanie Malia Morris.
By Justin T. O’Conor Sloane, Editor Worlds of IF Science Fiction: [An excerpt from his editorial in the forthcoming issue.]
The second issue of Worlds of IF Science Fiction magazine will be here soon and I am beyond excited to be publishing in this issue one of the “lost” and never-before-published Professor Jameson stories by Neil R. Jones, titled “Battle Moon!”
Nobody knew what had happened to the lost stories and it was believed, incorrectly, that there were a total of six stories that had yet to be published. But there is ONE more that no one knew about, a PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN story titled, “The Metal Menace!” The addition of “The Metal Menace” to the Professor Jameson series will require that histories of the series be appended to include this story. All of this thanks to Mike Dooley, whose enthusiasm for the Professor Jameson stories ultimately led to the discovery of the manuscript of “The Metal Menace” and the other six stories, bringing them at long last, to the publishing world and the reading public, after untold years spent in the dusty oblivion of archival boxes!
Mike spent years diligently tracking down these stories and attempting to get them published, but because of the various legal ambiguities surrounding the rights, no one was willing to publish them. But his steadfast perseverance in working to see these stories published was finally coming to fruition as I saw nothing problematic with any of it and knew this to be the perfect magazine in which to introduce the stories to the world: a relaunched classic, ideal for showcasing these previously unpublished and newly rediscovered science fiction stories from a legendary series. How wonderful! It was meant to be.
Neil R. Jones
The process to acquire the rights moved very quickly and smoothly I am happy to say. (Waiting patiently for this issue to hit the presses will have been the hard part for everyone.) Entirely through Mike’s efforts and the relationships that he has built with members of the Jones family over the years and librarians at Syracuse University like Amy McDonald who are the custodians of the stories, Starship Sloane Publishing was granted the rights to publish these stories by Javene Decker of the Neil R. Jones literary estate (thank you!) and Neil R. Jones Papers, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries (thank you!).
I think this is a big deal, even if there are only several dozen serious fans of the series out there right now—which, by the way, is good enough for me! Though I reckon there are far more than that and I hope that many new fans will be made with the appearance of these stories from the classic era of science fiction.
The Professor Jameson series influenced some of the greatest science fiction writers of all time, like Isaac Asimov and Frederik Pohl and in turn, that influence has been transmitted into popular culture in some very memorable ways (see more about this in Douglas Draa’s excellent essay in this very issue). Professor Jameson is the longest-running science fiction series in history—and now running even longer!—and is the oldest series involving cyborgs. I also have a special place in my heart for these stories as T. O’Conor Sloane published the first twelve installments of the series while the editor of Amazing Stories. They were extremely popular with the readership.
The remaining five stories will be published in upcoming issues of IF. In this issue, we are presenting the first and the second to last of the unpublished stories, with the new and corrected sequence of these stories now understood to be as follows:
#25 “Battle Moon” #26 “The Lost Nation” #27 “The Voice Across Space” #28 “The Satellite Sun” #29 “Hidden World” #30 “The Metal Menace” #31 “The Sun Dwellers”
Neil R. Jones
In doing it this way, we will follow the sequence with the exception of the previously unknown story, which is the true #30, “The Metal Menace,” because my enthusiasm to bring it to science fiction readers could not wait until a future issue, simple as that. Further to all of this, I have been informed by Mike that “The Sun Dwellers,” which is in fact the final story in the series, is NOT a finished manuscript. What?! So, I am pleased to say that Mike will be sharing co-writer credit with Mr. Jones in completing the manuscript—with the blessings of the Jones estate. Is that cool or what? It will be a history-rich writing credit for a good guy and super sleuth who has spent years working to bring these lost stories to science fiction fans everywhere—in the process becoming its own noteworthy story, a story of lost stories. Quite an accomplishment. Cheers, Mike! (Be sure to read Mike’s guest editorial in this issue to get the full scoop.)
To be able to conclude the Professor Jameson series at long last, with its never-before-published stories, almost 100 years after the first story appeared in print, is an exciting development I think and hopefully readers will agree! I am honored to help Mike see all of his hard work finally materialize (and those who helped him along the way). This is part of the continuum I wrote about in the editorial of the debut issue. I had also thought about publishing these stories in Galaxy, but decided against doing such as the rights would need to be revisited, but more importantly, because Worlds of IF is literally the perfect magazine for these stories, both in the tradition of its approach to its content and especially as the illustrious former editor of this very magazine, Frederik Pohl, was a fan of the series. Again, it was just meant to be. The Prof rides the science fiction range once again on wild stories swift and sure to entertain!
The 62nd issue of Uncanny Magazine, winner of seven Hugos, plus a British Fantasy Award, a Locus Award, and World Fantasy Award, will be available on January 7 at uncannymagazine.com.
Hugo Award-winning Publishers Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas are proud to present the 62nd issue of their seven-time Hugo Award-winning online science fiction and fantasy magazine, Uncanny Magazine. Stories from Uncanny Magazine have been finalists or winners of Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Sturgeon, and World Fantasy Awards. As always, Uncanny features passionate SF/F fiction and poetry, gorgeous prose, provocative nonfiction, and a deep investment in the diverse SF/F culture, along with a Parsec Award-winning monthly podcast featuring a story, poem, and interview from that issue.
All of Uncanny Magazine’s content will be available in eBook versions on the day of release from Weightless Books, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, and Kobo. Subscriptions are always available through Weightless Books. The free online content will be released in 2 stages- half on day of release and half on February 4.
“The Uncanny Valley” by Lynne M. Thomas & Michael Damian Thomas
Fiction
“Kaiju Agonistes” by Scott Lynch (1/7) “Six People to Revise You” by J.R. Dawson (1/7) “For Whom the Hair Grows” by Tia Tashiro (1/7)
“The Flaming Embusen” by Tade Thompson (2/4) “With Her Serpent Locks” by Mary Robinette Kowal (2/4) “Men with Tails” by Rati Mehrotra (2/4)
“Your Personalized Guide to the Museum of the Lost and Found” by AnaMaria Curtis (1/7)
Nonfiction
“The Hugo Awards” by Nicholas Whyte (1/7) “Homes to Remember and Forget” by Ai Jiang (1/7)
“Accessibility Toolkit for When Things Go Wrong” by A. T. Greenblatt (2/4) “Everything You Didn’t Know You Needed to Know about Writing Swords” by Suzanne Walker (2/4)
Poetry
“Nymph” by Kailee Pedersen (1/7) “Care for Lightning” by Mari Ness (1/7)
“Love Letter in Cobra Pose” Shankar Narayan (2/4) “Cassandra” by E. N. Díaz (2/4)
Interviews
Scott Lynch interviewed by Caroline M. Yoachim (1/7)
Rati Mehrotra interviewed by Caroline M. Yoachim (2/4)
Podcasts
Episode 62A (1/7): Editors’ Introduction; “Six People to Revise You” by J.R. Dawson, as read by Erika Ensign; “Care for Lightning” by Mari Ness, as read by Erika Ensign; and Lynne M. Thomas interviewing J.R. Dawson.
Episode 62B (2/4): Editors’ Introduction; “The Flaming Embusen” by Tade Thompson, as read by Matt Peters; “Love Letter in Cobra Pose” by Shankar Narayan, as read by Erika Ensign; and Lynne M. Thomas interviewing Tade Thompson.
The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA) has for the first time established an official professional rate for speculative poetry pay.
“The SFWA minimum payment rate for professional poetry markets is $50 per poem or $1 per line. There is no minimum length requirement.”
The Speculative Poetry 101 hub was also updated today with a helpful “Marketing Your Poetry” section.
Casey Aimer, a founding SFWA Poetry Committee member and organizer of Speculative Poetry 101, says the hub will continue to grow throughout 2025. Aimer is a cyberpunk poet and founder and poetry editor of the semi-pro science fiction publisher, Radon Journal.
The Six-Week Workshop is where a cohort of writers spends six weeks together writing and workshopping short fiction under the instruction of industry professionals. It serves emerging and underrepresented speculative fiction writers who want to strengthen their short fiction skills.
The workshop focuses on centering the author’s intention for their work, helping them level up in areas they wish to improve, and offering opportunities to make professional connections within the field. They build a strong and collaborative workshop cohort who continue to support them long after the workshop ends.
The 2025 workshop will run from June 22 to August 2 and is led by instructors Maurice Broaddus, Malka Older, editor Diana Pho, and Martha Wells, and workshop staff. Students will meet Monday through Friday in three-hour class sessions to learn the craft and business of writing short fiction. In weeks led by instructors, students will write stories to workshop in class, and spend time preparing notes on each other’s stories.
New in 2025, the first week will be staff-led in order to focus on orienting the students to workshopping models and building a rapport with the cohort. The fourth week of the workshop will also diverge from the workshopping structure, with the group instead meeting for about 90 minutes a day to attend lectures from each of the instructors.
Throughout the summer, students will meet one-on-one with each instructor, have the opportunity to attend instructor readings and participate in fun social activities, and meet other Clarion West alumni and industry pros.
Applications open on December 1, 2024, and close February 15, 2025. Interested writers should prepare to submit a writing sample of no more than 10,000 words, as well as to answer questions about their interest in the workshop and what writing means to them. For more information, visit Clarion West’s Six-Week Workshop page.
