Greatest Uncommon Denominator (GUD)

Established: 2006gud
Editors: Kaolin Fire (founding editor & editor-in-chief), Sue Miller (founding editor), Sal Coraccio (founding editor), Julia Bernd (editor & copyeditor), Debbie Moorhouse (editor & copyeditor)

Overview:
GUD (pronounced “good”) is a print/pdf magazine with two hundred pages of literary and genre fiction, poetry, art, and articles. Modern in business, method, and execution, but timeless in message, GUD is published twice a year, for your reading pleasure.

GUD is FOR THE WRITER or ARTIST. A simple submission process, and the potential to earn royalties. Our issues never go out of print.

GUD is FOR THE READER. We print the best of the best. Our business model is built for artists and consumers, not for ourselves. And GUD is flexible—buy the whole magazine or a single .pdf of the story, poem, artwork, or article you just have to have.

Awards and Recognition:
2008 Aurealis Award for Best Horror Short Story (Painlessness by Kirstyn McDermott, Issue 2)
Nebula Recommendation (Night Bird Soaring by Traci Morganfield, Issue 3).
BSFA Best Short Fiction Recommendation (ditto).
Three Honorable Mentions in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror 2008 (Twenty-First Annual Collection) (Songs of the Dead by Sarah Singleton and Chris Butler, Issue 0, Unzipped by Steven J. Dines, Issue 1, and Max Velocity by Leslie Claire Walker, Issue 1)
2008 Locus Recommended Reading List (Offworld Friends Are Best by Neal Blaikie, Issue 2)

Other Items of Interest:
We publish reviews of books and magazines on our site.

Website:
www.gudmagazine.com

Information provided by Debbie Moorhouse.

Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet

lcrw23-200gifEstablished: 1996
Editors: Gavin J. Grant and Kelly Link

Overview:
LCRW is a paperzine — although we’ve been selling ebooks (on our site and fictionwise.com) for a couple of years now. We’re also going to go back and release the back issues as ebooks in the near future (i.e. when Fictionwise catches up with its submissions!).

When I started the zine, it was in frustration at not being able to find the kinds of things I wanted to read. This isn’t true any more, but as long as we get great stuff in the mail, we’ll keep publishing.

Small Beer Press publishes 4-6 books a year but it’s fun to keep things simple with LCRW. It basically pays for itself, no small feat for a magazine of any size. We do black and white covers and legal sized paper because it’s affordable and a good page size.

Awards and Recognition:
LCRW was a Hugo nominee a couple of years ago, that was fun. Various stories have been reprinted in various year’s best anthologies.

Other Items of Interest:
I suppose the most interesting part would be that, if you like, you can get a chocolate bar with each issue. (That’s one part of the zine we’d love more submissions for.)

Website:
www.lcrw.net/lcrw

Realms: The First Year of Clarkesworld Magazine

realmsIn 2008, Wyrm Publishing released Realms, the first in a series of comprehensive anthologies featuring a year’s original fiction from Clarkesworld Magazine.

Table of Contents:

* A Light in Troy by Sarah Monette
* 304 Adolph Hitler Strasse by Lavie Tidhar
* The Moby Clitoris of His Beloved by Ian Watson
* Lydia’s Body by Vylar Kaftan
* Urchins, While Sleeping by Catherynne Valente
* The Other Amazon by Jenny Davidson
* Automatic by Erica Satifka
* Orm the Beautiful by Elizabeth Bear
* Chewing Up the Innocent by Jay Lake
* Attar of Roses by Sharon Mock
* Clockmaker’s Requiem by Barth Anderson
* Something in the Mermaid Way by Carrie Laben
* The Third Bear by Jeff VanderMeer
* The First Female President by Michael De Kler
* There’s No Light Between Floors by Paul Tremblay
* Qubit Conflicts by Jetse De Vries
* The Oracle Spoke by Holly Phillips
* Moon over Yodok by David Charlton
* I’ll Gnaw Your Bones, the Manticore Said by Cat Rambo
* Transtexting Pose by Darren Speegle
* The Taste of Wheat by Ekaterina Sedia
* The Beacon by Darja Malcolm-Clarke
* The Ape’s Wife by Caitlin Kiernan
* Lost Soul by MP Ericson

The Best of Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet

bestlcrwSo good there had to be a book. Or something. The Best of Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet is now (2007) available from Del Rey. It’s a collection of fiction and sometimes fancy (but usually plain) knitting patterns (a lie), recipes (ok, there are a few drink recipes), poetry (some great poetry), and an apology or two.

Table of Contents:

  • Preface by Chunterers
  • Dan Chaon, Introduction
  • Kelly Link, Travels with the Snow Queen, LCRW 1
  • Scotch, An Essay Into A Drink, LCRW 2
  • David Findlay, Unrecognizable, LCRW 3
  • Ian McDowell, mehitobel was queen of the night, LCRW 4
  • Nalo Hopkinson, Tan Tan and Dry Bone, LCRW 4
  • Margaret Muirhead – An Open Letter, LCRW 4
  • Margaret Muirhead, I am glad, LCRW 4
  • Margaret Muirhead, Lady Shonagon’s Hateful Things, LCRW 5
  • Karen Joy Fowler, Heartland, LCRW 6
  • What a Difference A Night Makes, LCRW 7
  • Ray Vukcevich, Pretending, LCRW 8
  • Shh! I can’t hear the music! LCRW 8
  • William Smith – The Film Column
  • Amy Beth Forbes, A is for Apple, LCRW 9
  • Shh! I said I was listening to some music! LCRW 9
  • Mark Rudolph, My Father’s Ghost, LCRW 9
  • A list of chickens (From The Fairest Fowl, Portraits of Champion Chickens) LCRW 9
  • Jeffrey Ford, What’s Sure to Come LCRW 10
  • Roadtripping, zinemaking, cooking, cleaning, reading, and eating music LCRW 10
  • Geoffrey Goodwin – Stoddy Awchaw, LCRW 10 (Listen)
  • A selection of teas the LCRW kitchen has acquired or been given over the years LCRW 10
  • Theodora Goss, Rapid Advance of Sorrow LCRW 11
  • Nan Fry, The Wolf’s Story, LCRW 11
  • Sarah Monette – Three Letters from the Queen of Elfland, LCRW 11 (prize winner!)
  • David Moles – Tacoma-Fuji, LCRW 11
  • David Erik Nelson – Bay, LCRW 12
  • Richard Butner – How to Make a Martini, LCRW 12
  • All About the T: Swept (not sweeped) away by the love of irregular verbs LCRW 12
  • Jan Lars Jensen – Happier Days, LCRW 12
  • Philip Raines and Harvey Welles – The Fishie, LCRW 12
  • The Switch. Hope in the form of planted tomatoes LCRW 12
  • Gwenda Bond – Dear Aunt Gwenda
  • William Smith – The Film Column
  • David J. Schwartz – The Ichthymancer Writes His Friend with an Account of the Yeti’s Birthday Party, LCRW 13
  • A By-No-Means-Complete Joan Aiken Checklist LCRW 13
  • Veronica Schanoes – Serpents, LCRW 13
  • Homeland Security, LCRW 13
  • David Blair – Vincent Price; For George Romero, LCRW 13 (First book coming soon!)
  • Douglas Lain – Music Lessons, LCRW 14
  • James Sallis – Two Stories, LCRW 14
  • Karen Russell – Help Wanted, LCRW 15
  • Sarah Micklem – “Eft” or “Epic”, LCRW 15
  • John Kessel – The Red Phone, LCRW 16
  • Lawrence Schimel & Sara Rojo, The Well-Dressed Wolf, COMIC LCRW 15
  • Deborah Roggie – The Mushroom Duchess LCRW 17
  • Seana Graham – The Pirate’s True Love, LCRW 17
  • You Could Do This Too, LCRW 17
  • Sunshine Ison – Two Poems LCRW 18
  • [Name Withheld] Article Withdrawn
  • Becca De La Rosa – This Is The Train The Queen Rides On LCRW 18
  • A selected list of Automobile City/Hwy Mileages LCRW 18
  • Gwenda Bond – Dear Aunt Gwenda
  • John Brown – Bright Waters LCRW 17
  • K.E. Duffin, Two Poems LCRW 19
  • D.M. Gordon, Sliding LCRW 19
  • Cara Spindler & David Erik Nelson, You Were Neither . . . LCRW 19

Brain Harvest: an Almanac of Bad Ass Speculative Fiction

Established: 2009brainharvest
Editors: Caren Gussoff, Shane Hoversten, Eden Robins

Overview:
Brain Harvest: An Almanac of Bad-Ass Speculative Fiction is the creation of a brooding Minnesotan neuroscientist, a zombie-obsessed sexpert, and the ex-burlesque dancing Jewish mother you never knew you wanted. We all write and read speculative fiction, and we share a dream: to deliver whiz-bang spec fic you can swallow in a mouthful, but that outlives all of us. Brain Harvest will publish electronically and can be read right here, or dispatched to your iPhone, Blackberry, or whatever other mobile device–and maybe, one day, straight into your brain.

Awards and Recognition:
Mentioned/endorsed by BoingBoing, Tor.com. No awards…yet. We’ve got our eyes on the prize, though.

Other Items of Interest:
We will be holding our first annual contest this summer. Stay tuned for details.

Website:
www.brainharvestmag.com

On Spec

onspecEstablished: 1989
Editor(s): The editorial team has changed over the years. Current for 2009, we have Diane Walton as the Managing Editor, Barb Galler-Smith (Fiction Editor), Susan MacGregor (Fiction Editor), Ann Marston (Fiction Editor), Robin Carson (Copy Editor) and Barry Hammond (Poetry Editor).
Design/layout: Lynette Bondarchuk, Production Editor
Administration Staff: Jen Laface, Publisher’s Assistant

Overview:
Our quarterly journal On Spec adheres to a strong mandate that has served us well over the years. We discover and showcase quality works by predominantly Canadian writers and artists, in the genres we call “Speculative and Fantastic” literature. We foster the growth of emerging writers in this genre, by offering support and direction through constructive criticism, education, mentoring, and manuscript development. We try to publish as many new writers as possible, alongside works by established writers, and we also endeavor to support these writings with innovative cover art for every thought and emotion-provoking issue! We pay $50 to $200 for short stories (maximum 6,000 words) and poetry. As a member of Magazines Canada, we are currently undertaking an endeavor to offer our issues in a digital format to download through Zinio.

Our History:
In 1989, a small group of Edmonton writers formed The Copper Pig Writers Society in order to fill a niche in Canada. At the time, there was no paying market for literary works that the major American SF & Fantasy magazines deemed to be too “alien” for their audiences.

English-speaking Canadian SF writers were frustrated with having to “Americanize” their stories for the paying markets. We knew there was an audience hungry for thoughtful, intelligent (often unconventional) SF and Fantasy with a uniquely Canadian perspective. After selling out our initial print run of a test issue filled with stories sent to us by invitation, we began receiving inquiries as to when the “next one” would appear. That was nearly twenty years ago!

Awards and Recognition:
Nomination – 2008 Aurora Award for Best Work in English (Other), Diane Walton, Managing Editor
Winner – 1997 Aurora Award for Best Work in English (Other), The Copper Pig Writers’ Society
Winner – 1995 Aurora Award for Best Work in English (Other), The Copper Pig Writers’ Society
Winner – 1991 Aurora Award for Best Work in English (Other), The Copper Pig Writers’ Society
Winner – 1990 Aurora Award for Best Work in English (Other), The Copper Pig Writers’ Society

Other Items of Interest:
“The ABCs on how NOT to write speculative fiction” seminars. Our editors have presented at the Canadian Authors Association (CAA) Edmonton Branch and Edmonton Youth Week in 2009.
We also have a MySpace account and “I Read On Spec” Facebook group and a Facebook Fan Page.

Website:
www.onspec.ca

Semiprozine News

Abyss & Apex: We’re now OPEN for our May submissions period for short fiction and flash fiction. Please read our guidelines page for further information.

Ansible: Issue #262, May 2009 now available.

Apex Magazine: Apex Magazine is going on hiatus.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies: Issue #15 now available.

Clarkesworld Magazine: Issue #32, May 2009 now available.

GUD: Issue #4 is off to the printer and available now in PDF.

HUB: Issue #84 is now available.

Interzone: Issue #22 is coming soon.

Locus Magazine: Special Urban Fantasy Issue for May.

The New York Review of Science Fiction: May issue is now available.

Intergalactic Medicine Show: Issue #12, May 2009 now available.

Space and Time: Issue #107 now available in print and PDF.

Talebones: Issue #38 is scheduled for a late Spring or early Summer 2009 release.

Semiprozine editors that would like to submit news for these round-ups should email neil (at) clarkesworldmagazine.

Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show (v. 1)

igmsbook1InterGalactic Medicine Show’s first anthology of stories from their pages, Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show (v. 1), was published by Tor Books in 2008.

* “Forward” by Orson Scott Card
* “Introduction” by Edmund R. Schubert
* “In the Eyes of the Empress’s Cat” by Bradley P. Beaulieu
* “Mazer in Prison” by Orson Scott Card
* “Tabloid Reporter to the Stars” by Eric James Stone
* “Audience” by Ty Franck
* “The Mooncalfe” by David Farland
* “Cheater” by Orson Scott Card
* “Dream Engine” by Tim Pratt
* “Hats Off” by David Lubar
* “Eviction Notice” by Scott M. Roberts
* “To Know All Things That Are in the Earth” by James Maxey
* “Beats of Seven” by Peter Orullian
* “Pretty Boy” by Orson Scott Card
* “Respite” by Rachel Ann Dryden
* “Fat Farm” (comic) by Aaron Johnston, based on short story by Orson Scott Card
* “The Box of Beautiful Things” by Brian Dolton
* “Taint of Treason” by Eric James Stone
* “Call Me Mr. Positive” by Tom Barlow
* “A Young Man with Prospects” by Orson Scott Card
* Credits for the Illustrations

Clarkesworld Magazine

clarkesworldEstablished: 2006
Editors: Neil Clarke (fiction), Sean Wallace (fiction), Cheryl Morgan (non-fiction)

Overview:
Clarkesworld Magazine is a free online magazine that publishes a healthy balance of fiction from both up-and-coming and established authors like Jeff VanderMeer, Elizabeth Bear, Caitlin Kiernan, Jay Lake, Catherynne M. Valente, Ken Scholes, and Mary Robinette Kowal. Each month, we also produce audio fiction which can be found directly on our site or available for free download through iTunes. In his summary of Clarkesworld in The Year’s Best Science Fiction, Gardner Dozois describes our taste in fiction as “stylishy written and usually faintly perverse.”

Our non-fiction is split between interviews with authors and artists like Gene Wolfe, Steven Erikson, Kage Baker, John Picacio and Margo Lanagan, and articles on science, art, or literature. We’re also quite proud to be able to feature the works of new artists as a virtual cover to each issue.

Awards and Recognition:
Nominee: 2009 Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine.
2006 Million Writers Award for Best New Online Magazine.
2006 Million Writers Award for Best Short Story.
Stories reprinted in The Year’s Best Science Fiction, The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Fantasy Best of the Year, Unplugged, Wilde Stories 2008: The Best of the Year’s Gay Speculative Fiction, The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, and Horror Best of the Year.
Stories appearing on the recommended reading/honorable mention lists in The Year’s Best Science Fiction, The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year, Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, Unplugged, the Locus Magazine Recommended Reading List, Nebula Awards Short Story Long List, and the Million Writers Notable Stories List.
A complete list with links to winning, recommended, and nominated stories is available here.

Other Items of Interest:
In an attempt to reach a broader audience and fund the free edition, all the original fiction in Clarkesworld is collected annually in a print anthology series called Realms. Volume 1 is currently available and volume 2 is scheduled for release this summer.

Website:
www.clarkesworldmagazine.com

Information provided by Neil Clarke.

Interzone

interzoneEstablished: 1982
Editor: Andy Cox
Co-fiction Editors: Andy Hedgecock, Dave Mathew
Book Reviews Editor: Jim Steel

Overview:
Britain’s longest running science fiction magazine, published bimonthly (in alternate months with Black Static). New stories of science fiction and fantasy, highly illustrated, with lots of regular features including David Langford’s Ansible Link (news), Nick Lowe’s Mutant Popcorn (film reviews), Tony Lee’s Laser Fodder (DVD/BD reviews), book reviews and interviews. Widely considered to be one of the most daring sf magazines and renowned for helping launch the careers of many well-known and becoming well known authors. Comes in second a lot in the Hugo Semiprozine category. 🙂

Awards and Recognition:
British Fantasy Award, Hugo Award, a great many awards and reprints for individual contents.

Other Items of Interest:
Interzone sponsors the annual James White Award for new authors and publishes the winner; biweekly free podcast of stories selected from Interzone (and other TTA Press magazines Black Static and Crimewave); increasing amount of website exclusive content; annual Interzone Readers’ Poll

Website:
ttapress.com/interzone

Information provided by Andy Cox.