The Mid-March Magazine Rack
I think you could read a healthy diet of exclusively short fiction every day, and not come even close to staying on top of all the great new fantasy stories published every month.
But don’t panic — Black Gate is here to help. And we’re happy to report that March has been shaping up terrifically for short fiction fans. Neil Clarke and Sean Wallace — editors of Clarkesworld — have packaged up all of the fiction from last year in Clarkesworld: Year Eight, now available in trade paperback. In his February Short Story Roundup, Fletcher Vredenburgh reviewed the latest sword & sorcery tales from F&SF and Swords and Sorcery Magazine. For our vintage magazine readers, Rich Horton took a look at two issues of Analog from either side of the Campbell divide, and Matthew Wuertz reviewed the April 1941 of Unknown, with stories by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, Theodore Sturgeon, P. Schuyler Miller, and Robert Heinlein. And we reported on the news that the entire run of IF Magazine, one of the great 20th Century science fiction magazines, is now freely available online at the Internet Archive.
Check out all the details on the magazines above by clicking on the each of the images. Our early March Fantasy Magazine Rack is here.
As we’ve mentioned before, all of these magazines are completely dependent on fans and readers to keep them alive. Many are marginal operations for whom a handful of subscriptions may mean the difference between life and death. Why not check one or two out, and try a sample issue? There are magazines here for every budget, from completely free to $35/issue. If you find something intriguing, I hope you’ll consider taking a chance on a subscription. I think you’ll find it’s money very well spent.
Black Gate reports exclusively on fantasy magazines, although we also cover the occasional science fiction or mainstream magazine with some fantasy content. We currently cover 39 magazines (links will take you to our latest coverage):
Adventure Tales edited by John Betancourt
Albedo One edited by Robert (Bob) Neilson
Apex, edited by Jason Sizemore
Ares Magazine, edited by Michael Anderson
Asimov’s Science Fiction, edited by Sheila Williams
Back Issue, edited by Michael Eury
Beneath Ceaseless Skies, edited by Scott H. Andrews
Black Static, edited by Andy Cox
Cemetery Dance, edited by Richard Chizmar
Clarkesworld, edited by Neil Clarke and Sean Wallace
The Dark, edited by Jack Fisher and Sean Wallace
The Digest Enthusiast, edited by Arkay Olgar
Fantastic Stories of the Imagination, edited by Warren Lapine
Fantasy and Science Fiction, edited by C.C. Finlay
Fantasy Scroll, edited by Iulian Ionescu, Frederick Doot, and Alexandra Zamorski
GigaNotoSaurus, edited by Rashida J. Smith
Grimdark Magazine, edited by Adrian Collins
Gygax, edited by Jayson Elliot
Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, edited by Adrian Simmons, David Farney, William Ledbetter and James Frederick William Rowe
Holdfast, edited by Laurel Sills and Lucy Smee
Inhuman Magazine, edited by Allen Koszowski
Interfictions Online, edited by Delia Sherman
Interzone, edited by Andy Cox
Knights of the Dinner Table, edited by Jolly Blackburn
Lackington’s, edited by Ranylt Richildis
Lightspeed, edited by John Joseph Adams
Locus, edited by Liza Groen Trombi
Mythic Delirium, edited by Mike Allen
Nightmare, edited by John Joseph Adams
Outposts of Beyond, edited by Tyree Campbell
Science Fiction Classics
Scrolls of Legendry, edited by D.M. Ritzlin
Shimmer, edited by E. Catherine Tobler
Swords and Sorcery Magazine, edited by Curtis Ellett
Tor.com, edited by various
Uncanny, edited by Lynne M. Thomas, Michael Damian Thomas, and Michi Trota
Weirdbook, edited by Douglas Draa
Weird Fiction Review, edited by S.T. Joshi
Weird Tales, edited by Marvin Kaye
We’ve also covered many fine magazines that are now defunct:
Amazing Stories
Arcane
Bull Spec
Cosmic Crimes Stories
Crossed Genres
Dark Realms
Darker Matter
Doc Savage
Electric Velocipede
Fantastic
Fantastic Novels
Fantastic Universe
Fantasy Magazine
Fantasy/Fantasy Newsletter
The Fantasy Fan
Fantasy Review
Flashing Swords
Future Science Fiction
Galaxy Science Fiction
GUD: Greatest Uncommon Denominatior
H.P. Lovecraft’s Magazine of Horror
Infinity
Innsmouth Magazine
Jabberwocky
Kobold Quarterly
The Last Province
Level UP
Paradox
Planet Stories
Port Iris
Reader’s Digest
Realms of Fantasy
Satellite
Shadis
Spellbound
Strange Tales
Subterranean
Super Science Stories
The Original Science Fiction Stories
Unknown
Venture
Wizard
Worlds of If
Zahir
And we’ve covered the following magazines intermittently:
Against the Odds
Alter Ego
Analog
Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine
Betwixt
Dark Worlds
Entertainment Weekly
The Excellent Travelling Volume
Faerie Magazine
Goblin Fruit
Granta
Heliotrope
Lovecraft eZine
New Realm
The New Yorker
The New York Review of Science Fiction
Primeval: A Journal of the Uncanny
Rue Morgue
The SFWA Bulletin
Strange Horizons
Stupefying Stories
Tin House
Vanity Fair
Virginia Quarterly Review
Whistling Shade
Check out all of our recent magazine coverage here.
Thanks for all your coverage!
You’re most welcome! Is there a particular magazine that’s your favorite?
I’m partial to Cirsova myself.
Jeffro,
I hadn’t realized the first issue was out already! I’ll have to check it out.
I noticed you were in the Table of Contents. I didn’t recognize any of the other names… have you had a chance to check out the rest of the issue yet? Who should I try first?
Abraham Strongjohn reads like a love letter to Leigh Brackett.
Misha Burnett’s piece could have been the basis for an alternate universe 70’s rpg that blended William Hope Hodgson, A. Merritt, and H. P. Lovecraft. (I would not be surprised if there was a convention rpg adventure run at some point that built on his material. Or maybe even an OD&D style sourcebook published on Lulu.)
That’s as far as I’ve read at this point. Having an actual hard copy, it’s amazing how the tone and the layout comes off like a reincarnation of Weird Tales. I love the font choice!
Jeffro,
Thanks for the mini-review…. it sounds marvelous! I now have a copy, and will check it out this week.