Sci-fi and Fantasy Magazines. Anyone subscribe? Can you give me a rundown?

[Matthew]

So I noticed that I can subscribe to some genre fiction magazines on my kindle. They all seem to be about $2.99 a month, but there is almost a dozen at first glance. Anyone subscribe to any? Can anyone give a synopsis of the types of stories each one focuses on?

Here is what I have found so far.

Sci-Fi
* Clarkesworld Magazine
* Lightspeed Magazine
* Apex Magazine
* Asimov's Science Fiction
* Analog Science Fiction and Fact
* Fantasy & Science Fiction
* Nebula Rift


Fantasy
* New Realm
* Apex Magazine

[Joanna Chaplin]

Lightspeed gives me a nice mix of scifi and Fantasy. Mostly short stories, but one novella and one excerpt from a novel (usually a recent one) per month. The editor is John Joseph Adams, the editor of a great many anthologies. There are also book and movie reviews and short interviews with the authors about the story in the issue. For my reading habits, it's all I want in short fiction in one place, magazine wise.

[David H.]

There's literally tons more magazines than you list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science... and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy... and there are many that aren't even listed on those (I noticed that Uncanny Magazine, started in 2014, isn't listed on those lists despite having won several awards).

I can't comment TOO much on this subject because I only just started officially subscribing to a magazine this past fall (Clarkesworld), but one thing that drew me toward them was 1) looking in their back issues and seeing a lot of authors I like, such as Ken Liu, and 2) his translation project, including one translated story, usually Chinese, every issue.

I did use to subscribe to Asimov's back in the late '90s-early 2000s, which was great because Kage Baker was still alive posting Company stories, and Allen Steele serialized Coyote in it, so I will always have fond memories of it--and they publish a lot of Robert Reed, so I'm actually considering resubscribing to Asimov's for my b-day next month (it's so frustrating waiting for certain stories to get collected, if they ever are).

[Tassie Dave, S&L Historian]

You could also get the free old issues that were discussed in this thread

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Neil]

I edit Clarkesworld, so I'm a bit biased towards that one. :) I'm also a long-time fan of Asimov's and have picked a lot of stories from there for my Best Science Fiction of the Year anthologies.

[Mel (booksandsundry)]

I love Uncanny, it's got such interesting stories.

[Zina]

MF&SF here, subscribed since probably 2010? I picked it then based on the presence of both SF and fantasy (the other two "established" ones at the time, Asimov's and Analog, were more geared towards hard SF) and good standing with Hugo/Nebula winners. Past performance clearly does not guarantee future returns, huh :) Although they did publish multiple Ken Liu-s, and The Paper Menagerie came out in MF&SF...
In my opinion, it's very hit and miss. I've read great stories there, and have my own favorite running series, but often times for me no individual story in a single issue stands out. They tend to have the same authors contribute all the time (like Albert Cowdrey, see him in every other issue), so it may be worth going over the last several issues' table of contents to see whether you like the author selection. The stories are diverse, which I appreciate, no single subgenre dominates.

[Eric]

Hey, if you're still looking @Matthew:

I can comment on both Clarkesworld and Lightspeed.

LS has participated in lots of Humble Bundles so I have about a half dozen issues. I've read one or two and I found the format to be pretty great. Plus they sometimes have big names like Elizabeth Bear and George RR Martin. One of the issues I read had a GRRM SF short story and it was neat to read something of his that wasn't GOT.

Clarkesworld - well while I JUST subscribed via their patreon (so, among other thinkgs, @Neil could focus on it as his full time job), I have been listening to their podcast for YEARS (and the magazine is half the same stories as the podcast and half non-fiction) and I LOVE their selections. They tend to have a really good selection of Non-USA SF and it's been so neat to see how other cultures interpret and use SF tropes.

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I subscribed to Clarkesworld (delivered through Kindle) for a few years, more to support them as an institution. After three years of never reading a word, I unsubscribed, but honestly I blame myself and not their stories. I do think they have excellent tastes and readers of the audio. I just have a hard time getting through short story collections no matter the format. I probably would have read more if I received it in print.

[Ben]

Analog - Old school SF leanings. Not progressive, nothing innovative but when many other magazines are openly experimental this is definitely right for some people (just the last one I would go for personally)

Lightspeed - great mix of solid SF and fantasy, I like the editors picks and the reprints are well chosen. Only negative is that this hits a similar market to Clarkesworld that I prefer

Clarkesworld - Good amount of international (translated) work and I good mix of what is now interesting and innovative in SF and fantasy. Mainly SF though if memory serves me right

Asimovs - At one point this was almost head and shoulders above most other magazines for SF. Its not now so clear but they consistently produce some of the best stories of the year.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies - all they do is secondary world fantasy but they do it very well. Not much content but I like what they have

Magazine of Fantasy and SF - Quite like the feature articles and I never read all the stories but if you want something like asimovs with more fantasy content this is a good option. With something like Clarkesworld or Lightspeed I will happily read and enjoy everything but MFSF gets some great stories and is always worth dipping into.

Apex - includes poetry, slipstream and writers that do not always appear in the other magazines. I have never subscribed to it but enjoy some of the content occasionally.

Uncanny - Includes slipstream, poetry (i think) as well as some classical SF. Solid but I would pick Apex (or most others) ahead of it.

Given they all have different feels and tastes I would pick one, keep to it a while and if you are reading it all maybe think of adding one to the mix and occasionally mix it up and change for another one.

[A Fantasy]

I read some good stuff in Lightspeed and Nightmare magazine. Both are edited by John Joseph Adams.

I currently subscribe to Mag. of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Cemetery Dance, and Intergalactic Medicine Show So obviously I like them enough to buy them.

Clarkesworld is a fine online magazine. Although I don't keep tabs on the onine magazine, I have read many, many, stories from Clarkesworld in Years Best anthologies. So they must be doing something right.

[Eric]

Ah, I also forgot to mention Mothership Zeta. It's EscapePod's magazine. It's currently on hiatus, but has 5 issues out including a feature where they analyze short story tropes/themes.

[Tina]

Beneath Ceaseless Skies is also free, in case price is a factor.

[Eric]

So, Matthew:

Have you checked any of these out? Subscribed to any? What do you think?