How often do you read fantasy/sci-fi magazines? Recommendations?

I took out a subscription to Interzone last year but didn't renew. Most (all!) of the stories in it leaned to or where purely literary, which just leaves me cold. Out of six or so issues, I could only recall one story that I enjoyed reading. Still like a good short story though and maybe need to get back into picking up an anthology now and again.

 

I am not sure about the role of short stories these days. It used to be the route into writing years ago - but that was before the digital age and self-publishing. I also think it is pretty well known that the overall popularity of short stories has gradually declined over time.

Personally, I don't often read short stories. The SFF magazines are mostly Sci-Fi rather than Fantasy anyway (so potentially less interest for me - although I do sometimes like reading good Sci-Fi). But I can't think of too many (if any) that are pure fantasy rather than SF. Many say they are both but often err far more into SF.

Also a few of the stories I have seen often don't appeal. I get the impression (and this is based on not seeing that many) that the magazines often go for things they think are in vogue / 'clever' - too clever perhaps. The triumph of clever alternative ideas over a good story is my suspicion.

I suspect that people in the industry might be the main audience for this stuff - agents, editors and publishers on the look out for new talent & aspiring writers. So it may still be a good route into trad publishing.

But do actual readers really read this stuff? Only a minority of SFF readers are really into it as far as I can tell. Most are more likely to take it or leave it I suspect, based on conversations I've had with readers. Even then I think there are a chunk of readers who'd prefer to go for a short story anthology or buy direct from a self-pub author etc rather than read the magazines.

My bet is that these days the magazines are mainly an in-industry thing. But I'm happy to be proven wrong on that score.

 

That may be the case. I get the feeling that anthologies may well be a more popular way to consume short form fiction these days than magazines.

This is a link to an interesting article on the subject. It links the decline in short story popularity with the general decline in paper print magazines but speculates that the digital age may lead to some revival in the fortunes of short stories.

If I think about short stories / short form fiction I have read recently (past couple of years):

1) An HP Lovecraft anthology.
2) A couple of Saki stories (again, from an anthology).

The average length of Lovecraft's short form fiction being 6,700 words, so his anthology contains a few novelette or even novella length works. The average for Saki story being closer to what we'd consider short story length today. Magazines back in the heyday of the genre seemed to have been happier to publish short form in general (i.e. happy to go with stuff that is more novelette length, or even to serialise Novellas). It seems they were less rigid in saying "we only accept stories between x and y word length" etc. Which is interesting - but I'm not sure what lessons there are there, if any, for today's magazine publishers.

I believe the latest ABC audit figures from the UK shows a pretty chaotic picture due to Covid (overall sales for consumer magazines of all kinds down but the subscriptions share of the total up - as people weren't able to go to the shops to buy magazines for various periods of time). But I think the general trend for the past few years has been something like a 6% annual decline in magazine readership (for all consumer mags).

Maybe magazines need a re-think. Maybe they have just become too set in their ways about what they will / will not publish - too many criteria - resulting in too much material being published that's too similar. Frankly, I'm not interested in reading a whole bunch of similar stories about various different characters having various kinds of existential crises in the future (which is the general impression I got of the typical content of one magazine when last I looked a few years ago).

I did notice under the submission guidelines of one SFF mag (who shall remain nameless), they list a variety of topics they say they are less likely to consider. One of the items on this list was any story that features "talking cats or swords" . I seem to recall Lewis Carol writing about talking cats (of the Cheshire variety) and I seem to recall a talking sword making an appearance in Terry Pratchett's Colour of Magic. (too many criteria - resulting in too much that is too similar...)

But, then again, maybe it's just that the future of short form lies elsewhere than magazines(?)

 

I used to work in a magazine publishing business (some years ago & on the non-fiction side). It was a really tough business by the early 2000s and the publishing house really struggled to adapt to digital (as most have done). I would not be surprised to find it's even tougher these days than it was back in 2007, when I was last in that game.

 

I'm really not a fan of short stories. I don't read many at all to be honest. I can't even tell you the last time I've gone out of my way and read a short story. It had probably been several years. Okay, maybe I might read the short-stories at the end of the Tor newsletter, but I rarely read the newsletter. Since I don't write them, I don't focus my attention on them.

The only time I've ever read a short-story mag was when I was living at home and my sister was subscribed to Ellery Queen, and that was for mystery when I was a mystery reader. And I never really enjoyed that. I have been tempted to pick one up either at a bookstore or running into a digital one, but I skim through their offerings or look at their submission guildlines to get a taste of what they offer and they don't interest me. So why drop the money or pay for a sub for something I'm not going to enjoy. Basically, I'm not the audience for them. I'm not sure who the audience for them is.

 

Thank you so much for sharing.

 

An old post, but one still worth replying too.

I hate to say, but I am not a reader. I almost never read for enjoyment, and almost always to learn something. I cannot turn my editor brain off, and so I never see the work as an entertainment form. I have not read a story in a magazine in many years. I used to like the fantasy magazines, but all the ones I would know have closed their doors by now. I still wish Dragon magazine was around, though I do not play RPG's anymore, I liked the world better when it was

I do read books but mostly for something other than enjoyment. I like seeing how others have done things and how it might be useful it me in my own development. I have also read stuff in online magazines if the were short, caught my fancy, or was recommended. I get an email everyday from Daily Science Fiction, and they have published me before. But they are short works.

I do like to create, and I find if I have an hour of time, I would rather use it creating, than reading someone elses creation.

I do engage in beta-reading if I think it will be helpful to someone. I am slow, but I try to be thorough. I don't do this very often anymore as it takes a lot of time and energy to do, but I can be persuaded.

ATM, I am in writing mode. Would not want to interrupt that with another project.

 

Thank you so much for these recommendations, it's very helpful for me.