Clarkesworld Magazine


Clarkesworld Magazine is an American online fantasy and science fiction magazine edited by Neil Clarke. It released its first issue October 1, 2006, and has maintained a regular monthly schedule since, publishing fiction by authors such as Elizabeth Bear, Kij Johnson, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Sarah Monette, Catherynne M. Valente, Jeff VanderMeer and Peter Watts.

Formats

Clarkesworld Magazine is published or collected in a number of formats:
  • All fiction is collected annually in print anthologies published by Wyrm Publishing
  • Apps are available for Android, iPad and iPhone devices
  • EPUB, Amazon Kindle, and Mobipocket ebook editions of each issue are available for purchase
  • All content is available online via the magazine website
  • All fiction is available in audio format via podcast or direct download
  • Ebook subscriptions for the Kindle and EPUB readers
  • Print issues are sold on Amazon and also available as a Patreon subscription option

    History

Neil Clarke and Sean Wallace founded Clarkesworld Magazine in July 2006, originally as a companion to Clarkesworld Books, a now defunct online bookstore. The magazine published its first issue three months later.
In February 2007, Clarkesworld announced the first in a series of annual print anthologies starting with Realms: The First Year of Clarkesworld Magazine. It was published in June 2008 by Wyrm Publishing.
In January 2015, Clarkesworld began a relationship with Storycom to regularly translate and publish works of Chinese science fiction in their issues.
In February 2019, editor Neil Clarke announced that the magazine had received a grant from LTI Korea for the purposes of translating and publishing nine Korean science fiction stories in upcoming issues of Clarkesworld.
In January 2020, its editor Neil Clarke withdrew a short story by Isabel Fall at Fall's request, "I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter", after Fall had been harassed by people who suspected the story of trolling or transphobia.
In November 2022, editor Neil Clarke announced that the magazine would be opening a submission period for science fiction written in Spanish.
In December 2022, Amazon declared that they would stop selling magazine subscriptions. Clarke called the announcement "devastating", and noted that they had been offered a chance to continue in Kindle Unlimited for less money.
On 20 February 2023, Clarkesworld temporarily closed submissions due to a sudden increase in AI-generated stories sent to the magazine. During the first weeks of 2023, the magazine received 35 times as many fake spam submissions as it did last year during the same time frame.

Awards and recognition

Awards to magazine and editors

Other honors

  • Winner 2006 Million Writers Award for "Best New Online Magazine"
  • Named SciFi.com Site of the Week: August 29, 2007

    Art

  • Winner 2009 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, "", Mats Minnhagen
  • Finalist 2010 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, "", Kazuhiko Nakamura
  • Finalist 2011 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, "", Sergio Rebolledo
  • Finalist 2011 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, "", Julie Dillon
  • Finalist 2011 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, "", Andrey Lazarev
  • Finalist 2012 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, "", Facundo Diaz
  • Winner 2013 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, "", Ken Barthelmey
  • Finalist 2013 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, "", Martin Faragasso
  • Finalist 2013 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, "", Julie Dillon
  • Finalist 2014 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, "", Julie Dillon
  • Finalist 2015 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, "", Matt Dixon
  • Winner 2016 Chesley Award for Best Art Director, Neil Clarke
  • Finalist 2016 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, "", shichigoro-shingo
  • Finalist 2017 Chesley Award for Best Art Director, Neil Clarke
  • Winner 2018 Chesley Award for Best Art Director, Neil Clarke
  • Finalist 2018 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, "", Sergei Sarichev
  • Finalist 2018 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, "", Julie Dillon
  • Finalist 2018 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, "", Eddie Mendoza
  • Winner 2019 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, "", Arthur Haas
  • Winner 2019 Chesley Award for Best Art Director, Neil Clarke
  • Finalist 2019 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, "", Sean Andrew Murray
  • Finalist 2020 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, "", Matt Dixon
  • Winner 2021 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, "", Francesca Resta
  • Finalist 2021 Chesley Award for Best Art Director, Neil Clarke
  • Finalist 2021 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, "", Rodion Shaldo
  • Finalist 2021 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, "", Arjun Amky
  • Finalist 2023 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, “”, Zezhou Chen
  • Finalist 2023 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, “”, Daniel Conway
  • Finalist 2023 Chesley Award for Best Magazine Cover, “”, JC Jongwon Park
  • Winner 2023 Chesley Award for Best Art Director, Neil Clarke

    Content

  • Winner 2006 Million Writers Award for "" by Catherynne M. Valente
  • Finalist 2007 WSFA Small Press Award, "" by Jeff VanderMeer
  • Finalist 2007 WSFA Small Press Award, "" by Elizabeth Bear
  • Finalist 2010 Parsec Award for Best Speculative Fiction Story, "", Peter Watts

    Current staff

  • Neil Clarke, publisher, editor-in-chief
  • Sean Wallace, editor, October 2006 – present
  • Kate Baker, Podcast Director, October 2009 – present, non-fiction editor, January 2013 – present

    Former staff

  • Gardner Dozois, reprint editor, April 2013 – May 2018
  • Jeremy L.C. Jones, interviewer, September 2010 – December 2014
  • Jason Heller, non-fiction editor, January 2012 – December 2012
  • Cheryl Morgan, non-fiction editor, January 2009 – December 2011
  • Nick Mamatas, editor, October 2006 – July 2008
  • Ekaterina Sedia, interim non-fiction editor, August 2008 – December 2008