Realms of Fantasy Magazine, 1994-2009

(Edited to add: As of March 10, 2009, the magazine has a new publisher. Check out the new Realms of Fantasy magazine website.)

Realms of Fantasy magazine will cease publication after the April 2009 issue. I’ve been reading the magazine since the first issue, which came out when I was in high school. After a decade of trying, I finally managed to sell them a story in 2002. This was a huge thrill and a major milestone for me. I remember holding my contributor’s copy and thinking, “Ten years ago I was reading a Roger Zelazny Amber story in this magazine, and now there’s my name on the cover.” It was also a huge thrill to have my story illustrated in full color by a professional artist. I had the two-page spread printed up as a giant poster and framed. I was lucky enough to have a total of five stories published in the magazine, including a recent streak of three acceptances in a row. If you look at my bibliography, you can see just how big a role Realms of Fantasy played in getting me into print these past few years, including making possible my appearance in Rich Horton’s Fantasy: The Best of the Year 2008. Realms of Fantasy was particularly open to newer writers, and published early work by some of the most exciting up-and-coming writers today, such as Tim Pratt, Carrie Vaughn, Christopher Barzak, and Greg Van Eekhout. There was a definite camaraderie among the newer writers who appeared together in its pages. I feel like I’m good friends with folks like Richard Parks, Josh Rountree, Trent Hergenrader, and Eugie Foster even though we’ve never met. The Realms of Fantasy message board has also been a lively place. I’m extremely grateful to everyone who helped make Realms of Fantasy possible over the years. I think assistant editor Doug Cohen is due a huge amount of credit for the tremendous level of effort he’s devoted to the magazine, both in seeking out and developing upcoming writers, and in reading through and analyzing every story the magazine has ever published. Realms of Fantasy’s passing is a tremendous loss to the field, particularly for upcoming writers, and I feel really bad for people like Aliette de Bodard and T. L. Morganfield who had placed stories with the magazine and may not see those stories in print. Be extra nice to those folks. I’m grateful to have been involved with Realms of Fantasy, and will miss it terribly.