Jeremy L. C. Jones has put together a fascinating interview with some of speculative fiction’s leading magazine editors in the new issue of Clarkesworld Magazine. Jones has corralled Ann VanderMeer of Weird Tales, Sheila Williams from Asimov’s, Gordon Van Gelder from F&SF, Jason Sizemore from Apex, Stanley Schmidt at Analog, Mike Resnick, who co-edits Jim Baen’s Universe, Cat Rambo, co-editor of Fantasy Magazine, John O’Neill, who publishes Black Gate, Shawna McCarthy from Realms of Fantasy, and Patrick Nielsen Hayden, story editor for some outfit called Tor.com (yeah, I dunno. Never heard of it, either).
It would be an interesting piece even if it only served as a comparison between all these very idiosyncratic people’s approaches to their job. As it stands, it’s also a revealing look at how each of these giants of the field deal with submissions, what they look for in prospective acquisitions (aspiring writers, take note. There will be a quiz at the end), and their general outlook towards the short fiction market.
