Overview

First we're going to discuss why anyone would want to subscribe to magazines when so much is available online for free. Then we'll describe the eleven magazines that Rocket Stack Rank regularly reads and reviews. Next we'll briefly discuss what other magazines are out there and why we picked the eleven we follow. Finally, we'll wrap up with an invitation to readers (and editors) to share their thoughts about these magazines or others we didn't mention.







Bear in mind that the commentary strongly reflects the personal tastes of the author, although we've tried hard to include information helpful to readers with different tastes. In particular, our rankings are based heavily on the original fiction published by each magazine, even though magazines often have other content such as non-fiction articles, poetry, reprinted fiction, etc.

Why Subscribe?

Although there's lots of material free online, some of the very best content is only available by subscription. Even for publications that are free online, a subscription lets you get the stories on a Kindle (or other eReader), which most people find more comfortable to read on, and usually lets you get the stories a few weeks earlier than other people do.





But the best reason to subscribe is to support the magazines so they stay in business.





Where possible, you probably do want to read stories for free while you're trying to get a feel for whether you like a magazine or not, but once you find yourself regularly reading stories from a given source, please, please consider subscribing if you possibly can.





Rocket Stack Rank's 2017, 2016, If you do subscribe and find yourself not reading the stories for lack of time, consider using monthly ratings to pick out the most-recommended stories and then just read those. In the extreme, if you wait a whole year before reading, our annual Best SF/F lists ( 2018 2015 ) will incorporate all the key reviewers, "year's best" anthologies, and major awards into a single score, allowing you to pick the very best and skip the rest.





Also, there's no need to feel obligated to read all the stories and articles in all the issues. As long as you're eventually reading at least 1/3 of the stories in the magazines you're subscribed to, you should probably be content.

The Eleven Magazines

Rocket Stack Rank picked the eleven magazines we follow based on



In the list below, the link on each magazine's name should take you to a page where you can order a subscription. If you see something you like, please consider doing so. RSR makes no money from this (we don't use affiliate links), but we all benefit from stronger magazines, and right now they need all the help we can give them. picked the eleven magazines we follow based on a variety of criteria , but the most important was that we looked at which magazines everyone is talking about. These are the ones that most reviewers follow, the ones whose stories turn up in big annual "Best of" anthologies, and the ones that routinely get short-listed for major awards. There might be other magazines you want to subscribe to, but if you're serious about reading short SF/F, you almost certainly want to subscribe to one or more of these eleven publications.In the list below, the link on each magazine's name should take you to a page where you can order a subscription. If you see something you like, please consider doing so.makes no money from this (we don't use affiliate links), but we all benefit from stronger magazines, and right now they need all the help we can give them.





For each magazine, we've indicated the percentage of stories that were science fiction (vs. fantasy), the percentage of "dark" stories (e.g. dystopias, apocalyptic stories, dark fantasy, horror, etc.), and the percentage of stories that ultimately ended up recommended by critics, included in big anthologies, or which were finalists for awards.



We've also counted up the words and computed how many novels-worth of original fiction they print each year, counting 100,000 words as one novel. Note that this only includes the original fiction; magazines that include reprints and other content will be a good bit bigger.



We've also included a link to a "representative story," which is an outstanding story from the magazine that's available free online and which received praise from various sources--not just RSR.

You Get What You Pay For: Subscription-Only Magazines

Four of the magazines are available only by subscription. These four generally have the highest writing quality.

99% SF, 30% Dark, 42% Recommended, Equivalent to 5.9 Novels/Year





Analog is generally thought of as the hard-SF magazine. Over a third of their stories are hard SF--twice as much as Clarkesworld, which has the second-highest percentage at 17%. They're also the oldest surviving SF/F magazine, and are widely read.





Analog frequently sacrifices writing quality for the sake of cool scientific/technical ideas.



Analog only prints original fiction (no reprints), but it has a regular science column, prints poetry and book reviews, and a variety of other non-fiction articles each issue.



Representative Story: "

Best Analog Stories: 2017, 2016, On the downside,frequently sacrifices writing quality for the sake of cool scientific/technical ideas.only prints original fiction (no reprints), but it has a regular science column, prints poetry and book reviews, and a variety of other non-fiction articles each issue.Representative Story: " Prodigal ," by Gord Sellar ( Our Review Best Analog Stories: 2018 2015 (free highlighted)

The Best Things in Life Are Free: Online Magazines

Online magazines are very popular these days, and they've crowded subscription magazines and anthologies out of the awards in recent years simply because it's so easy for people to share links to stories they loved. Accordingly, the "recommended" percentages below are probably a little inflated compared to those for subscription magazines. Not a lot, though; lots of outstanding fiction appears first in online magazines these days.

94% SF, 35% Dark, 65% Recommended, Equivalent to 4.6 Novels/Year





Nearly pure SF, with the highest percentage of hard-SF of any magazine but Analog, Clarkesworld goes for sense of wonder more than anything. They run a good bit of "experimental" fiction, much of which is fascinating.





It has made a name for itself with its pioneering translations of modern Chinese science-fiction stories.









It prints original fiction with some reprints (which it calls "classic fiction"), author interviews, general non-fiction articles, and the only editorials in all eleven magazines that are actually interesting to read.



Representative Story: "

Best Clarkesworld Stories: 2017, 2016, On the downside, it will overlook writing problems if the story has enough "wow" factor, and the problem with experimental fiction is that sometimes experiments don't work.It prints original fiction with some reprints (which it calls "classic fiction"), author interviews, general non-fiction articles, and the only editorials in all eleven magazines that are actually interesting to read.Representative Story: " A Series of Steaks ," by Vina Jie-Min Prasad ( Our Review Best Clarkesworld Stories: 2018 2015 (free highlighted)

53% SF, 39% Dark, 62% Recommended, Equivalent to 2.7 Novels/Year





Lightspeed offers an even mix of SF and Fantasy, and the diversity of story types is so great that no one has been able to pigeon-hole it. The editor is one of the best in the business, so the writing quality is quite high.



Even-handed in everything, Lightspeed prints equal amounts of reprints and original fiction (so if you count the reprints, that's 5.4 novels/year) . It also does book and movie reviews and lots of author interviews. Subscribers get the stories as much as a month early plus some bonus content that non-subscribers never see.



Representative Story: "

Best Lightspeed Stories: 2017, 2016, offers an even mix of SF and Fantasy, and the diversity of story types is so great that no one has been able to pigeon-hole it. The editor is one of the best in the business, so the writing quality is quite high.Even-handed in everything,prints equal amounts of reprints and original fiction (so if you count the reprints, that's 5.4 novels/year) . It also does book and movie reviews and lots of author interviews. Subscribers get the stories as much as a month early plus some bonus content that non-subscribers never see.Representative Story: " A Song of Home, the Organ Grinds ," by James Beamon ( Our Review Best Lightspeed Stories: 2018 2015 (free highlighted)

45% SF, 32% Dark, 51% Recommended, Equivalent to 2.6 Novels/Year

40% SF, 60% Dark, 47% Recommended, Equivalent to 2.1 novels/Year





I love Apex for the story concepts. I'm never bored by Apex stories. They grab you! Authors seem to have a lot of trouble figuring out how to end this kind of story, though, so you generally need to value the journey more than the destination.



Apex publishes a mix of original fiction and reprints as well as author interviews and non-fiction articles about writing. Subscribers get some content weeks earlier than non-subscribers do.

8% SF, 45% Dark, 47% Recommended, Equivalent to 4.3 Novels/Year





If you're looking for pure fantasy, BCS is the magazine for you. Two-thirds of their content is high fantasy (aka "secondary-world fantasy"), which is over three times as much as Uncanny, which is #2 at 20%.









BCS only prints original fiction--no reprints and no other content either. Subscribers get the new stories about two weeks earlier than non-subscribers.



Representative Story: "

Best BCS Stories: 2017, 2016, They're particularly good at offering relatable characters in interesting settings.only prints original fiction--no reprints and no other content either. Subscribers get the new stories about two weeks earlier than non-subscribers.Representative Story: " Carnival Nine ," by Caroline M. Yoachim ( Our Review Best BCS Stories: 2018 2015 (free highlighted)

29% SF, 54% Dark, 33% Recommended, Equivalent to 2.0 Novels/Year





37% SF, 46% Dark, 33% Recommended, Equivalent to 1.8 Novels/Year





Other Magazines

There are lots and lots of SF/F-related magazines out there that we don't follow. Many of them only publish a few original SF/F stories a year. Others publish just horror or "flash" (ultra-short stories under 1000 words). And a few are just too new for us to consider yet. As a group, very few of their stories attract attention from the reviewers, anthologists, or awards that we pay attention to. That doesn't mean they're bad, and we keep tabs on ones that look like they might "break out" and gain broader popularity.





If you're interested in magazines beyond the eleven we follow, here are two big lists of other magazines you might want to check out:

SFWA Qualifying Magazines

The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) maintains a list of "qualifying" magazines . Short-fiction authors who want to join SFWA need to demonstrate they've had stories these publications in order to qualify for membership, so these tend to be the best magazines out there. They pay authors better, they're published more regularly, and they have longer publication histories than most magazines that aren't qualifying.





Of our list of eleven magazines, only Interzone is not currently an SFWA-qualifying venue.

Semi-Professional Magazines (Semiprozines)

Semi-professional magazines aka "semiprozines" are publications that pay their authors but not their staff. That distinguishes them from professional magazines, which pay authors and staff, and fanzines, which pay neither one. Of our eleven magazines, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Interzone, Strange Horizons, and Uncanny are semiprozines.







An Invitation The Semiprozine Directory lists 54 semiprozines, but it also lists a number of professional magazines that aren't in the SFWA list.

If you're the editor of a magazine outside our eleven (or just a fan of such a magazine), please feel free to add a comment to this article to plug your magazine. Include the name, a link to subscription instructions, and a few paragraphs explaining why it's special. Don't worry about "self-promotion"; this one time, we want you to self-promote!





Comments on the eleven magazines (or on our take on them) are also welcome, of course, as are corrections.

Conclusion

Anyone looking for good sources of short science fiction should easily be able to find more than one magazine to suit his/her tastes.





The links attached to the names of magazines in the text above all go to the subscription information on Amazon.com. Users wanting to order from someone besides Amazon.com should look on Weightless Books , which also carries most of these.





People interested in short science fiction and fantasy often ask for help picking an SF/F magazine to subscribe to, particularly at the start of the year when they're thinking in terms of New Year's resolutions. Different people have different tastes, of course, but after four years of reading and reviewing,is in a good position to offer some general advice.Professionally edited by Tor Publications, these stories probably have the highest writing quality. There is no way to subscribe or contribute or anything; Tor's business model seems to be to use these stories as a loss-leader to attract readers to authors of their novels and novellas. It has certainly worked on me: I have probably discovered more new authors and series from Tor.com than from all other magazines combined.It's seems counterintuitive, but a short story can make an author's series sound really interesting and yet be mediocre in its own right. Much as a taste of a dessert can make you want more even though it's unsatisfying by itself.There's also no way to read Tor.com stories on a Kindle; you're stuck with the computer screen. (Technically you can usually buy them for $1 apiece on Amazon, but they're almost impossible to find, and that's not a great deal anyway.) The tor.com web site has a lot of different content on it, but it isn't structured into anything you could call issues; each story is effectively an issue with no extra content.Representative Story: " The Martian Obelisk ," by Linda Nagata ( Our Review Best Tor.com Stories: 2018 2015 (free highlighted)This one is a little harder to characterize, butlikes stories that are, well,. The characters, the plot, the setting, or (sometimes) all of the above are anywhere from a little strange to totally off the wall. Like the narrator who works for an ancient African goddess by answering the phone in the goddess's Los Angeles office. They tend to combine humor with seriousness in a way that makes their stories stand out.They're the only magazine here that's a charity, so you cannot subscribe to it but you can make a tax-deductible donation. There's also no way to read it on a Kindle; you're stuck with the computer screen.is mostly original fiction with occasional reprints. It also features podcasts of every story, poetry, non-fiction articles, author and artist interviews, and reviews. It has a sister publication,, that specializes in translated SF/F.Representative story: " Utopia, LOL? ," by Jamie Wahls. ( Our Review .)Best Strange Horizons Stories: 2018 2015 (free highlighted)tends towards darker fantasy with a social message. The writing quality is generally pretty good, but if they like a story's message enough, they'll overlook bad writing.runs a mix of original and reprint fiction, poetry, interviews, and a variety of non-fiction articles. Subscribers get to read stories as much as a month before other people do.Representative Story: " And Then There Were (N-One) ," by Sarah Pinsker ( Our Review Best Uncanny Stories: 2018 2015 (free highlighted)