Science Fiction fans often discuss whether or not the genre is about predicting the future, and, when they decide that it is, they discuss how often those predictions come true, as well as how accurate they are.

I’m personally of the opinion that science fiction has and does often engage in forecasting future societal and technological developments, in addition to the other purposes it serves (holding a mirror up to ourselves, exploring the various flavors of otherness).

I am therefore quite pleased (tickled pink as the expression goes) to be able to offer up a prediction of a science fictional nature that I know will be coming true.

I am cheating a little bit. It’s not a very long range forecast, something on the order of months as opposed to centuries or millennia.

I’m also cheating a lot, as I am serving the dual role of being both the soothsayer and one of the people who will make this prediction come true.

Be that as it may, I think it a rare enough occurrence – an actual, specific prediction of future events that will be realized in our own lifetimes – that I think I can get away with those cheats.

So now let me set the stage:

Some time ago, we hosted a short story writing contest here on Amazing Stories, called the Gernsback Science Fiction Short Story Writing Contest, or the GWC, for an abbreviation. We received submissions from all over the world. Volunteer readers from our stable of contributors (all well-experienced authors, artists, editors and genre fans) selected 20 of those submissions for further evaluation by our three SFWA member judges – Cat Rambo (author and current SFWA President), Dave Creek (author and anthologist) and Jack Clemons (author and retired NASA rocket scientist) – who then selected our top ten submissions.

The top three winners were sent their prize money and then things kind of dropped out of notice.

So far as the internet and fandom in general were concerned.

Behind the scenes….

Contracts have been signed. Payments were mailed out*. Word counts were counted. Layouts designed. Cover art was commissioned.

And I can now predict that Amazing Stories will be returning to print later this year.

The exact date is a bit fuzzy, but only because I don’t want to reveal too much (sorry). What else I can tell you is this:

This will be a Special Edition. Special for two reasons. First,

because it will feature all of our GWC Award winning stories. Second,

because it represents a full-blown test of the methods and programs we will be using to return to regular publication. (That regular publication is initially being planned as a bi-annual.) Regular publication is expected to commence (barring any major glitch reveals) by April of 2017.

The stories that appear in the special edition will:

be published on the website in support of our print release

the special edition will be available in a first edition print run that will be distributed in a special way

it will then become available as both an electronic edition (in

multiple formats) and in print (POD)

the cover art will be available as a full-sized poster (one that any SF fan will love to display), which we’ll do a cover reveal of in the not-too-distant future

all of our fine supporters who signed up for subscriptions at Loncon and Detcon will be eligible to receive a free copy of the electronic edition

posters, print and e-copies will be used as prizes for a variety of give-aways

…and you all get to watch this prediction become reality.

I started the “Amazing Stories Project” back in 2012. I’ve been utterly blown away by the support and well-wishes of our

community and it makes me very happy to be able to preside over this next step in our evolution.

*note to Amazing historians: payment BEFORE publication, if not exactly upon acceptance!

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We are in the process of opening this edition up to advertising. Full color available at no additional cost. Advertisers will also receive ad space on the website. We’ll have an ad rate packet available soon, so anyone who might be interested (we think our audience is just right for genre-related properties), please don’t hesitate to get in touch.