Black Gate

September-October 2025 issues of Analog Science Fiction & Fact and
Asimov’s Science Fiction. Cover art by Tithi Luadthong/Shutterstock

It’s the 500th issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction! That explains why I had to start stacking them sideways in 2004. Sheila Williams celebrates this incredible milestone in her editorial, touching on just a sampling of the truly extraordinary fiction to appear in the magazine over the past 48 years. Here’s an excerpt.

Under our first editor, George H. Scithers, we published great tales by writers like Barry Longyear, Roger Zelazny, and Somtow Sucharitkul. Kathleen Moloney’s tenure lasted less than a year, but during that time we published Connie Willis’s earliest award-winning stories — “A Letter from the Cleary’s” and “Fire Watch,” as well as David Brin’s “The Postman.” Important work published by Shawna include Octavia Butler’s “Blood Child,” Greg Bear’s “Hardfought,” George R.R. Martin’s “Portraits of his Children,” Kim Stanley Robinson’s “Green Mars,” and Robert Silverberg’s “Sailing to Byzantium.”

Gardner Dozois’s years at the helm brought us James Patrick Kelly’s “Think Like a Dinosaur,” Pat Murphy’s “Rachel in Love,” Neal Barrett, Jr.’s “Ginny Sweethips’ Flying Circus,” Terry Bisson’s “Bears Discover Fire,” Allen M. Steele’s “The Death of Captain Future,” Michael Swanwick’s “Scherzo with Tyrannosaur,” Charles Stross’s “Lobsters,” and much more.

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July-August 2025 issues of Analog Science Fiction & Fact and Asimov’s Science
Fiction. Cover art by GrandeDuc/Shutterstock, and Maurizio Manzieri

Back in February the last surviving print science fiction magazines, Analog, Asimov’s Science Fiction, and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, were sold to Must Read Books, a new publisher backed by a small group of genre fans. I was apprehensive about what that meant for all three magazines, and indeed there were several hiccups, especially related to distribution. I had to wait more than a month after the on-sale dates for the July/August issues of Asimov’s SF and Analog to show up at my local bookstore, for example. But show up they did, and in fact the new September/October issues seem to be arriving more or less on time. Now if only we could see a new issue of F&SF…

The July/August issues are just as enticing as usual, with contributions from Rich Larson, David Gerrold, Suzanne Palmer, Dominica Phetteplace, Stephen Case, Robert Reed, Tobias S. Buckell, Derek Künsken, William Preston, Lavie Tidhar, Mary Soon Lee, Shane Tourtelotte, M. Ian Bell, Sean Monaghan, and many more.

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May-June 2025 issues of Analog Science Fiction & Fact and Asimov’s Science
Fiction. Cover art by Tithi Luadthong/Shutterstock, and IG Digital Arts & Annie Spratt

Back in February I was surprised to learn that the last surviving print science fiction magazines, Analog, Asimov’s Science Fiction, and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, had all been sold to Must Read Books, a new publisher backed by a small group of genre fiction fans. I was very sad to see Analog & Asimov’s leave the safe harbor of Penny Press, where they’ve both sheltered safely for very nearly three decades as the magazine publishing biz underwent upheaval after upheaval.

But I was nonetheless cautiously optimistic. The magazines couldn’t continue to survive as they were, with 25+ years of slowly declining circulation — and indeed F&SF, while it claims to be an ongoing concern, has not published a new issue in nearly a year.

But after four months, that optimism is rapidly fading. The first issues from Must Read, the May-June Analog and Asimov’s, technically on sale April 8 – June 8, have yet to appear on the shelves at any of my local bookstores, and there’s been no word at all at when we can expect the July-August issues, scheduled to go on sale today. And there’s no whisper of when we might expect to see a new issue of F&SF at all.

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March-April 2025 issues of Analog Science Fiction & Fact
and Asimov’s Science Fiction. Cover art by Shutterstock

The big news this month is that all three print science fiction magazines, as well as the mystery magazines owned by Penny Press, have been sold to a new buyer, a consortium of fans who have have ambitions to maintain and grow all five. Here’s an excerpt from the announcement at Locus Online.

Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction have been acquired by Must Read Magazines, a division of a new publishing company, Must Read Books Publishing. All editorial staff from the magazines have been retained in the acquisitions… Must Read Magazines is financially backed by a small group of genre fiction fans. A major investor and board advisor is Michael Khandelwal, the founder of a writing nonprofit and Virginia’s Mars Con toastmaster.

Read all the details, including quotes from Asimov’s editor Sheila Williams, Analog editor Trevor Quachri, and F&SF publisher Gordon Van Gelder, at Locus Online.

Tentatively, I’m willing to believe this is Good News. It makes sense to have all five magazines under one roof, and the recent collapse of F&SF‘s publishing schedule (only one magazine shipped last year) seemed to auger its imminent demise. Though change is rarely good with magazines, and Dell Magazines/Penny Press has been a stalwart home for Asimov’s and Analog for over three decades, since 1992, keeping the magazines healthy and alive through decades of turmoil in the magazine business.

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