May 2012 Editorial: All That is Solid Melts into Bits

At this writing, we are freshly returned from the 2012
International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, where the
official theme (The Monstrous Fantastic) was vastly overshadowed
by the unofficial motto, “Too much to do, too little time!” All of
it good, I hasten to add, the largest such gathering of enthusiasts,
scholars, writers, editors, and artists, unleashing a veritable firehose
of brilliance on itself.

Among all of the hustle and bustle, David and I did get to meet
with Gavin Grant and formally agree to make Weightless Books
the new publisher of the electronic version of NYRSF.

Weightless Books , run by Grant and
by Michael DeLuca, is the sine qua non of e-publishing in fantasy,
science fiction, and related fields. They offer individual issues and
subscriptions in a variety of DRM-free formats, which means that
once you’ve purchased an issue, it is yours forever, and that you
can read it on whatever devices you like. By the time you read this,
the past few issues will definitely be available as printable PDFs
reproducing the familiar two-column magazine format; before the
end of the summer, those PDFs will be supplemented with epub
editions for greater legibility on smaller electronic devices.

Anyone interested in following NYRSF into the future should
rush out and get a free Weightless account instantly. Don’t hesitate!
Do it now! NOOOOOOWWWW!
Ahem.

More calmly, all of our paper subscriptions will be ending with
issue 288 (August 2012), the final issue of our 24th volume. We will
gladly transfer any unspent portion of your paper subscription to
a Weightless subscription, but we can’t do that unless you have an
account and you tell us what it is! So don’t delay. If you want us to
transfer your subscription before August, we’d be happy to do that
as well. Contact both me and David panix.com> at your earliest convenience.

We are still in discussions to create print-on-demand
versions of the magazine for those who want a more tangible
experience. Details next month, we expect.

I would be remiss if, in the discussion of our transcendence
of the printed page, I did not mention the terrific work that
our newly minted Web Editor, Alex Donald, has been doing
to reinvigorate the NYRSF web site at . In
addition to our editorials and tables of contents as teasers, we
have started publishing some of our articles there to help them
find a broader audience in the post-physical world. Dig in!

On a completely unrelated note, we are delighted beyond
all expression to learn that we have once again been nominated
for the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine. David and I were
actively involved in the committee to reform the Semiprozine
award (formed after the Montréal Worldcon in 2009), because
we feel that the award brings attention to a distinct and
noteworthy group of magazines that are neither fanzine nor
professional endeavors. We are gratified to see turnover in the
nominees again, because an award that always recognizes the
same institutions is in danger of becoming irrelevant. And, it
really is an honor just to be nominated. Our congratulations to
the other nominees in the field; we are proud to stand among
them.

See you in all the months to come. Stay tuned. *

—Kevin J. Maroney
and the editors

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A PDF copy of the NYRSF issue in which this article first appeared is available for purchase at Weightless Books.