Happy Birthday to Strange Horizons, Plus a New Poem!
It’s the 20th anniversary of Strange Horizons this month, and I wrote a poem for it!
Hello, and happy September! It’s the 20th anniversary of Strange Horizons this month. 20 years of awesome fiction, poetry, and reviews all online and free! To celebrate, they have a special 20 years of Strange Horizons issue, and I wrote a poem for it!
Image Description: The Strange Horizons logo, which is the words Strange Horizons in a sans serif font in colors ranging from black through blue to purple.
“On Where to Find Strange Horizons, and How to Get There” is about the ever changing nature of progress, something good magazines that have existed for decades inevitably have to grapple with. I wrote it with some of the recent conversations in the science fiction and fantasy community in mind, but also with a general sense that any time a new group of people wishes to make progress, there is a dance of straining to break out of what previous groups felt progress would and should look like. This plays out over and over in countless kinds of communities.
Strange Horizons started in 2000 with a mission to publish new and underrepresented voices. It’s always been a non-profit, all volunteer organization, and it has kept that mission at its heart even while growing and changing in many ways.
This was the first magazine I edited for. I was lucky enough to work with Jed Hartman (one of the founding fiction editors) for the first year, and honored to step into one of the vacancies left behind by Karen Meisner and Susan Marie Groppi. Eventually when Jed left, the senior fiction editor team was me, Lee Mandelo, and An Owomoyela. We worked together to come to consensus on which stories to publish, and split them up between us to edit individually. For three years I worked full time on Strange Horizons, editing stories, and also helping with the early days of art selection and podcast narration. We also had a team of first readers, one of whom, Catherine Krahe, ended up taking over for me when I left. This magazine will always hold a place in my heart. I have watched with continued interest and delight as the team there (including the editors-in-chief, non-fiction, poetry, art, and podcast departments) has made a point to invite underrepresented voices to speak. From a trans and non-binary issue to a Nigerian SFF issue and far beyond, Strange Horizons is a place that consistently celebrates many voices. I will always be happy I got my editing start there, and I hope the magazine will continue to grow and flourish for many years to come.
I wholeheartedly recommend the rest of the poems and stories in this special 20th anniversary issue, too! And if you would like to listen to my poem, I also read it for the Strange Horizons podcast episode.
