Asimov's, Analog, And The Magazine Of Fantasy & Science Fiction Are Under Attack By A Sci-Fi Writing Cancel Mob

The new owners of Analog, Asimov’s and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction are getting canceled by the mainstream SFWA writing community as it’s become hotly contentious with their new contract language over moral rights, which rarely impact authors in reality, and yet is becoming an over the top fight in science fiction writing circles.

In March, Analog, Asimov’s, and F&SF short fiction magazines (along with a couple of mystery magazines) were taken over in publishing by a new conglomerate that purchased the properties. This group is comprised of investors who are a bunch of genre fans, under the name Must Read Magazines.

The company's major investor and board advisor is Michael Khandelwal, who founded a writing nonprofit and serves as toastmaster for Virginia's Mars Con. Franco A. Alvarado, a consultant and developer for Macmillan Learning eBook, has joined as director of design & operations. The executive board is headed by Steven Salpeter, a former literary agent with Curtis Brown, who will oversee distribution, translation, and film/TV rights through his new firm, 2 Arms Media—services he also provides to other companies.

Although they stated that no changes to the magazines were forthcoming, despite a decline in circulation in recent years, they did modify the contracts for short fiction writers to include a request for “moral rights,” which encompass various adaptations of the works. In an increasingly competitive environment, certain rights are necessary to generate profits by facilitating audio productions and various printings without requiring author approvals for minor changes or adjustments to their credits. For selling a piece of short fiction, this shouldn’t be much of a big deal, but the writing establishment went up in arms.

The SFWA blog posted a rant on moral rights in a passive-aggressive response, not naming names, though one author called SFWA out for not actually talking about the situation going on with Asimov’s and Analog.