One of the neatest things so far about running my magazine Beneath Ceaseless Skies has been getting into steampunk.

I had never read much steampunk at all, but I’ve been sent lots of great steampunk stories. Check out “ Clockwork Heart, Clockwork Soul” by Kris Dikeman, or “Preservation” by Jonathan Wood, or “Kreisler’s Automata” by Matthew David Surridge. And we’ve got several more great ones on the way later this winter.

So when I set out looking for my next cover art for the magazine, I sought out Myke Amend‘s work. I had seen his steampunk airship artwork before, and I’m delighted to have one of those pieces, “Sabicu,” as our new cover art.

Now I need to chase down a steampunk anthology or two. And I think, later this winter, I may try my had at writing some steampunk of my own….

Jason Sanford, writer and editor of storySouth, has a comprehensive blog post on online F/SF magazines.  He gives an insightful overview, then lists the top pro- and semi-pro ‘zines.

He gives fine praise to Beneath Ceaseless Skies, saying that we deserve to be designated as a SFWA pro market.  Thanks very much!  We do meet all the qualifications, now that we’ve been publishing for a full year,  and recently I began the application process to have SFWA designate us thus.

Capclave went very well. I gave away lots of business cards and flyers for Beneath Ceaseless Skies.  Great panels on (trying to) save the magazines and on new media, such as Facebook and podcasts (which I think is one of the ways to save the magazines).  Great chats with Neil Clarke of Clarkesworld Magazine.  Great to see many of the young writers and editors who I know, including the editors of Lightspeed, and great to see GOH Sheila Williams, who I met at Odyssey.

Next year’s Capclave GOH is Connie Willis, who I met at a workshop two years ago.  I’ll be back next year, and it should be just as cool.

I just saw the press release for a new online SF magazine called Lightspeed.

It looks top-notch–the editors will be John Joseph Adams and Andrea Kail, the publisher is Prime Books (who publishes Fantasy Magazine), and the artwork on the site looks very cool.

I’m all for online fiction, of course.  And I think that, in this age of declining short fiction readership, ‘zines with a more niche focus may be a stronger lure to readers than ‘zines with a more generalist approach.  I think the focus of my mag Beneath Ceaseless Skies attracts readers interested in traditional or epic fantasy, and I bet Lightspeed‘s focus on SF will attract SF fans.

Best of luck to them!