Q: Describe what you publish in 25 characters or less.
A: Fantastic fiction
Q: What other current publications (or publishers) do you admire most?
A: 2016 marks 40 years since Gardner Dozois started editing Year's Best collections, first by taking over Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year from Lester Del Rey and then followed by his own Year's Best SF series. That's not only unparalleled in our genre, but may be unparalleled in any genre, and I admire not only his encyclopedic knowledge but his impact on the field. Ellen Datlow has been editing the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror and Year's Best Horror collections for 29 years, which is also amazing. I admire their ability to stay passionate and critical about finding the best stories over such a long time.
Q: If you publish writing, who are your favorite writers? If you publish art, who are your favorite artists?
A: That changes every time I see a new story that I love, but some of the writers who've had a big impact on me include Langston Hughes, Tadeusz Borowski, Primo Levi, Samuel R. Delany, Leigh Brackett, and Lois McMaster Bujold.
Q: What sets your publication apart from others that publish similar material?
A: F&SF publishes a wider range of stories than most genre magazines -- epic fantasy and contemporary fantasy, hard science fiction and satirical science fiction and space opera, psychological horror and Lovecraftian tales, alternate history, slipstream -- so we look for stories that are the best in every category. This is reflected in all the genre awards that stories from F&SF have won over the years, including more Nebulas than any other magazine. At the same time, F&SF's stories have traditionally been accessible to non-genre readers, and people who've never read a genre magazine have read or seen things that were published in F&SF or adapted from stories in F&SF. F&SF is where A Canticle for Leibowitz, Starship Troopers, Flowers for Algernon, and King's Dark Tower series first appeared. It's the source of "The Brave Little Toaster" and the Philip K. Dick story that got turned into "Total Recall" and "12:01 P.M." which was "Groundhog Day" before "Groundhog Day" got made. It's the magazine that first published Vonnegutt's "Harrison Bergeron" and Bradbury's "All Summer in a Day" and Le Guin's "Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight." And that's just scratching the surface. More stories from F&SF have appeared in the Best American Short Stories anthologies than all other genre magazines combined. Stories from F&SF get reprinted frequently and translated into other languages. They make it into school textbooks and college reading lists. F&SF has a tradition of publishing stories that stand the test of time.
Q: What is the best advice you can give people who are considering submitting work to your publication?
A: Read the magazine.
Q: Describe the ideal submission.
A: It is submitted in standard manuscript format (as described here: http://www.sfwa.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/Mssprep.pdf ).
The title is unique and reflects the major themes or other content of the story.
The first line is interesting.
By the end of the second paragraph, I'm caught up in the story and want to find out what happens.
It holds my attention all the way through.
When I reach the end, I've thought thoughts I've never had before and felt things I've never felt before and feel like my time was well spent.
And when I go to send the author a contract and check, their contact information is all there on the manuscript.
Q: What do submitters most often get wrong about your submissions process?
A: They send their best stories to some other magazine first instead of us?
Q: How much do you want to know about the person submitting to you?
A: I only read cover letters after looking at the submission. I like knowing something about the author (if I don't already), but the only thing that matters to me in taking a story is the story.
Q: If you publish writing, how much of a piece do you read before making the decision to reject it?
A: I read enough to know if I want to publish it. Sometimes that's two or three sentences. Sometimes that's reading the whole story two or three times.
Q: What additional evaluations, if any, does a piece go through before it is accepted?
A: I usually have at least one other person at the magazine read everything, but the best submissions are the ones where I love the story so much that no votes from four different editors would not deter me from running it.
Q: What is a day in the life of an editor like for you?
A: *sobs*
Q: How important do you feel it is for publishers to embrace modern technologies?
A: Story is the most important thing. Modern technologies just give us more and different ways to find and share stories. Electronic submissions make it possible for writers anywhere in the world to submit stories to F&SF with minimal barriers. Electronic editions of F&SF make it possible for stories to reach more readers at lower costs. Social media makes it possible for communities to share and discuss the F&SF stories they love. But story comes first.