Science fiction and I have a long history together. As a reader, my interest in science fiction and fantasy goes back to early childhood, and persisted throughout high school and college. In college, I joined the Harvard-Radcliffe Science Fiction Association mainly so that I’d have access to their library. The group kind of grew on me, though, and in addition to being a de facto librarian for HRSFA, I somehow got elected to serve a term as co-chair.
It was also in college that I had my first experiences with science fiction publishing, working for Circlet Press. Circlet is a small-press publishing house, and during my time there (first as an intern, and later as an editorial assistant) I learned a lot about the process of making books–everything from submissions reading to copyediting to page layout to sales and marketing.
In the fall of 2000, I joined the staff at Strange Horizons, an online science fiction magazine that had just started publication. I came on board as a fiction editor, and by the spring of 2003 I was also editor-in-chief of the magazine. I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished (and continue to accomplish) at Strange Horizons. Working with an all-volunteer staff, and funded primarily by reader donations, we’ve been putting out high-quality fiction and nonfiction content every single week since September 2000. We pay our authors competitive market rates, we make a point of encouraging new writers, we’ve had stories nominated for major awards and reprinted in various “Year’s Best” anthologies, and the magazine itself has twice been nominated for a Hugo Award.
Strange Horizons represents the bulk of my work as a science fiction editor, but it’s not the only work I’ve done. (Although I did get nominated for a World Fantasy Award for my work with the magazine! Hugely exciting.) I also co-edited Twenty Epics, a fabulous anthology of original micro-epic fiction. In the past, I’ve had the great pleasure of serving as a guest editor for the WisCon Writer’s Workshops and for the Hidden City workshop, and I’m currently a Resident Editor at the Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction and Fantasy.