Helix SF

Helix SF was a quarterly American speculative fiction online magazine edited by William Sanders and Lawrence Watt-Evans. The poetry editor was Bud Webster.

History

Sanders began the magazine in 2006[1] as "a place where writers could publish things that none of the regular markets wanted to touch" without any attempt "to be a commercial publication." The venture was supported entirely by reader donations, though Sanders emphasized in his first editorial that the intention was to make Helix SF "a professional-quality online magazine." The magazine was not open to general submissions.

Each issue of Helix SF featured 7 stories, 4 to 6 poems, several regular columns, and editorials by both the editors.

Rejection controversy and closing

In 2008, Sanders wrote a rejection letter for a submission to Helix SF in which he called Muslims "sheet heads", "worm brained" and "incapable of honesty." Sanders would later deny that he was referring to Muslims as a whole.[2] However, the controversy ultimately resulted in several authors asking to pull their stories from the Helix archives after they found out Sanders had offered that option to N.K. Jemisin.[3][4]

In response to the controversy, Sanders announced that the magazine's fall 2008 issue would be the last.[5][6] Sanders stated that "Perhaps the biggest one is the ongoing failure to develop a broad support base. Not that we've ever hurt for money — we've always been able to pay the writers, if not pro rates, at least considerably better than the average free webzine - but as things have turned out, the support has come mainly from a small number of amazingly generous donors, rather than over a wide range of the readership."[6] On January 1, 2009, the Helix archives were removed from the web and replaced with an explanation for the magazine's demise and links to several of the stories at other locations.[7] Sanders then deleted the magazine's website.[5]

Critical reception and awards

According to The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, Helix SF was "generally praised for the quality of its fiction and poetry."[5] The magazine was also noted for having almost half the published stories written by women, perhaps the only genre magazine of the time to do this.[5]

The magazine was nominated for the 2008 Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine. Works published in the magazine won and were finalists for a number of awards. These include:

• "Captive Girl" by Jennifer Pelland, published in the Fall 2006 issue, was a finalist for the 2007 Nebula Award for Best Short Story;
• "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Hole" by Lawrence Schimel, published in the Winter 2007 issue, took the 3rd place in the 2007 Rhysling Award in the short poem category;
• "The Button Bin" by Mike Allen, published in the Fall 2007 issue, was a finalist for the 2008 Nebula Award for Best Short Story.
• "Search" by Geoffrey A. Landis, published in the Fall 2008 issue, won the long form Rhysling Award in 2009.

Authors published

Authors published in Helix SF included Jayme Lynn Blaschke, Bruce Boston, Adam-Troy Castro, Melanie Fletcher, Esther Friesner, Janis Ian, N. K. Jemisin, Jay Lake, Vera Nazarian, Michael H. Payne, Peg Robinson, Jane Yolen, and Steven H Silver.

References

1. Doctorow, Cory (June 15, 2006). "Helix: a new free sf magazine". Boing Boing. Archived from the original on December 25, 2015. Retrieved December 24, 2015.
2. Frenulum, J. Royce. "Conversations With A Mean Old Bastard". Sff.net. Archived from the original on January 27, 2017. Retrieved 2023-09-09.
3. "Racist Rejection Letter Stirs Controversy in SF Community". Technoccult. 2008-07-15. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2023-09-09.
4. Shetterly, Will (2023-03-03). "Was Cherokee Writer William Sanders the First Victim of Cancel Culture?". Sublation Magazine. Archived from the original on 2023-03-07. Retrieved 2023-09-09.
5. "Helix SF". The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. March 22, 2023. Archived from the original on December 1, 2023. Retrieved September 9, 2023.
6. Sanders, William. "Editorial." Helix SF 10, Fall 2008. ^[permanent dead link‍]
7. What Happened To The Archives? a brief and depressing explanation, Helix SF, January 1, 2009. ^[permanent dead link‍]

External links

• The editor's explanation for the magazine's demise