Links: Science Fiction & Fantasy

Science Fiction & Fantasy Writing Resources

General · Articles · Authors · Critique, Discussion & Workshops · Markets · Misc · Publications

For more information, visit Writing-World.com's Science Fiction/Fantasy Section.

General Resources

Costume Supercenter SF Resources: http://www.costumesupercenter.com/csc_inc/html/static/btarticles/greatsciencefictionresources.html; You wouldn't expect a place like "Costume Supercenter" to be a great place to look for SF links, but this one is -- including, of course, links to sources of SF-related costumes.
Critters - Resources: http://www.critters.org/resources.html; Lots of links of interest to writers of SF/Fantasy, and critiquers.
How to Write: http://www.sfwriter.com/owindex.htm; A selection of articles and workshops by Robert Sawyer, focusing primarily on fantasy and science fiction.
Index to Science Fiction Anthologies & Collections: http://www.philsp.com/; Database of SF short stories, searchable by author, title, magazine, date.
JVJ's SF Links: http://jvj.com/jjsflink.html; Good links to articles on writing SF, market guidelines, and manuscript preparation.
LOCUS Index to Science Fiction Awards: http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/index.html; This site lists all the major SF awards, as well as regional, academic, fan, reader, and genre awards. Each listing provides such information as winners, nominees, categories, and an award overview.
Ralan Conley's Webstravaganza: http://www.ralan.com; Markets, links, articles, and more.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Search Engine: http://www.computercrowsnest.com/; Links to magazines, book publishers, discussion groups, comics, conferences, film and TV, shopping, and games. Links are comprehensive but often outdated.
Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA): http://www.sfwa.org/; A huge collection of articles on writing in general and sf/fantasy writing in particular can be found at http://www.sfwa.org/writing/writing.htm. For workshops and discussion groups, see http://www.sfwa.org/links/workshops.htm.
SF Lovers: http://www.noreascon.org/users/sflovers/u1/web/; Loads of links to anything and everything sf-related.
Science Fiction Round Table (SFRT): http://www.sfrt.com/sfrt2.htm; Offers a variety of speculative fiction resources, including events, conventions and conferences, publishers' links, media information, research and writing links, and an extensive list of author sites.
SF Canada: http://www.sfcanada.ca; An excellent site offering a monthly (or so) article on the craft of SF, online stories, and news of Canadian SF writers. Well organized links to other SF resources.
SF Site: http://www.sfsite.com; News, reviews, interviews with SF authors, and links to related sites. This site also offers the Internet Speculative Fiction Database, a database of speculative fiction novels and short stories that can be searched by author, title, year, award, and other criteria.
Speculative Romance Online: http://www.specromonline.com/; "Speculative Romance Online champions fans and authors who want their love stories mixed with science fiction, fantasy and horror. We love futuristic romance, paranormal romance and fantasy romance: high, dark or otherwise." Articles, interviews, links, more. (Formerly Science Fiction Romance/Romance Newsletter.)
Ultimate Science Fiction Poetry Guide: http://www.magicdragon.com/UltimateSF/sfpo.html; This site offers links, information on sf/fantasy poetry authors, anthologies, collections, magazines, and more; if sf poetry is your cup of tea, you'll find it here.
Ultimate Science Fiction Web Guide: http://www.magicdragon.com/UltimateSF/SF-Index.html; Links to authors, book titles, conventions, international sf/fantasy writing, games, magazines and newsletters, movies, poetry, publishers, TV shows and more.
SpecFicWorld.com: http://www.specficworld.com/; "SpecFicWorld.com is an online resource guide for speculative fiction fans and writers. Inside you'll find thousands of helpful links to several publications and resources from around the globe."

Articles

A Way with Worlds: World Creation Column, by Steven Savage: http://www.seventhsanctum.com/www/wwwfull.html
Forward Motion: Holly Lisle's Writing Pages: http://fmwriters.com/index.html; Holly Lisle's writing community, where writers can connect and share "the joys and insanity" writers face. Boards, critique groups, classes, articles, and more.
The Long Hard Odds: A Few Hints on Getting that First Horror Novel Published: http://www.mindspring.com/~profmike/sellbook.htm; Don't be fooled by the title; has useful tips on publishing F/SF as well.
On Thud and Blunder, by Poul Anderson: http://www.sfwa.org/2005/01/on-thud-and-blunder/; One of the classics, pointing out the difference between fantasy and reality (e.g., can you really hack off heads with a 50-pound sword?)
SFWA Articles on Writing: http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/information-center/
Uncle Orson's Writing Class: http://www.hatrack.com/writingclass/index.shtml; It's difficult to categorize this "Hatrack River" site from Orson Scott Card. In addition to chat, forums, links, and other resources, it offers a "writing class" in which Card answers various questions from readers; the result is a series of useful articles on writing fiction.
What is a Short Story? by Marion Zimmer Bradley: http://mzbworks.home.att.net/what.htm; If your work isn't selling, this article may offer clues on how to improve your chances.
World Building: http://www.fictionfactor.com/worlds.html; Several excellent articles from FictionFactor authors/editors.

Author Sites

SFF Net: http://www.sff.net/people.asp; This site hosts SF/fantasy author webpages, and offers links to others off-site.
SF SITE Links to Author and Fan sites: http://www.sfsite.com/scribe/scribe01.htm; Links to a number of SF author sites.
Writer's Net: http://www.writers.net/writers/browse/cat.php; Browse for authors by category, or alphabetically under "published writers."

Critique and Discussion Groups, Workshops

Children's F&SF Writers: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Childrens-FandSF-Writers/; For writers of middle grade and young adult fantasy and science fiction.
Clarion East Writer's Workshop: http://clarion.ucsd.edu/; The first in the highly regarded Clarion family of workshops for sf/fantasy writers.
Clarion West Writer's Workshop: http://www.clarionwest.org/; The descendant of Clarion East.
Critters Workshop: http://www.critters.org; This highly recommended workshop focuses primarily on speculative fiction (though it offers other workshops as well). The site offers sample critiques, tips on critiquing and participating in a group, and market information (including the "Black Hole" page that lists response times for speculative fiction markets). Considered a "high-intensity" group with high workload demands.
Fantasy/SciFi Novel Writers: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/novelwriters/; A discussion group for anyone writing, wanting to write, or publishing a sf/fantasy novel.
Odyssey Fantasy Writing Workshop: http://www.sff.net/odyssey/; A residential workshop that offers instruction and guest lectures from well-known speculative fiction authors. Website also offers a variety of writing tips, articles and resources.
Online Writing Workshop for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror: http://sff.onlinewritingworkshop.com/; Online critique workshop; charges annual fee.
Quantum Muse: http://www.quantummuse.com; A SF/fantasy zine and online writer's group; stories selected from the group are published in the zine. Members must critique to earn submission credits to be critiqued. Includes messaging system to discuss critiques and a forum for general discussion.
SFNovelist Workshop: http://www.sfnovelist.com/index.htm; A critique group for writers of "hard sf" novels.
SFWA: Workshops: http://www.sfwa.org/links/workshops.htm; Links to speculative fiction critique groups and workshops.
Write or Die: http://trfn.clpgh.org/word/links.html; A writers' group with extensive links to other groups and resources.
See also Writing-World.com's links to Critique and Discussion Groups

Market Guides

Aswiebe's Market List: http://www.aswiebe.com/writing/markets.html; A regularly updated market list of speculative fiction markets - with a wonderful list of pending anthologies, something hard to find in other market resources.
BookWire Index: Science Fiction Publishers: http://www.bookwire.com/bookwire/publishers/SciFict-Publishers.html
Critters Workshop Resource List: http://www.critters.org/resources.html; Includes a list of markets with poor response times and/or bad reputations.
Market List: http://www.marketlist.com; Guidelines and market information for speculative fiction.
Mary Soon Lee's Market List: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mslee/mag.html
Ralan Conley's SpecFic Webstravaganza: http://www.ralan.com
SpecFicWorld.com: http://www.specficworld.com/; Markets, advice, organizations, world-building resources, more.
The Write Market: http://www.writemarket.com; Comprehensive list of speculative fiction markets, with direct links to magazines and guidelines when available.
Writers Markets for Speculative Fiction: SF/F/H's Journal: http://community.livejournal.com/specficmarkets/; Calls for SF/H anthologies and other markets

Miscellaneous

3-D StarMaps: http://www.projectrho.com/starmap.html; Find out where different star systems are located, their distances from one another, and more -- or create maps of your own systems. (Maps of Star Trek systems also included.) Very technical, but fun.
Broad Universe: http://www.broaduniverse.org/index.html; An organization with the goal of promoting sf and fantasy written by women."
Chronos: The Future of Time Travel: http://Chronos.ws; Billed as "the ultimate guide to time travel, teleportation, temporal phasing, and other applications of nine-dimensional theory," this site apparently takes itself seriously -- but does offer a wealth of information on time travel theory.
SciFaiku: Links to sites featuring "science fiction" haiku.

Publications

Locus: http://www.locusmag.com/; Online version of the major trade publication for the SF publishing industry.
Vision: http://www.visionforwriters.com; Available in HTML or as a PDF download, this zine offers a collection of excellent articles on sf/fantasy and other genres.

Recommended Reading

The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy, Vol. I	The Complete Guide to Writing Fantasy, Vol. II	Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth	How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy
On Writing Horror	Science Fiction Writer's Workshop	The Science of Science Fiction Writing	The Science of Aliens
Worldbuilding	The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference	Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy	Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy

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