News from Tallahassee (?)

There was some surprising news today from Ann Vandermeer, to wit:

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I am very sad to have to tell you that my editorship at Weird Tales, which has included one Hugo Award win and three Hugo Award nominations, is about to come to an end. The publisher, John Betancourt of Wildside Press, is selling the magazine to Marvin Kaye.

Kaye is buying the magazine because he wants to edit it himself. He will not be retaining the staff from my tenure. I wish him the best with the different direction he wants to pursue, including his first, Cthulhu-themed issue. The current issue of Weird Tales is #358, just published. My last issue will be #359, which Kaye plans to publish in February of next year. Other stories I bought will be published in various issues thereafter.

The past five years reading fiction for Weird Tales magazine has been an honor for me. I had a blast doing this but I have also contributed to the canon of “the weird tale”—a responsibility I take seriously, not only for the readers of today, but for the readers of tomorrow. This iconic magazine originally blazed a trail for new approaches to dark fantastical fiction, and I did my best to return to that legacy. In addition to bringing home the first Hugo Award win in the history of Weird Tales, I was also only the second female editor of the magazine, and presided over the only all-female staff ever for the magazine.

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Ann goes on to offer thanks, her future plans as well as she knows them, and something of a valedictory. If you want to read the rest on the Weird Tales web site, go here:

I had the opportunity to meet and visit with Ann in June at ApolloCon. She was very nice and struck me as very dedicated to the genre. I'm sure she and husband Jeff will go on to bigger and better things, but still, everyone hates an unplanned and unanticipated career move.