Today, it was announced that a took a big step forward (and sideways) in my career: Now I am not only an editor and anthologist, but a publisher as well. I just acquired the two magazines I edit–Lightspeed and Fantasy–from their current publisher, Prime Books. I’ll officially take over as publisher as of the January 2012 issue. Here’s the press release:

Prime Books Sells Magazines Lightspeed and Fantasy to Editor John Joseph Adams

ROCKVILLE, MD, NOV. 7—Prime Books is pleased to announce the sale and transfer of ownership of their acclaimed online magazines Lightspeed (www.lightspeedmagazine.com) and Fantasy (www.fantasy-magazine.com) to John Joseph Adams. Adams, the current editor of both magazines, will officially assume the role of publisher starting with the January 2012 issues.

“With the continuing expansion and success of Prime Books, my attention and time is increasingly consumed by book publishing,” publisher Sean Wallace said. “With John already doing a terrific job as editor, it simply made sense for him to take over as publisher as well.  We’re really thrilled that this has worked out for both John and Prime.”

New publisher John Joseph Adams says he is delighted at the prospect of taking over the magazines and looks forward to the challenges ahead. “It’s an exciting time to be involved in publishing,” he said. “Models are changing and so is the readership, and online magazines have a better shot at sustainability than ever have before. I believe the possibilities for growth are tremendous, and I look forward to staying in the vanguard of this new frontier.”

Fantasy Magazine was established in 2005, and has been edited by Sean Wallace, Paul Tremblay, and Cat Rambo, with Adams taking over as sole editor earlier this year. Lightspeed—published by Wallace and edited by Adams—debuted in June 2010 and was a 2011 Hugo Award nominee. Numerous stories originally published in Lightspeed and Fantasy have been reprinted in best-of-the-year anthologies, and Lightspeed and Fantasy stories have been nominated for the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, the World Fantasy Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Award, and others. Lightspeed’s first year of fiction has just been published by Prime Books in the print anthology Lightspeed: Year One (ISBN: 978-1-60701-304-4).

About John Joseph Adams

In addition to his duties with Lightspeed and Fantasy, John Joseph Adams (www.johnjosephadams.com) is the bestselling editor of many anthologies including Wastelands, The Living Dead, Brave New Worlds, and The Way of the Wizard. In 2011, he was nominated for two Hugo Awards and two World Fantasy Awards.

About Prime Books

Established in 2001 and published by Hugo Award and World Fantasy Award-winner Sean Wallace, Prime Books (www.prime-books.com), is an independent publishing house specializing in science fiction, fantasy, and horror, with national distribution by Diamond Book Distributors.

Contacts

John Joseph Adams, john@lightspeedmagazine.com
Sean Wallace, prime@prime-books.com

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