HOW HAS IT BEEN A YEAR ALREADY.

It has, though, and what a year it’s been. Last year at this time I was bemoaning how few stories I had out, and guess what? I have just as few this year. And yet, I don’t mind. Because I spent half the year doing something else: making sure that other people had awesome stories out for you to enjoy.

I can hardly express what an amazing journey Women Destroy Science Fiction! has been, and continues to be. Between super-funding the Kickstarter–which allowed us to put out two extra issues, Women Destroy Horror! and Women Destroy Fantasy!–the issue has been made required reading for a college course, was named “Book of Honor” by the Potlatch convention committee, and was listed as one of NPR’s Best Books of 2014. I am so grateful to all of our contributors, and I hope that every last one of you is as proud of your efforts as I am. And to our supporters, who backed the Kickstarter, bought the issue, blogged, Tweeted, and boosted the signal, thank you for making it what it is, for receiving it with the same passion with which it was created.

These weren’t the only all-women efforts produced this year–our sisters at Athena’s Daughters had a similar Kickstarter coup, and our colleagues at Podcastle, Escape Pod, and The Drabblecast have carried the idea forward into the new year with Artemis Rising.

It was a matter of some debate whether or not to include the personal essays in the final edition of WDSF! Ultimately we concluded that it was those essays, along with the articles and interviews, beautiful illustrations and the Artist Showcase, that gave the stories context. And I believe that it’s the context that people have rallied around and supported since we originally announced the issue more than a year ago.

If you agree, and you are a voting member of LonCon (Worldcon 2014) or Sasquan (Worldcon 2015), there may be one more opportunity to show your love: as far as we can tell, Women Destroy Science Fiction! is eligible for a Hugo in the Best Related Works category. (Lightspeed itself remains eligible in Semiprozine; this is very likely our last year of eligibility. We’re growing up fast!)

On that note, here are the original science fiction stories that Robyn and I were thrilled and proud to bring to you (linked where available free online):

Novelettes
Each to Each by Seanan McGuire
Cuts Both Ways by Heather Clitheroe

Short Stories
A Word Shaped Like Bones by Kris Millering
Walking Awake by N.K. Jemisin
The Case of the Passionless Bees by Rhonda Eikamp
In the Image of Man by Gabriella Stalker
The Unfathomable Sisterhood of Ick by Charlie Jane Anders
Dim Sun by Maria Dahvana Headley
The Lonely Sea in the Sky by Amal El-Mohtar
A Burglary, Addressed By a Young Lady by Elizabeth Porter Birdsall
Canth by K.C. Norton
Salvage by Carrie Vaughn
A Guide to Grief by Emily Fox
See DANGEROUS EARTH-POSSIBLES! by Tina Connolly
A Debt Repaid by Marina J. Lostetter
The Sewell Home for the Temporally Displaced by Sarah Pinsker
#TrainFightTuesday by Vanessa Torline
The Hymn of Ordeal, No. 23 by Rhiannon Rasmussen
Emoticon by Anaid Perez
The Mouths by Ellen Denham
M1A by Kim Winternheimer
Standard Deviant by Holly Schofield
Getting on in Years by Cathy Humble
Ro-Sham-Bot by Effie Seiberg
Everything That Has Already Been Said by Samantha Murray
The Lies We Tell Our Children by Katherine Crighton
They Tell Me There Will Be No Pain by Rachael Acks

Happy New Year to everyone, and thank you for making 2014 a magnificent one.