Spotlight on: The Sunday Morning Transport
Tell us about your project. When was it founded, and who’s involved in running it?
The Sunday Morning Transport was founded in August 2021, and we published our first story in January 2023. Julian Yap is editor in chief, Fran Wilde is managing editor, and our copyediting, proofreading, and social media team is Kaitlin Severini (our copyeditor), Ryan T. Jenkins (copyedits and proofing), Delia Davis (year one proofreader) and Christine Ma (year two proofreader), and Devin Singer (social media). Michael J. DeLuca helped with the collected story’s production and distribution.
How did you choose the name?
The name emerged from a conversation with author Max Gladstone – Julian wanted a phrase that conveyed ‘‘really good speculative stories that transport readers.’’ Sunday mornings, for us, also mean ‘‘chilling with coffee or tea and reading great stories.’’ So, ‘‘transport’’ has science fiction connections especially, and that worked. “Sunday Morning” gave us our publication schedule. And the two together sounded great.
Does your publication have a mission statement, or is there a particular niche you aim to fill?
We aim to publish a great short story that can be read over a cup of coffee or tea, weekly. We also share interviews with our authors, editors’ letters, and special features, but we keep it simple so as to hold space in our readers’ inboxes for the stories themselves.
You have an unusual publishing model for short SF/fantasy. Tell us about it and why you chose to go that way.
We are a curated short fiction magazine that is intended to operate as an email newsletter but can still be read on the web.
After reading a number of newsletters during the pandemic, Julian realized that it could be a great format for sharing short fiction. There’s something special about a single short story showing up in your inbox each week. The great thing about the newsletter format is that it comes to you – that’s a cool experience.
All subscribers receive at least one short story a month (there are also two months in the year filled with short stories) and paying subscribers receive a short story 50 weeks a year.
Where should new readers start with the magazine? Is there a particular story or issue you’d like to especially highlight?
We’d love to share The Sunday Morning Transport: Selected Stories 2022 – which is available from Weightless Books at < weightlessbooks.com/the-sunday-morning-transport-selected-stories-2022>.
As well, we have several stories that have been nominated for awards this year, including FIYAH, World Fantasy, WSFS, and the Sturgeon Award. We’d love to see more stories gaining recognition in the future.
Readers can start with our latest free story at <www.sundaymorningtransport.com>, and then browse our archives at <www.sundaymorningtransport.com/archive>, or take a look at the recommended and reviewed stories from magazines like Locus (thank you, Locus reviewers!). At the end of the year, we republish reader favorites on Wednesdays (you can read last year’s favorites now, and subscribers can vote starting in October).
There are many points of entry! With that said, it’s really hard to pick our favorites, since we’re already putting all of our favorites in the magazine.
Are there trends in short fiction you are seeing, or trends you’d like to see?
We read about 60-70 stories per year, so we’re not sure we have a window into trends. Still, trends seem to happen to us. In 2022 there were multiple stories featuring bees. This year, 2023, there seem to be a lot of intersecting worlds and timelines.
What’s happening next? Are there any upcoming stories or other features you’re particularly excited about?
We’re constantly excited about the stories we publish, especially from writers who tell us this is a new direction for them, or that they’re taking new risks, or (after the story runs) that they’re considering writing more stories in that world (Will Alexander, Moses Utomi, A.R. Capetta, C.S.E. Cooney/Carlos Hernandez, David Bowles and others, we’re looking at you, friends). We just published a debut short story from a new author, Zohar Jacobs, and that was a thrill.
What can readers do to help support the magazine?
Subscribe and share – please!
We have over 3,000 subscribers so far – this number has tripled from last year. We’re thrilled by this and the fact that everyone gets a free story each month. It goes without saying that we’d love to see more paying subscribers – it’s the best thing to do in order to support our authors and the magazine’s longevity. If you’re already a subscriber, we’d love for you to share the magazine with someone you think would like it – or five someones!
FOR MORE FROM OUR FOCUS ON SHORT FICTION ISSUE…
While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with a one-time or recurring donation. We rely on reader donations to keep the magazine and site going, and would like to keep the site paywall free, but WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT to continue quality coverage of the science fiction and fantasy field.
©Locus Magazine. Copyrighted material may not be republished without permission of LSFF.
