By now, everybody in the SF/Fantasy community has heard, in one way or another, of what´s being called now the Helix controversy: William Sanders, senior editor of Helix Magazine, sent a writer a rejection letter for one of his stories - which you can read, along with many of the exchanges that followed, here.
A few days ago, I got the news that a new webzine was created in the wake of all the proverbial shit that hit the fan. Here´s an excerpt of the text explaining the reason of its creation:
We are Helix writers who believe in a speculative fiction community that welcomes all readers--inclusive of all races, genders, and marginalized people of all backgrounds.
In July 2008, Helix editor William Sanders stirred up controversy in the community with remarks that many found offensive. The blogosphere exploded with discussion. You can find a summary of the events here.
As the controversy continued, several Helix writers asked to remove their work from the magazine and were met with unprofessional treatment. This upset all of us. We agreed that we would not stand by in silence.
Transcriptase hosts reprints of our stories and poems originally published at Helix. During the controversy, some of us removed our work from Helix; others left it up. There are valid reasons to make either choice, and we hope you'll respect that we had difficult decisions to make. We offer our stories and poems at Transcriptase so that you can enjoy our work away from Helix, if you choose.
You can read the rest here. Enjoy and support.
illustration by Fabio Cobiaco
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