It is with great regret that I am announcing the closure of SQ Mag. This final notice has been a difficult decision to make. Our October 2017 notice was an attempt at finding a way forward, but unfortunately we could not get to that compromised point.

SQ Mag, at first called SQ Magazine, was the brainchild of the founding members of IFWG Publishing, and then transferred to IFWG Publishing Australia in 2012, in the digital format that we saw over the ensuing five years. Throughout its life under IFWG Publishing Australia it was edited with great skill and passion by Sophie Yorkston.

SQ Mag was created to add to the inadequate number of quality publications that were devoted to helping writers (particularly underrepresented writers) get a leg up in the marketplace, in part by trying our best to attract excellent ‘named’ authors to capture readership. It was never meant to be a major money spinner, and I (and we, the publishing house) believe it did the job wonderfully and sustainably. We have an amazing list of authors published in our 31 editions and quite a few were only starting when they published with us. Recognisable names that we bought stories from include Laird Barron, Allan Baxter, Tang Fei, Jay Lake, Ken Liu, Gary McMahon, Emma Newman,Cat Rambo, Mike Resnick, Deborah Sheldon, Angela Slatter, Cat Sparks, Kaaron Warren, and Sean Williams, to name a few. We are proud of this, and our book reviews and articles, and the many awards that a number of our stories had won.

The two IFWG book imprints based in Melbourne Australia have grown considerably, and the taking on of different geographic distributors (and the continued transition to other distributors) has consumed our time and resources considerably. We can’t give SQ Mag the focus it deserves nor can we invest finances into the project like we did in the past. It has come to the point that running SQ Mag was just too much for us.

Sophie has been a bastion of strength and durability for the ezine, and we relied heavily on her for the entire life of the ezine – and it was not surprising that after all of this time and the way life changes that it became unmanageable for her. We nearly handed the reins of editorship to another capable editor, but the burden of running a magazine on the goodwill of those who make it has become too much. So SQ Mag retires having had one, amazing (and award-winning) editor.

We will leave SQ Mag ‘live’ on the Internet for as long as we can, providing readers free access to an excellent collection of adult speculative short fiction. We will continue to keep the first four volumes of Star Quake: the Best of SQ Mag in print and digital formats, and you never know, we may one day publish a ‘Best of’ for the period that the past anthologies didn’t cover. Either way, we would encourage you to buy the Star Quake titles as it is the sure way to make sure you have access to the best of SQ Mag forever.

We would like to especially thank the readers and contributors to SQ Mag over the years, and sincere apologies to authors who may have submitted at the cusp of our long hiatus leading to this decision. We did enjoy the ride and we hope you have as well.

Gerry Huntman
Managing Director, SQ Mag Pty Ltd
trading as IFWG Publishing Australia