John Joseph Adams (born 1976) is an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, photographic, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, orga ...

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...

, and

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

Career

Editor

Adams worked as Assistant Editor at ''

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher a ...

'' from May 2001 to December 2009. In January 2010 he left ''F&SF'' to edit ''

Lightspeed Magazine ''Lightspeed'' is an American online fantasy and science fiction magazine edited and published by John Joseph Adams. The first issue was published in June 2010 and it has maintained a regular monthly schedule since. The magazine currently publis ...

'', an online science fiction magazine which launched June 1, 2010. In March 2011 he took charge of its sister magazine, '' Fantasy Magazine''. In June 2012, Adams and Creeping Hemlock Press successfully closed a $7,500

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign for funding ''Nightmare Magazine'', the first issue of which released October 2012. Originally the co-publisher and editor-in-chief, Adams now serves as publisher.

Writer

Additionally, Adams is a writer whose genre essays, interviews, and book reviews have appeared in a variety of publications, including ''

Amazing Stories ''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances i ...

'', ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'', ''

The Internet Review of Science Fiction ''The Internet Review of Science Fiction'' was an American webzine devoted to science fiction criticism. It featured critical articles as well as reviews of short fiction and novels. History The magazine was published from 2004 to 2010 and publi ...

'', ''

Intergalactic Medicine Show ''InterGalactic Medicine Show'' (sometimes shortened to ''IGMS'') was an American online fantasy and science fiction magazine. It was founded in 2005 by multiple award-winning author Orson Scott Card and was edited by Edmund R. Schubert from 200 ...

'', ''

Locus Magazine ''Locus: The Magazine of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field'', founded in 1968, is an American magazine published monthly in Oakland, California. It is the news organ and trade journal for the English-language science fiction and fantasy (genre ...

'', '' Novel & Short Story Writer's Market'', ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'',

SCI FI Wire Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Launc ...

'',

Science Fiction Weekly Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Launc ...

'', ''

Shimmer Magazine ''Shimmer Magazine '' was a quarterly magazine which published speculative fiction, with a focus on material that is dark, humorous or strange. Established in June 2005, ''Shimmer'' was published in digest format and Portable Document Format ...

'', ''

Strange Horizons ''Strange Horizons'' is an online speculative fiction magazine. It also features speculative poetry and nonfiction in every issue, including reviews, essays, interviews, and roundtables. History and profile It was launched in September 2000, and ...

'', ''

Subterranean Magazine Subterranean Press is a small press publisher in Burton, Michigan. Subterranean is best known for publishing genre fiction, primarily horror, suspense and dark mystery, fantasy, and science fiction. In addition to publishing novels, short story ...

'', and ''

Tor.com ''Tor.com'' is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on speculative fiction. From 20 ...

''.

Publisher

In November 2011 Adams purchased ''Lightspeed'' and ''Fantasy Magazine'' from

Sean Wallace Sean Wallace (born January 1, 1976) is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologist, editor, and publisher best known for founding the publishing house Prime Books and for co-editing three magazines, ''Clarkesworld Magazine'', ''T ...

Prime Books Sean Wallace (born January 1, 1976) is an American science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologist, editor, and publisher best known for founding the publishing house Prime Books and for co-editing three magazines, ''Clarkesworld Magazine'', ''T ...

. With the January 2012 issue, the first published under Adams's ownership, the content of both magazines was combined under the ''Lightspeed'' masthead, and ''Fantasy Magazine'' was discontinued as an entity. The ''Fantasy Magazine'' staff was also absorbed into ''Lightspeed''. In 2015, Adams became the editor-at-large of John Joseph Adams Books in partnership with

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults. The company is based in the Financial Dist ...

Podcaster

Since January 2010 Adams and science fiction author

David Barr Kirtley David Barr Kirtley (born 1977) is an American short story writer and the host of the ''Geek's Guide to the Galaxy'' podcast. Writing His short fiction appears in magazines such as ''Realms of Fantasy'' and ''Weird Tales'', in online magazines ...

have produced and hosted ''

Geek's Guide to the Galaxy ''Geek's Guide to the Galaxy'' is a science fiction book podcast. History The show is produced for Wired.com and hosted by author David Barr Kirtley. It was created by Kirtley and John Joseph Adams, who served as co-host for the first hundre ...

''.

Accolades

His anthology ''The Living Dead'' was nominated for a

World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy literature, fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year a ...

and named one of the "Best Books of the Year" by ''Publishers Weekly''. He has been called "The reigning king of the anthology world" by Barnes & Noble.com, and in 2011 he was named one of "100+ Geeks to Follow on Twitter" by TechRepublic. He is a finalist for the 2011 Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor, Short Form, and his magazine, ''

'', is a finalist for best semiprozine. In 2017, John was nominated for a

for Best Anthology for The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016.

Bibliography

Short fiction

;Anthologies edited * '' Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse'' (

Night Shade Books Night Shade Books is an American, San Francisco–based imprint, formerly an independent publishing company, that specializes in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Among its publications have been the U.S. edition of Iain M. Banks' novel ''T ...

, January 2008) * ''Seeds of Change'' (

, August 2008) * ''The Living Dead'' (

, September 2008) * ''Federations'' (

, May 2009) * ''By Blood We Live'' (

, August 2009) * ''The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'' (

, September 2009) * ''The Living Dead 2'' (

, September 2010) * ''The Way of the Wizard'' (

, November 2010) * ''Lightspeed: Year One'' (Prime Books, November 2011) * ''Armored'' (

Baen Books Baen Books () is an American publishing house for science fiction and fantasy. In science fiction, it emphasizes space opera, hard science fiction, and military science fiction. The company was established in 1983 by science fiction publisher an ...

, March 2012) * ''Other Worlds Than These'' (

, July 2012) * ''Epic: Legends of Fantasy ''(

Tachyon Publications Tachyon Publications is an independent press specializing in science fiction and fantasy books. Founded in San Francisco in 1995 by Jacob Weisman, Tachyon books have tended toward high-end literary works, short story collections, and anthologies ...

, November 2012). * ''Brave New Worlds'' (

, 2nd edition December 2012) * ''

The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination ''The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination'' is a short story anthology edited by John Joseph Adams and published by Tor Books on February 19, 2013. Contents The collection contains the following stories: # Foreword by Chris Claremont # " ...

'' (

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese scien ...

, February 19, 2013) * ''Dead Man's Hand: An Anthology of the Weird West'' (

Titan Books Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of Titan Entertainment Group, which was established in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cinema reference books; and graphic novels and co ...

, May 2014) * ''

The Apocalypse Triptych ''The Apocalypse Triptych'' is a series of three anthologies of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, edited by John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey. The first anthology, ''The End is Nigh'', was self-published on March 1, 2014, with the second ...

'' (2014 - 2015, with

Hugh Howey Hugh C. Howey (born 1975) is an American writer, known best for the science fiction series ''Silo'', part of which he published independently through Amazon.com's Kindle Direct Publishing system. Howey was raised in Monroe, North Carolina and be ...

) * ''Operation Arcana'' (

, March 2015) * ''Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy'' (2015, with Joe Hill) * ''Loosed Upon the World: The Saga Anthology of Climate Fiction'' (2015) * * ''Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy'' (2016, with

Karen Joy Fowler Karen Joy Fowler is an American author of science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction. Her work often centers on the nineteenth century, the lives of women, and alienation. She is best known as the author of the best-selling novel ''The Jan ...

)

Critical studies and reviews of Adams' work

;''Press Start to play'' *

References

External links

John Joseph Adams: Official Site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, John Joseph 1976 births American podcasters American speculative fiction critics American speculative fiction editors Hugo Award-winning editors Living people Male speculative fiction editors Science fiction critics Science fiction editors