WSFA Journal March-April 2026 Public

Highlights

• Bouncy Castle Portable Planetarium
• 2025 Readings (part II)
• A Cat Being Beaten to Death with Bagpipes
• Author Spotlight: Robert Silverberg
• Learn Not to Hit Your Head!
• Magic Schools in Fantasy
• I’m Upright, and That’s a Win!

The September Third Friday meeting will meet September 18th at 8:15 (I’ll try to open it up early for chatting). Capclave will be two weeks away! And the Committee to Discuss SF will discuss the August issue of Lightspeed.

WSFA Washington SF Association is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: WSFA Third Friday in September
Time: Sep 18, 2026 07:45 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
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This Friday’s WSFA meeting will be hybrid, online and at Elizabeth’s place.

The Committee to Discuss SF will discuss the May/June issue of Asimov’s (I still have not gotten any print issues).

The meeting begins at 8:15 but we’ll open up the Zoom around 7:45 for chatting.

WSFA Washington SF Association is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: WSFA First Friday
Time: Sep 4, 2026 07:45 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
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Meeting ID: 882 6501 6253
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The Washington (DC) Science Fiction Association (WSFA) is pleased to announce the finalists for the 2026 WSFA Small Press Award for Short Fiction:

• “Bag of Holding” by Liz Westbrook-Trenholm, On Spec, Vol 35., No. 3, Issue #133, Copper Pig Writers’ Society (October 2025), ed. by Diane Walton
• “Billionaire’s Tears,” by Vanessa Ricci-Thode, Escape Pod (July 24, 2025), ed. by Mur Lafferty
• “Blackrock,” by R. M. Olson, Skull X Bones, ed. by David B. Coe and Joshua Palmatier; Zombies Need Brains LLC, (December 2025)
• “Guardians of the Well,” by Rose Strickman, In Another Time Magazine, Issue 3, (June 2025), ed. by Agatha Grimke
• “Half Life,” by Stephen Harper, Skull X Bones, ed. by David B. Coe and Joshua Palmatier, Zombies Need Brains LLC, (December 2025)
• “The Last Mardi Gras,” by Raven Jakubowski, DreamForge Anvil #20, DreamForge Press, LLC (June 1, 2025), ed. by Scot Noel
• “Not a Fish,” by Andrew Dykstal, Beneath Ceaseless Skies #434 (June 12, 2025), ed. by Scott H. Andrews
• “The Teleporting Disaster Fairy,” by Rati Mehrotra, Uncanny Magazine, Issue 67 (November/December 2025), ed. by Michael Damian Thomas

The award honors the efforts of small press publishers in providing a critical venue for short fiction in the area of speculative fiction, and showcases the best original short fiction published by small presses in the previous year (2025). An unusual feature of the selection process is that the voting is done with the identity of the author and publisher hidden so that the final choice is based solely on the quality of the story.

The winner is chosen by members of the Washington Science Fiction Association (www.wsfa.org), and the award will be presented at their annual convention, Capclave (www.capclave.org), held this year on October 2-4, at the Rockville Hilton & Executive Meeting Center, 1750 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD.

There is a WSFA Meeting tonight at 8:15 and we’ll open the meeting earlier for talking.

WSFA Washington SF Association is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: WSFA Third Friday
Time: Aug 21, 2026 07:45 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
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Meeting ID: 825 8148 0179
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WSFA meets tonight for First Friday in August at 8:15. We’ll open the meeting around 7:45 for premeeting chatting.

The Committee to Discuss SF will discuss the March/April Asimov even though paper issues still have not made it to subscribers.

WSFA Washington SF Association is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: WSFA First Friday
Time: Aug 7, 2026 07:45 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
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Meeting ID: 845 6509 5647
Passcode: 048200

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WSFA Journal Jan-Feb 2026

Better late than never!

• WSFA Acquires Chessiecon PO Box
• 2025(Readings part I)
• Chickens Rising in Revolt
• Author Spotlight: Dan Simmons
• WSFA’s Maryland Registered
• (Secret?) Agent
• Review of Subnautica
• Two Factor Identification Problems

Third Friday WSFA meeting and after the meeting we will discuss the WSFA Small Press Award Finalists.
The festivities begin at 8:15 but we will open the Zoom around 7:45 for chatting before the meeting.

WSFA Washington SF Association is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: WSFA Third Friday meeting
Time: Jul 17, 2026 07:45 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
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Meeting ID: 818 6226 3837
Passcode: 533816
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The WSFA First Friday meeting 7/3/26 will be Zoom only.

After the meeting, the Committee to Discuss SF will discuss the Hugo finalists for novels and other categories.

WSFA Washington SF Association is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: WSFA First Friday
Time: Jul 3, 2026 07:45 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
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Meeting ID: 830 5506 7394
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The WSFA Third Friday meeting will be a hybrid at Mark’s and via Zoom at 8:15 Friday June 18th.

The Committee to Discuss SF will discuss the Novella Hugo Finalists and the best series finalists.

WSFA Washington SF Association is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: WSFA Third Friday
Time: Jun 19, 2026 07:45 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
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Meeting ID: 835 6935 3603
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