In response to a comment by CJ, I think I will try allowing people to post recommendations as comments to this post. I have been hesitant to have open threads like this and instead focus on linking to recommendations on other sites because I don’t have the time to devote to moderating comments, and comment threads succeed or crash and burn in large part due to moderation.
I still prefer linking to recommendations you post elsewhere, but, ultimately, I am more interested in as many recommendations as possible.
So feel free to recommend any semiprozines in a comment below (again, preferably 150 words or more – something more substantial than “Hey this one is great!”). Thanks!
2018 Hugo Recommendation Season 
GigaNotoSaurus
This is simple but effective: one novelette per month, posted on a website with a snazzy dinosaur banner. Given that most of the freely available sources concentrate on shorter works, this is a real resource. Good stories I’ve read from them so far this year would include Drinking with the Elfin Knight by Ginger Weil and Sacred Cows: Death and Squalor on the Rio Grande by A.S. Diev.
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Lightspeed Magazine
Recommending last year’s winner isn’t very imaginative, but the fact remains that Lightspeed is putting out consistently good fiction, and has some real gems in there. My long list has quite a few entries on it from Lightspeed, including “Bucket List Found in the Locker of Maddie Price, Age 14, Written Two Weeks Before the Great Uplifting of All Mankind” by Erica L. Satifka, “Given the Advantage of the Blade” by Genevieve Valentine, and “The Ministry of the Eye” by Dale Bailey.
Perhaps as importantly, the more ordinary stories are of a consistent standard, and I never regret reading something from an issue. Their “Author Spotlight” feature adds something to each story, and essays and reviews round out each issue.
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Uncanny
Firstly, the shallowest reason to like Uncanny: the covers are absolutely gorgeous, each and every one. They’ve just published their seventh issue, and so this ought to be their first year of eligibility.
Their published fiction includes some truly excellent pieces: “Wooden Feathers” by Ursula Vernon, “And the Balance in Blood” by Elizabeth Bear, along with the spectacular “Planet Lio”n by Cat Valente and “Midnight Hour” by Mary Robinette Kowal. I think the fiction can be slightly uneven, but I’ve never left a story unfinished. The essays seem to have got better through the year as well.
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Black Gate
https://www.blackgate.com
A quarterly magazine that focuses on sword and sorcery fantasy but emphasize stories with more characterization and wordsmithing than the norm. Stories aren’t freely available, but exclusive articles, reviews and editorial content can be accessed at their site. Editorially they cover a broad range of SFF topics. During the 2015 Hugo kerfluffle they took a principled stand by withdrawing from their nomination and then offered a venue where people from all viewpoints could express their opinions in a civil manner.
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To be honest, I think all the slate nominees for this category last year were put on the slate without their knowledge or consent… and it shouldn’t be held against them. Similarly, all last year’s nominees had good stuff going for them: as someone who doesn’t read many zines (I let my Interzone sub lapse, shame on me), I was pleasantly surprised by both the quality and the variety of stuff on offer.
I’ve stuck in quick plugs for six zines to date, and would certainly take a good hard look at other potential nominees – Lightspeed and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, from last year, both struck me as impressive. So, there are at least eight that I will be choosing my own “shortlist” of five from, maybe more if this recommendations thread grows. (I’ll certainly check out GigaNotoSaurus, it sounds distinctly interesting.)
I suspect I’ll stick with my recommendations for Interzone (partisan loyalty on my part!), Strange Horizons (I admire its vaunting intellectual ambitions) and Andromeda Spaceways (they’re a market for new writers in an unusual part of the world, and offering space to new voices always counts for something, and besides, it’s a fun zine). Remaining spaces are very definitely up for grabs, though. I am certainly open to persuasion!
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I’m for Uncanny (not all their stories work for me, but when they do, WOW). Lightspeed is always good, which is why it wins. I haven’t read much GigaNotoSaurus, but “Sacred Cows” is on my ballot.
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