Markets to avoid: Must Read Magazines

This post is aimed mainly at folks new to the fields of short fiction and illustration, or those who don’t have extensive connections to professionals. My platform is small, but it’s worth using it to boost a warning. In a nutshell Back in 2025, a new publisher bought four magazines owned by Dell and one owned by Gordon Van Gelder: Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, Asimov’s Science Fiction, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, respectively. These are storied genre publications, with a long history of publication of award-winning fiction, brick-and-mortar distribution, print subscriptions, and professional pay rates. The new publisher is Must Read Magazines. Individuals involved with MRM include P.L. Stevens (in the role of publisher) as well as Michael Khandelwal, Franco A. Alvarado, and Steven Salpeter (a former literary agent with, presumably, passing familiarity with literary contracts). Since acquiring…