Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 240, September 2026

by Neil Clarke (Editor), Beth Goder (Contributor), Zhu Yixuan (Contributor)

Clarkesworld is a Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning science fiction and fantasy magazine. Each month we bring you a mix of fiction, articles, interviews and art. Our September 2026 issue (#240) contains:

Fiction
• "Water-Eaters" by Beth Goder
• "When Humans Are No Longer Born Human" by Zhu Yixuan
• "To Walk This Distant Shore with You" by A.D. Sui
• "And So I Open My Fists" by Rachel Sobel
• "Fistful of Antimatter" by Rich Larson
• "Country Music" by Madeleine Vigneron
• "Skin and Glass" by R. P. Sand

Non-Fiction
• "Talking to Whales (and Other Cetaceans)" by Priya Sridhar
• "Devastating and Liberating: A Conversation with Cadwell Turnbull" by Arley Sorg
• "Enjoy the Apocalypse! A Conversation with Peter Watts" by Arley Sorg
• "Editor's Desk: The Other Shoe" by Neil Clarke

Cover Art

"Planet" by Alex Vede

216 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2026

About the author

Neil Clarke is best known as the editor and publisher of the Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning Clarkesworld Magazine. Launched in October 2006, the online magazine has been a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine four times (winning three times), the World Fantasy Award four times (winning once), and the British Fantasy Award once (winning once). Neil is also a ten-time finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Editor Short Form (winning once in 2022), three-time winner of the Chesley Award for Best Art Director, and a recipient of the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award. In the fifteen years since Clarkesworld Magazine launched, numerous stories that he has published have been nominated for or won the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Sturgeon, Locus, BSFA, Shirley Jackson, WSFA Small Press, and Stoker Awards.

Additionally, Neil edits  Forever —a digital-only, reprint science fiction magazine he launched in 2015. His anthologies include: Upgraded, Galactic Empires, Touchable Unreality, More Human than Human, The Final Frontier, Not One of Us,  The Eagle has Landed, , and the Best Science Fiction of the Year series. His next anthology, The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Seven will published in early 2023.

He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and two sons.