Hello.
Sean Markey, here, publisher of Psychopomp (and The Deadlands and Fantasy Magazine) with a post about the end of things.
But not EVERY thing.
I’ll rip the Bandaid off quickly, and then expand a bit below:
1 – We will no longer be publishing novellas at Psychopomp.
2 – We will no longer publish novelettes on Psychopomp.
3 – Publishing nonfiction on Psychopomp is on hiatus.
4 – Fantasy Magazine is going on hiatus after our December issue.
Okay, that sucked, that was painful.
So let’s talk about WHY this is happening.
why
It’s tough times out there. I don’t have to tell you that.
The biggest reason we’ve arrived at this point is the most obvious one: funding.
With the exception of the first year’s fundraiser, the majority of The Deadlands funding has come out of my own pocket. All of our novella publishing efforts have been paid out-of-pocket. The purchase of Fantasy came in part from last year’s fundraiser, but after someone who stepped up to help us backed out at the last minute, the funds came from me.
Making a long story short:
- we did not sell enough copies of novellas to make it a viable pursuit going forward.
- we did not sell enough subscriptions of Fantasy Magazine to be on track to break even.
- we did not sell enough coins this year to fund The Deadlands.
My financial situation has changed, and I cannot keep paying out-of-pocket for these ventures.
Of course, it’s not ALL about money (it’s the art!) but having money sure does help…
This year, our Coins For The Ferryman fundraiser brought in less than half of what it did last year. And I want to say, for the record: I get it! I am grateful for all of the support we receive–I know I am not entitled to funding, and as I said: it’s tough times out there.
But that includes tough times for me, too.
And I can no longer afford to run a publishing venture at a wild loss.
what does this mean for Psychopomp novellas
We just published our last novella of 2025, K.L. Schroeder’s brilliant No One To Hold the Distant Dead. You should read it! It’s very good.
We will be publishing our last standalone novella next February with Bernie Jean Schiebeling’s House, Body, Bird (also very good, it will be available for preorder very soon!).
Amal Singh’s amazing The Three Apocalypses of Kabir Vasudeva will be published in the July issue of The Deadlands.
Thomas Ha’s novella Scion has found a new publisher and we’re VERY excited to see that published–it’s a story near and dear to our hearts, but I’ll let the author and the publisher announce that on their own terms.
All of the novellas and books we’ve published previously are still available for sale on our site, but I will be returning the rights of those works to their respective authors–I’ll always be a champion of these amazing authors, and will not do anything to hold them back. (Authors: I will be in touch about this via email!)
what does this mean for Fantasy Magazine?
December’s issue 99 will be the last issue we publish before going on hiatus. I do not know what the future of this magazine holds, but it has been an amazing experience being able to publish it (my first real fiction sale a million years ago–it’s special to me!).
I will close the ability to buy this issue via “subscription” on December 1st, and the magazine will be for sale here on Psychopomp.com for anyone who wants to read it.
I want to thank all of the authors who submitted stories for consideration in March’s issue, I wish we could have made it one more issue, but no money is no money, and this is a casualty of that.
You can withdraw the stories you’ve submitted via Moksha if you’d like. I’m working on a way to return those to you without marking them as “rejected,” because, truly, they were not.
Old issues will continue to be for sale, and will continue to be available to read here on Psychopomp.com
what does this mean for The Deadlands
For now? Nothing.
Deadlands will continue to be published quarterly. Diana Dima’s lovely novelette The City In White, originally purchased to run here on Psychopomp will be a part of April’s issue.
As mentioned, Amal’s novella will be in July’s issue.
Right now, our Patreon accounts for about 50% of what it costs to run The Deadlands.
We try to run a fundraiser–not a Kickstarter but a cool, wholly original fundraiser selling death-themed challenge coins to help bridge that gap. Unfortunately, this year’s fundraiser–after the cost of buying the coins, paying for the art, and shipping the coins to buyers (included in the purchase price)–won’t cover a single issue.
Maybe in the future we’ll look to expand again, but I’ve learned a hard lesson about focusing, I guess, and we will not be launching any new projects until such a time as The Deadlands is fully funded.
If we never get there? Well, I’m an optimist. I know we’ll get there.
In the middle of this bad news I do want to thank everyone that has supported us on Patreon, bought a coin, bought a copy of our books, and just generally spread the word and helped other people get HYPE about what we’re up to.
Really grateful about that. Thank you all!!
the future
We had an absolutely fantastic year:
Hugo nominations!
Nebula nominations!
An Ignyte win!
Theodore Sturgeon Award finalist!
Locus Awards finalist!
Shirley Jackson Award finalist!
Wow. Seriously.
We published so much good stuff. Talented authors, and a dedicated staff. Thank you all so so so so much.
Last thing before I go:
The best and most helpful thing you can do right now, if you’re moved to, is to sign up as a patron.
$2/mo gets you 4 ePub issues of The Deadlands per year.
$5/mo gets you 4 print issues (and ePub) of The Deadlands per year.
In 2026, due to rising costs, we will be raising these tiers by a small, but meaningful amount.
If you sign up now and stay subscribed, your cost will not increase.
If you sign up now and stay subscribed, you will help us continue to bring amazing deathy fiction, poetry, and nonfiction to readers everywhere.
Thank you all for your support.
Here is the link to sign up at Patreon.
💀🖤👋
