Welcome to the NESFA website!

Our website is comprehensive, covering a wide variety of activities, information, and services that NESFA provides to the speculative community and to our members. If you are looking for information that you don't see listed here, please contact us at info[at]nesfa.org. For questions or problems with the website, contact us at web[at]nesfa.org. You can also send news item suggestions to newsworthy[at]nesfa.org, and for events and activities to calendar[at]nesfa.org.

2026 Tax Free Weekend

The 2027 Massachusetts Tax Free Weekend is August 7th to 8th. So, it would be a great time to order your NESFA Press Books or better yet come to our Clubhouse at 504 Medford St, Somerville, MA in-person as all NESFA Press Books (with the exception of POD Books) are 20% off in person. We will be open from Noon to 6 PM on Saturday August 7th and Noon to 9 PM on Sunday August 8th (but Saturday is probably a better day to visit).

Our full list of books and prices is available at https://tinyurl.com/NESFAPressListing. More information about the books and ordering at https://nesfapress.org.

PS We’ve found lots of duplicate books and DVDs while cataloging our library. Since we only have space for one copy of each book, the excess used books are available for a suggested donation of $1-$5 per book or DVD.

NESFA Cookout at Larz Anderson Park

All fans are welcome! Join us for our Annual Cookout on Sunday September 6th from 3 pm to 7 pm at The Shelter (a covered area with 6 grills & 8 tables) at Larz Anderson Park in Brookline! The Shelter is on the west side of the park and the best parking lot to use is the one at 358 Goddard Ave. Walk south from the parking lot past the restrooms toward the lake and you will find us.

NESFA will provide the basics: hamburgers, hot dogs, buns, condiments, and fire! Please bring something especially a side dish to share.

Note that dogs, hibachis, and alcohol are not allowed in this area or anywhere in the Park.

Link to Larz Anderson Park Website

2026–2027 Short Story Contest

The NESFA Science Fiction & Fantasy Short Story Contest for 2026-2027 is now open for submissions. Please see https://www.nesfa.org/awards/short-story-contest/ for more information. The winners will be announced at Boskone 64, February 14–16, 2027, at the Westin Boston Seaport District hotel, with a portion of the announcement broadcast virtually. Boskone usually includes a program item where Story Contest authors read their stories. Winners are posted here.

Help Catalog The NEFSA Library!

We have recently received a couple of large donations of books for the NESFA Library. We need YOUR help sorting through them to see if we need an item (we don't have it or it is in better condition than the copy we have) and / or cataloging additions. Please email library (at) nesfa (dot) org or just show up any Wednesday or Saturday between 1 and 5 PM.

PS Our catalog of videos, young reader fiction collection, main single-author fiction collection, anthologies, non-fiction, art books, graphic novels, Ace doubles, other doubles, and audiobooks is available at www.tinyurl.com/NESFALibraryCatalog.

"Excess" Books and DVDs too

Looking for something to read or watch? We’ve found lots of duplicate books while cataloging our library. We also received a donation of DVDs, some of which we had and others of which are out of genre. The excess books and DVDs are available for a suggested donation of $1-$5 per book or DVD. Stop by the NESFA Clubhouse when we are open which is generally Wednesdays from Noon to 9 PM, Saturdays from Noon to 6 PM, and most Sundays (but usually not the second Sunday of the month) from Noon to 9 PM. (Check the NESFA Events Page for our schedule.) The excess books and DVDs are in the area by the back door to the clubhouse in two bookcases on the left wall and in boxes on the floor. Most new books from NESFA Press (on the metal shelves to the right) are also available at 20% off the cover price for non-members and 40% off the cover price for members.

NESFA Reading Group

The next NESFA Reading Group discussion will meet via Zoom on Friday, August 7th at 7pm to discuss Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin.
We may also vote on the book we plan to read for the October 2026 reading group meeting.
Come join us! To be added to the Reading Group mailing list, send an email to postmaster nesfa.org.

Boskone Book: Dubious Pleasures, by Greg Cox

Available for purchase at https://tinyurl.com/nesfadubiouspleasures.

Collected for the first time!

Nearly twenty original stories by award-winning, New York Times bestselling author Greg Cox.

Written over the course of forty years, these offbeat and imaginative tales range from humor to horror, from sword-and-sorcery to space opera, from the foggy streets of gaslit London to the bigfoot-haunted wilderness of the Weird West, from lost kingdoms to the farthest reaches of the galaxy, with assorted colorful side trips and detours in-between.

A true-crime writer resorts to time-travel to catch a killer. A Yuletide exorcism leads to harrowing reindeer games. A grade-school kid finds a numerical menace lurking in his homework. An enterprising crew of interstellar grifters cope with some very unhappy customers. And a cursed were-salmon swims upstream to his destiny...

These and other curious tales can all be found, together at last, in Cox’s first-ever short story collection.

Third Edition of Dreamweaver's Dilemma by Lois McMaster Bujold

Dreamweaver's Dilemma contains two novellas which had never been published before—the title story "Dreamweaver's Dilemma" and "The Adventure of the Lady on the Embankment"—plus the first appearance of "Mountains of Mourning," three of Lois's previously uncollected short stories, and four essays. The book also includes an interview with Lois, a timeline of the Vorkosigan stories, genealogical notes, and a pronunciation guide by the book's editor, Suford Lewis. It was produced as a limited hardcover edition as the Boskone 33 book (1996) when Lois was Guest of Honor.

The second edition (first paperback edition) was produced shortly thereafter in 1997 and reprinted numerous times.

This third edition (second paperback edition) is enhanced by bringing informational chapters up to date and including a new preface by Lois and a short Codicil to the Biolog: Thirty Years After. This edition is also available in ebook format.

Boskone Book: Wolf's Perils by Kelley Armstrong

For Boskone 62 in February 2025, we were pleased to produce the Boskone Book: Wolf's Perils by Kelley Armstrong - one story in two novels from the Otherworld Series together for the first time: Wolf’s Bane and Wolf’s Curse. This is a signed limited edition of 750 copies. This may be purchased at  https://tinyurl.com/NESFAWolfsPerils.

New eBooks!

The ebooks of the new editions of Dreamweaver's Dilemma (with updated awards and bibliography as well as an update from Lois), From These Ashes (with a previously uncollected story), and Martians and Madness as well as the ebook of this year's Boskone Book, Dubious Pleasures are now all available for purchase on our website www.nesfapress.org .

LAcon V & Geri Sullivan

Fellow of NESFA Geri Sullivan is a Guest of Honor at LAcon V, the 2026 World Science Fiction Convention in Anaheim, CA. Other NESFAns are helping run the convention, from Hospitality Division Manager Gay Ellen Dennett to Sharon Sbarsky, one of the Hugo Award Finalist Liaisons.

Boskone committee members and regular volunteers David D’Antonio, Anna Bradley, Gail Terman, and Terry Neill are also contributing their expertise. There are sure to be more NESFAns and Boskone regulars helping out by the time fans gather in Anaheim in August. One of Geri’s favorite things about Worldcons is that there are literally hundreds of ways to get involved that fit your interests and availability – before the convention and at it! Every little bit helps, and the big bits help, too. Find out more at https://www.lacon.org/ or by talking with fans at the NESFA Clubhouse on Wednesday nights.

The 2026 Skylark Award

The 2026 Skylark Award was given to Keith R.A. DeCandido, Boskone 63 Master of Ceremonies. Keith R.A. DeCandido has been an author, editor, teacher, martial artist, critic, Census worker, pop-culture commentator, library clerk, sportswriter, and musician over the past four decades. In addition, Keith is the percussionist for the parody band Boogie Knights and is a fourth-degree black belt in karate (he not only trains regularly, but also teaches to both kids and adults). Find out more at his mediocre web site at DeCandido.net. 

Nominations for the 2026 Skylark closed on Saturday, November 1st, 2025.

The 2026 Skylark recipient was announced at the Boskone 63 awards ceremony on Friday, February 13, 2026.

Learn more here about the E. E. Smith Memorial Award.

 

The 2026 Gaughan Award

The recipient of the 2026 Gaughan Award was Abigail Larson.

The Jack Gaughan Award for Best Emerging Artist honors the memory of Jack Gaughan, a long-time friend of fandom and one of the finest SF artists of the 20th century. Because Jack felt it was important to encourage and recognize new blood in the field, The New England Science Fiction Association, Inc., presents the Gaughan Award annually to an emerging artist (an artist who has become a professional within the past five years) chosen by a panel of judges.

The winner of the 2026 Gaughan Award was announced in February 2026 during Boskone 63, NESFA’s annual convention.

Doctor Who Days

Besides Game and Video Days, NESFA has started having Doctor Who meetups at our Clubhouse. Calling all Whovians, join us for our social & viewings of Doctor Who! We're accessible by MBTA E Green Line Extension at Maguon Station & Buses #'s: 80, 89, and 101. See www.nesfa.org/events or Meetup for more info and future dates.

It's Not Just Science Fiction and Fantasy

Besides Science Fiction and Fantasy oriented events, NESFA hosts a couple of other community events at our clubhouse in Somerville. Blues Tuesy takes place most Tuesdays and Gender Free Scottish Country Dancing takes place on most "odd" Thursdays (1st, 3rd, and 5th) at the NESFA Clubhouse. Please see http://www.nesfa.org/events for more info and upcoming dates.

Public Transportation

Now that the weekend closures of the Medford Branch of the MBTA Green Line have ended for a while, it is worth mentioning that the NESFA Clubhouse is accessible by Green Line as well as by various bus routes.

GREEN LINE INFORMATION

The NESFA clubhouse is about 1/4 mile from the Magoun Square station on the MBTA Green Line. When exiting the station, turn left and walk north on Lowell St toward Medford St. The back door of the clubhouse is accessed via the driveway at 359 Lowell St which is on the opposite side of the street from the MBTA station. You may wish to walk around to the front of the building especially in cold weather as that driveway can get icy.

BUS INFORMATION

The NESFA clubhouse is served by MBTA bus routes 80, 89, and 101 which pass through or near Magoun Square (the intersection of Medford Street & Broadway)—just over a block from the clubhouse.

The NESFA Clubhouse & Library Open

NESFA is open. Club members are welcome again to browse the NESFA Library collection and check out books, movies, and other circulating items. Video and Game days at the Clubhouse have resumed on many Saturdays and Sundays. For now, NESFA and Boskone Business Meetings will remain via Zoom. On most Wednesdays & Saturdays, we catalog our Library. Non-NESFA members are welcome to help or just stop by to read a book. For more information, please see our calendar on the left side of this web page.

NESFA® Useful Links

We’ve updated our links page with some of the latest convention and publisher information. Let us know if there are links you feel should be added.