View source for Gordon Van Gelder

{{Short description|American science fiction editor}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name = Gordon Van Gelder
| image = Van Gelder, Gordon (WFA).jpg
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| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1966}}
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| occupation = Publisher
| nationality = American
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| relatives=[[Leslie Van Gelder]] (sister)<br>[[Russell Van Gelder]] (brother)<br>[[Lawrence Van Gelder]] (uncle)<br>[[Richard Van Gelder]] (father)
| website = {{URL|http://sfsite.com/fsf}}
}}

'''Gordon Van Gelder''' (born 1966) is an American [[science fiction]] editor. From 1997 until 2014, Van Gelder was editor and later publisher of ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction]]'', for which he has twice won the [[Hugo Award for Best Editor Short Form]]. He was also a managing editor of ''[[The New York Review of Science Fiction]]'' from 1988 to 1993, for which he was nominated for the [[Hugo Award]] a number of times. In 2015, Van Gelder stepped down as editor of ''Fantasy & Science Fiction'' in favor of [[Charles Coleman Finlay]], and remained publisher until early 2025.<ref>[http://www.locusmag.com/News/2015/01/finlay-named-editor-of-fsf/ Locusmag.com]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-03-11 |title=Details on the New Owners of Analog, Asimov’s, and F&SF |url=https://locusmag.com/2025/03/details-on-the-new-owners-of-analog-asimovs-and-fsf/ |access-date=2025-03-22 |website=Locus Online |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Biography==
He was born in 1966. After graduating from [[Princeton University]] (where he edited a science fiction magazine called ''Infinity''), Van Gelder started working as an editorial assistant at [[St. Martin's Press]] in 1988, later rising to full editor. In January 1997, he became the editor of ''[[The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction]]'' upon the resignation of [[Kristine Kathryn Rusch]]. He continued working at St. Martin's until October 2000, when he bought the magazine from [[Edward L. Ferman]] to become its publisher.

During his tenure, ''F&SF'' became the second longest-running science fiction magazine, surpassing ''[[Amazing Stories]]'' in total number of issues published. It is exceeded only by ''[[Astounding Science Fiction|Astounding/Analog]]''. Van Gelder also began focusing on the publication of themed anthologies drawing from the magazine's back list rather than the best-of annuals published when Ferman was the magazine's publisher. He later edited a collection of notable stories from F&SF, ''The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction'', published by [[Tachyon Publications]].

Van Gelder has made some behind-the-scenes changes to ''F&SF''. While the Fermans published the magazine through [[Mercury Publications|Mercury Press]], Van Gelder founded his own press, Spilogale Inc., named for a genus of [[spotted skunk]]. He has also moved the editorial offices from [[New York City]] to [[Jersey City]], [[New Jersey]]. Van Gelder currently lives in [[Hoboken, New Jersey]]. He has been an administrator of the [[Philip K. Dick Award]] since 1995 and an administrator of the World Fantasy Award since 2014. In 2011, [[OR Books]] released an anthology edited by Van Gelder, ''[http://www.orbooks.com/our-books/greenhouse/ Welcome to the Greenhouse: Science Fiction on Climate Change]'', with an introduction by journalist [[Elizabeth Kolbert]].

==Family==
[[Richard Van Gelder]], his father, was Curator of Mammalogy at the [[American Museum of Natural History]]. [[Lawrence Van Gelder]], an uncle of Van Gelder, was a senior editor at ''[[The New York Times]]'' until his retirement in 2008.

Van Gelder is also distantly related to noted [[jazz]] recording engineer [[Rudy Van Gelder]].<ref name="RVG">[http://www.nightshadebooks.com/discus/messages/378/4319.html#POST74365 Night Shade Message Boards: June 2005: Bedfellows<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

==Bibliography==
{{Incomplete list|date=September 2017}}

===Books===
*{{cite book |editor=Van Gelder, Gordon |title=One Lamp: Alternate History Stories from the Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy |location=New York |publisher=Four Walls Eight Windows |year=2003}}
*{{cite book |editor=Van Gelder, Gordon |title=In Lands That Never Were: Tales of Swords and Sorcery |location=New York |publisher=[[Thunder's Mouth Press]] |year=2004}}
*{{cite book |editor=Van Gelder, Gordon |title=Fourth Planet from the Sun: Tales of Mars from the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction |location=New York |publisher=Thunder's Mouth Press |year=2005}}
*{{cite book |editor=Van Gelder, Gordon |title=The Very Best of Fantasy and Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology |location=San Francisco |publisher=Tachyon Press |year=2009}}
*{{cite book |editor=Van Gelder, Gordon |title=Welcome to the Greenhouse: New Science Fiction on Climate Change |location=New York |publisher=OR Books |year=2011}}
*{{cite book |editor=Van Gelder, Gordon |title=The Very Best of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Volume Two |location=San Francisco |publisher=Tachyon Press |year=2014}}
*{{cite book |editor=Van Gelder, Gordon |title=Go Forth and Multiply: Twelve Tales of Repopulation |location=Vancleave, MS |publisher=Surinam Turtle Press/Ramble House |year=2017}}
*{{cite book |editor=Van Gelder, Gordon |title=Welcome to Dystopia: Forty-Five Visions of What Lies Ahead |location=New York |publisher=OR Books |year=2018}}

===Articles===
*''F&SF'' [https://www.sfsite.com/fsf/dgordonvangelder.htm editorials].
*"A Few Thoughts on Jack Cady's ''The Off Season''" October 1, 2015.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-10-01 |title=A Few Thoughts on Jack Cady’s The Off Season – Black Gate |url=https://www.blackgate.com/2015/10/01/a-few-thoughts-on-jack-cadys-the-off-season/ |access-date=2024-11-30 |language=en-US}}</ref>
*"The New Yorker Festival Panel 'Nouveau Science Fiction'" ''[[Locus (magazine)|Locus]]'', November 2015.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{external links|date=January 2019}}
[[File:Gordon Van Gelder 2008 (1).jpg|thumb|'''Gordon Van Gelder,''' 2008]]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20041212014004/http://www.greenmanreview.com/van_gelder.html Interview at Green Man Review] (late 1997 or early 1998?)
*[http://www.sfsite.com/08b/gvg87.htm interview with Jayme Lynn Blaschke at SFSITE] (1999)
*[http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue199/interview.html Interview at Science Fiction Weekly] (2001)
*[http://www.strangehorizons.com/2003/20030512/gvg.shtml Interview by Richard Brignall at Strange Horizons] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041214171630/http://www.strangehorizons.com/2003/20030512/gvg.shtml |date=2004-12-14 }} (May 2003)
*[http://www.irosf.com/q/zine/article/10042 Interview by Ken Rand at IROSF.COM] (2004)
*[http://www.locusmag.com/2004/Issues/04VanGelder.html partial text of LOCUS interview] April 2004
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100730180947/http://www.sfcanada.ca/winter2006/vangelder.htm Interview by Celu Amberstone at SFCANADA] (Winter 2006)
*[http://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=5736 Interview at SFRevu] (June 2007)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100102060127/http://writing-world.com/sf/gelder.shtml Interview by Lynne Jamneck] (2007)
*[http://www.zauberspiegel-online.de/index.php/english-interviews-multilingual-491/1034-with-gordon-van-gelder-on-the-magazine-of-fantasy-and-science-fiction-1 Interview by Wolfgang Trubshaw] (March 2008)
*[http://www.garethdjones.co.uk/2008/11/editors-gordon-van-gelder.html Interview by Gareth D. Jones] (Nov. 2008)
*[http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=blog&id=27045 Interview by Jason Heninger at Tor.com] (May 2009)
*[http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/editors_interview/ Interview by Jeremy L. C. Jones at Clarkesworld] (June 2009)
*[http://www.bookotron.com/agony/news/2009/08-31-09-podcast.htm#podcast090409 Podcast interview by Rick Kleffel at The Agony Column] (Aug. 2009)
*[https://odysseyworkshop.wordpress.com/2013/12/07/interview-gordon-van-gelder/ Odyssey Workshop interview] (Dec. 2013)
*[http://larquepress.com/blog/index.php/2016/03/30/gordon-van-gelder-fantasy-science-fiction/ Excerpt of an interview by D. Blake Werts from ''The Digest Enthusiast'' #1] (Jan. 2015)
*[http://www.orbooks.com/our-books/greenhouse/ Welcome to the Greenhouse: Science Fiction on Climate Change anthology edited by Gordon Van Gelder] (March 2011)
*[http://chimeraobscura.com/vm/episode-232-gordon-van-gelder/ The Virtual Memories Show interview] (Aug. 2017)
*[http://file770.com/?p=37675/ File 770 interview by Carl Slaughter] (September 2017)
*[https://www.wired.com/2018/05/geeks-guide-repopulate-planet/ Geek's Guide to the Galaxy interview by David Barr Kirtley] May 2018
* {{ISFDB name}}
{{World Fantasy Special Award Professional}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Gelder, Gordon}}
[[Category:1966 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American book editors]]
[[Category:American magazine editors]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:Hugo Award–winning editors]]
[[Category:Princeton University alumni]]
[[Category:American science fiction critics]]
[[Category:American science fiction editors]]
[[Category:The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction people]]
[[Category:American speculative fiction editors]]