Privacy Policy

Stellar is published by Lore Party Media LLC, which is responsible for the personal information described here.

What do you collect?

Only what we need to do the thing you asked us to do. What that is depends on how you use Stellar.

If you…	We collect	So we can
Visit stellarscifi.com	Nothing directly. Our host and font provider see your IP address and browser details as part of loading the page.	Show you the website
Join the newsletter	Your email address	Send you the newsletter
Listen to the podcast	Nothing directly. Our podcast host sees your IP address, device and app, and uses them to count downloads and to place ads, some of them targeted to your approximate location and device.	Deliver episodes and measure our audience
Subscribe	Your name, email, billing address and subscription history. Card details go straight to the payment processor; we never see them. For print subscribers, your mailing address.	Run your subscription and ship your copies
Submit a story	Your name, email, pen name, manuscript and anything else you put in the form	Read, consider and, if we accept it, publish your work
Get published or commissioned	Your contract, PayPal email and a tax form (W-9 or W-8BEN)	Pay you and meet our tax obligations
Email us	Your email and whatever you write	Reply to you

The website uses no analytics, tracking pixels or advertising cookies.

Who else handles it?

We use a handful of services to run Stellar, and each one only gets what it needs to do its job. Most are based in the US, so your information may be stored there.

Service	What it does for us	What it handles
Netlify	Hosts our website and our internal submissions tracker	Website visitor IP addresses; submission records
Google	Fonts on our website; the submission form; Drive and Gmail; the database behind our submissions tracker (Firebase)	Visitor IP addresses; submissions; contracts and tax forms; email
Buttondown	Sends our newsletter	Subscriber email addresses
Memberful and Stripe	Run subscriptions and process payments	Subscriber names, emails, billing details
Megaphone and its advertising partners	Hosts the podcast, counts downloads, inserts targeted ads (Megaphone ad choices)	Listener IP address, device and app
Lulu	Prints and ships print issues	Print subscribers' names and mailing addresses
PayPal	Pays our writers and artists	Contributor PayPal emails
QuickBooks	Keeps our books	Contributor payment records
Pangram	Checks stories for AI-generated writing before we make an offer	The text of stories we're about to accept

We may also share information if the law requires it, or with whoever takes over Stellar if it's ever sold or transferred. If that happens, this policy comes with it.

What won't you do with it?

• We don't sell your information, rent it, or trade it with anyone. Not to advertisers, not to other publishers, not ever.
• We don't train AI on submissions. Your manuscript is read and judged by people. Before we make an offer, we run the story through an AI-writing detector (Pangram) to confirm it meets our no-AI rule. That's the only AI tool it goes through, and Pangram doesn't train on what it checks. We never let anyone use your work to train AI. Our AI Policy has more.
• We don't share submissions outside our editors. Only the people deciding on your story read it until it's accepted.
• We don't email you things you didn't sign up for. Submitting a story or subscribing doesn't add you to the newsletter.

How long do you keep it?

Information	How long we keep it
Newsletter email	Until you unsubscribe
Subscription and billing records	For as long as you subscribe, then as long as tax and accounting law requires
Submissions, including ones we pass on	Indefinitely, so we have a record of what we've read and can point to the original if a question ever comes up about a story. Ask and we'll delete yours.
Contracts, payment records and tax forms	For as long as the contract runs, then as long as tax law requires
Emails	As long as they're useful for running Stellar

We can't delete what we're legally required to keep, like tax records, but we'll tell you if that applies.

What are my rights?

Wherever you live, you can ask us to:

• Show you what we have about you, and send you a copy
• Correct anything that's wrong
• Delete it, except what the law requires us to keep
• Stop using it for something you object to

Email stellarscifi@loreparty.com and we'll respond within 30 days. You can unsubscribe from the newsletter via Buttondown, and cancel a subscription from your Memberful account.

If you're in the EU or UK, data protection law requires us to tell you why we're allowed to use your information:

We use your information to…	Because
Run your subscription, consider your submission, pay you	We need to, to do what you asked or what our contract says
Send the newsletter	You gave consent, which you can withdraw anytime by unsubscribing
Keep tax and payment records	The law requires it
Keep a record of submissions, measure podcast downloads, keep our systems secure	It's a legitimate interest of running a magazine, and it doesn't override your rights

Your information is stored in the US by the services listed above, which rely on legally recognized safeguards for international transfers. If you think we've mishandled your information, you can complain to your local data protection authority. We'd appreciate the chance to fix it first.

What about kids?

Stellar isn't made for children, and we don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 13. You must be 18 or older to submit a story. If you think a child has sent us their information, tell us and we'll delete it.

What if this changes?

If we change how we handle your information, we'll update this page.

Please email questions, requests or concerns to stellarscifi@loreparty.com.