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The Late May Fantasy Magazine Rack

The Late May Fantasy Magazine Rack

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Analog Science Fiction Science Fact May June 2018-small Apex May 2018-small The Dark magazine May 2018-small Lightspeed May 2018-small
Asimov's Science Fiction May June 2018-small Clarkesworld May 2018-small The Digest Enthusiast 8-small Nightmare May 2018-small

The back half of May is filled with great print magazines, including the latest Analog, with the concluding installment of our very own Derek Künsken’s debut novel The Quantum Magician. Asimov’s SF has new novellas from two sets of collaborators, Rick Wilber & Alan Smale, and David Gerrold & Ctein, plus lots of shorter fiction. And last but not least, just before we went to press I received a copy of the June issue of The Digest Enthusiast, a handsome magazine with plenty of reviews, articles and artwork of interest to anyone who collects vintage fiction magazines from the mid-20th Century and later.

All told it’s a star-studded crop of fresh reading, and no mistake. The magazines above include brand new stories from Nancy Kress, Paul Park, Jane Lindskold (twice!), Nalo Hopkinson, Carolyn Ives Gilman, Wil McCarthy, Mary Soon Lee, William Ledbetter, Stephen L. Burns, Sam J. Miller, Robert Reed, Marissa Lingen, Cherie Priest, Rich Larson, Sue Burke, Marc Laidlaw, Bo Balder, A Que, Pat Murphy and Paul Doherty, Michael F. Flynn, Michael Wehunt, and plenty more.

Here’s the complete list of magazines that won my attention in late May (links will bring you to magazine websites).

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Gardner Dozois, July 23, 1947 – May 27, 2018

Gardner Dozois, July 23, 1947 – May 27, 2018

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Gardner Dozois

Yesterday I learned that Gardner Dozois had been hospitalized for a massive infection. Before I left the house today I checked Facebook and other sources to see if there was any news. When I checked again an hour ago, I was devastated to learn that he had passed away.

While he was a fiction writer of considerable note, Gardner made his true reputation as an editor. I first took notice of his name when he took over the editorial reins at my favorite fiction magazine, Asimov’s Science Fiction, in 1985. During his 17-year tenure he won the Hugo Award for Best Professional Editor 15 times, from 1988 until he retired in 2004. While I was in grad school I faithfully read his annual Year’s Best Science Fiction volumes, starting with the sixth in 1989. The Thirty-Fifth volume will be published by St. Martin’s Press on July 3. He’s published nearly a hundred other anthologies, including some of my favorites, including The Good Old Stuff, Modern Classics of Fantasy, and The New Space Opera, edited with Jonathan Strahan.

As Gardner’s Year’s Best volumes got larger and larger (surpassing 800 pages by 2002) so too did his Annual Summations, a critical look at the year in science fiction books, art, movies and culture. They were required reading for anyone who wanted to keep up with the field, especially in the pre-internet era. In many ways Gardner Dozois was the living, breathing, heart of science fiction, the passionate spokesman, champion, writer and dealmaker who was known both for his depth of knowledge and his impeccable taste.

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Future Treasures: The Year’s Best Military and Adventure SF, Volume 4 edited by David Afsharirad

Future Treasures: The Year’s Best Military and Adventure SF, Volume 4 edited by David Afsharirad

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The Year's Best Military and Adventure SF Volume 4-smallOne of the things I’ve appreciated about David Afsharirad’s Best Military and Adventure SF, now in its fourth year, is that he seeks out the kind of fiction that routinely gets overlooked by the editors of the other Year’s Best SF books. The newest volume, coming in trade paperback next week from Baen, is no exception. Check out the table of contents.

Contest
Preface by David Afsharirad
“The Secret Life Of Bots,” by Suzanne Palmer (Clarkesworld, September 2017)
“The Snatchers,” by Edward Mcdermott (Analog Science Fiction and Fact, March/April 2017)
“Imperium Imposter,” by Jody Lynn Nye (Infinite Stars, 2017)
“A Thousand Deaths Through Flesh And Stone,” by Brian Trent (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, May/June 2017)
“Hope Springs,” by Lindsay Buroker (Beyond the Stars: New Worlds, New Suns, 2017)
“Orphans Of Aries,” by Brad R. Torgersen (Rocket’s Red Glare, 2017)
“By The Red Giant’s Light,” by Larry Niven (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, November/December 2017)
“Family Over Blood,” by Kacey Ezell (Forged in Blood, 2017)
“A Man They Didn’t Know,” by David Hardy (Rocket’s Red Glare, 2017)
“Swarm By Sean,” by Patrick Hazlett (Terraform, December 2017)
“A Hamal In Hollywood,” by Martin L. Shoemaker (Rocket’s Red Glare, 2017)
“Lovers,” by Tony Daniel (Forged in Blood, 2017)
“The Ghost Ship Anastasia,” by Rich Larson (Clarkesworld, January 2017)
“You Can Always Change The Past,” by George Nikolopoulos (Galaxy’s Edge, March 2017)
“Our Sacred Honor,” by David Weber (Infinite Stars, 2017)
Contributors

To see what I mean, you can compare Afsharirad’s selections versus other Year’s Best volumes coming out this year. Here’s a list with Tables of Contents for the other major 2018 volumes from Rich Horton, Gardner Dozois, Jonathan Strahan, Neil Clarke, John Joseph Adams, Paula Guran, Jane Yolen, and Michael Kelly.

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Occult Detective Quarterly #4 Now Available

Occult Detective Quarterly #4 Now Available

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Occult Detective Quarterly 4-small

It’s tough to be an amateur Occult Detective. Think of it as a fringe hobby with a high mortality rate. Not to mention one that brings with it intimate familiarity with a whole host of… well, let’s call them “mental health issues.”

Thank God for Occult Detective Quarterly, the magazine for determined supernatural hobby investigators. It keeps me up to date on all the latest spectral sleuthing gear, unsolved paranormal crimes, and the best nationwide heath care plans for Occult Detectives. Plus the ads are great — and believe me, the obituaries are required reading.

The latest issue, #4, has reviews of the newest ghosthunting equipment, a thoughtful opinion piece on dowsing, and an explosive tell-all on the recent bathroom haunting at the Library of Congress. Turns out it was all a hoax perpetuated by a corrupt senator from Oklahoma. He would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for those darn kids.

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io9 on 28 New Sci-fi and Fantasy Books to Add to Your Shelves in May

io9 on 28 New Sci-fi and Fantasy Books to Add to Your Shelves in May

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The Glory of the Empress-small Compulsory Games-small Wrath of Empire-small

Cheryl Eddy at io9 has a gift for you folks who’ve run out of things to read already this month (Seriously, how does that happen?? Whatever, we don’t judge.) A tidy list of 28 New Sci-fi and Fantasy Books to Add to Your Shelves.

28! How does she do that, and with astonishingly little overlap with John DeNardo’s list of the Best Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror in May? I have no idea, but perhaps dark magics were involved, and maybe we shouldn’t question it. Let’s just dive into the list, and see what grabs us.

The Glory of the Empress by Sean Danker (Ace, 352 pages, $4.99 digital, May 1, 2018)

Amid a raging interstellar war, a group of soldiers develops a new weapon they hope will turn the tide in their side’s favor — not realizing their test runs in a far-off pocket of the galaxy will have unexpectedly towering consequences.

The Glory of the Empress is the third book in the series that began with Admiral (2016), which was selected by Amazon as one of the Best Books of 2016, and continued with Free Space (2017). While the first two were published in print and digital formats, this one is only available digitally.

Eeep! Is that a thing now? Hope that doesn’t frustrate too many old school readers… I’m frustrated, and I haven’t even read the first one yet.

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Vintage Treasures: Razored Saddles, edited by Joe R. Lansdale and Pat LoBrutto

Vintage Treasures: Razored Saddles, edited by Joe R. Lansdale and Pat LoBrutto

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Razored Saddles-small Razored Saddles-back-small

Razored Saddles is the first Weird Western anthology I can recall. It was published as a limited edition hardcover from Dark Harvest in September 1989; I don’t usually buy limited edition hardcovers, but for this I made an exception.

I wasn’t even aware there was a paperback edition until I came across a copy three years ago at the Windy City Pulp and Paper Show. I loved the spooky new Avon cover by Lee MacLeod, but that copy was priced at $25 — more than I paid for the hardcover! I’m pretty good at tracking down paperbacks though, and now that I knew it existed, I figured I could find one at a reasonable price. And sure enough, I did, although it took longer than I expected. With the help of an eBay Saved Search, I finally found the unread copy above in March… priced at $7, less than a brand new paperback.

Razored Saddles had two co-editors. Joe R. Lansdale needs no introduction; these days he’s best known as the author of the Hap and Leonard series, crime novels made into the highly regarded series on SundanceTV. But he’s also the author of over 50 novels and 26 collections, including The Nightrunners (1987), By Bizarre Hands (1989), and The Bottoms (2000). He has won ten Bram Stoker Awards. Pat LoBrutto began working with a summer job in the mailroom of Ace Books, and soon graduated to editing the US editions of Perry Rhodan with Forrest J. Ackerman in 1974. He won the World Fantasy Award for editing in 1986, and co-edited Full Spectrum 2 (1989). He is currently an acquiring editor for Tor Books.

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When Long-Sheathed Knives are Drawn Again: The Waking Land by Callie Bates

When Long-Sheathed Knives are Drawn Again: The Waking Land by Callie Bates

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The Waking Land-small The Memory of Fire-small

When Callie Bates’ fantasy novel The Waking Land appeared last June, it was called “A wonderfully stunning debut” by RT Book Reviews, and Terry Brooks said “She is clearly a writer of real talent.” I remember being very intrigued when I picked it up in the bookstore. Here’s the description.

Lady Elanna is fiercely devoted to the king who raised her like a daughter. But when he dies under mysterious circumstances, Elanna is accused of his murder — and must flee for her life.

Returning to the homeland of magical legends she has forsaken, Elanna is forced to reckon with her despised, estranged father, branded a traitor long ago. Feeling a strange, deep connection to the natural world, she also must face the truth about the forces she has always denied or disdained as superstition — powers that suddenly stir within her.

But an all-too-human threat is drawing near, determined to exact vengeance. Now Elanna has no choice but to lead a rebellion against the kingdom to which she once gave her allegiance. Trapped between divided loyalties, she must summon the courage to confront a destiny that could tear her apart.

I was pleased to see the sequel, The Memory of Fire, will be published early next month. Del Rey reprinted the first volume in trade paperback in January, so there’s plenty of time to grab a copy before the second volume arrives. Here’s all the details, and links to tasty sample chapters.

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A Pair of Gonzo Mysteries from a Fantasy Master: Rich Horton on Pink Vodka Blues and Skinny Annie Blues by Neal Barrett, Jr.

A Pair of Gonzo Mysteries from a Fantasy Master: Rich Horton on Pink Vodka Blues and Skinny Annie Blues by Neal Barrett, Jr.

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Pink Vodka Blues-small Skinny Annie Blues-small

Neal Barrett, Jr. received a Hugo and Nebula Award nomination for his 1988 story “Ginny Sweethips’ Flying Circus,” and in 2010 he was named Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. A discussion of his four Aldair novels — which Fletcher Vredenburgh called “a blast of strangeness and adventure” — broke out in the comments section of my 2013 post about Mark Frost’s The List of 7. And in his 2014 review of The Prophecy Machine, Fletcher wrote:

The late Neal Barrett Jr. wrote around thirty novels and seventy short stories. I’ve only read a little bit from his works, which include sci-fi and fantasy as well as crime fiction and magic realism. He seems to have slipped under the radar of most genre readers. On the other hand, everything I’ve read about the man marks him as one of those special authors held in high esteem by other writers.

As usual, Fletcher is bang on in his assessment. I haven’t read any of Barrett’s crime fiction either, and I’ve always been very curious about it.

But that’s why we have Rich Horton. Over at his website Strange at Ecbatan Rich reviews two of Barrett’s mid-90s mystery novels, Pink Vodka Blues (1992) and Skinny Annie Blues (1996), calling them ‘funny’ and ‘wild.’ That qualifies them for a closer look in my book.

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Future Treasures: The Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts

Future Treasures: The Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts

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The Freeze-Frame Revolution-smallPeter Watts is the author of the Rifters Trilogy, which Matthew David Surridge reviewed for us here, the Hugo and Locus Award-nominated Blindsight (2006), which Rich Horton called “Brilliant,” and the collection Beyond the Rift (2013).

His short fiction Sunflower Cycle kicked off in 2009 with the Hugo Award-winning “The Island.” There have been three tales in the series so far; you can read them all at Watts’ website. The fourth, the long novella The Freeze-Frame Revolution, arrives from Tachyon early next month.

“The Island” (The New Space Opera 2, July 2009) — Hugo Award Winner, Best Novelette
“Giants” (Extreme Planets, December 2013)
“Hotshot” (Reach for Infinity, May 2014)
The Freeze-Frame Revolution (Tachyon Publications, June 2018)

Publisher’s Weekly raved about the book, saying:

In this short, tight novel that contains vast science-fictional speculation, the human crew of the construction ship Eriophora spends 66 million years building interstellar wormhole gates, so they have lots of time to ponder issues of purpose. Sunday Ahzmundin, on a quest to find a missing crewmate, has to deal with another coworker, Lian, who is traumatized after the ship is damaged by one of the “occasional demons” that pop out of newly opened gates. Dropping in and out of suspended animation as scheduled by the Chimp, the AI that runs the ship, Sunday begins to uncover the secrets behind Lian’s subsequent death and the disappearances of other crew members, learning what hides beneath the ship’s closed and rigidly structured society… SF fans will love this tale of bizarre future employment and genuine wonder.

Here’s the description.

She believed in the mission with all her heart. But that was sixty million years ago. How do you stage a mutiny when you’re only awake one day in a million? How do you conspire when your tiny handful of potential allies changes with each shift? How do you engage an enemy that never sleeps, that sees through your eyes and hears through your ears and relentlessly, honestly, only wants what’s best for you? Sunday Ahzmundin is about to find out.

The Freeze-Frame Revolution will be published by Tachyon Publications on June 12, 2018. It is 192 pages, priced at $14.95 in trade paperback and $7.99 for the digital edition. Order copies directly from the Taychon website.

New Treasures: Wonderblood by Julia Whicker

New Treasures: Wonderblood by Julia Whicker

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Wonderblood-smallThere have been a lot of intriguing fantasy debuts already in 2018, and to really stand out you need to do something different. Julia Whicker’s Wonderblood, set in a post-apocalyptic America where magic is openly practiced, sounds like it will fit the bill nicely.

Margot Livesey calls it “A stunning debut… Julia Whicker evokes an apocalyptic America where medicine is illegal, everyone is searching for portents and only a severed head can offer protection.” That’s plenty different, anyway. Wonderblood was published in hardcover last month by St. Martin’s Press.

Set 500 years in the future, a mad cow-like disease called “Bent Head” has killed off most of the U.S. population. Those remaining turn to magic and sacrifice to cleanse the Earth.

Wonderblood is Julia Whicker’s fascinating literary debut, set in a barren United States, an apocalyptic wasteland where warring factions compete for control of the land in strange and dangerous carnivals. A mad cow-like disease called “Bent Head” has killed off millions. Those who remain worship the ruins of NASA’s space shuttles, and Cape Canaveral is their Mecca. Medicine and science have been rejected in favor of magic, prophecy, and blood sacrifice.

When traveling marauders led by the bloodthirsty Mr. Capulatio invade her camp, a young girl named Aurora is taken captive as his bride and forced to join his band on their journey to Cape Canaveral. As war nears, she must decide if she is willing to become her captor’s queen. But then other queens emerge, some grotesque and others aggrieved, and not all are pleased with the girl’s ascent. Politics and survival are at the centre of this ravishing novel.

Wonderblood was published by St. Martin’s Press on April 3, 2018. It is 304 pages, priced at $26.99 in hardcover and $13.99 in digital formats. The cover was designed by Ervin Serrano.