Black Gate

Sheesh. Sometimes it feels I spend most of my day writing about John Joseph Adams. How does one guy manage it all? In the past few weeks alone, I’ve covered his new Hugo Award, the latest issues of his magazines Lightspeed and Nightmare. his new book Loosed upon the World: The Saga Anthology of Climate Fiction, and his (second) amazingly successful Kickstarter campaign.

And that’s only the stuff I have time to cover. That’s not even including his many other projects, like the upcoming Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015, his just-released anthology Press Start to Play, and lord knows what else. Seriously. I survey everything this guy does, and then I need to have a bit of a lie down.

We’re very fortunate to have him, even if he is tough to keep up with. The field would be much poorer without John Joseph Adams. If you’re interested in sampling a little of his editorial genius, but don’t have the time or the money for one of his many fine anthologies, then check out his award-winning magazines: Lightspeed and Nightmare.

This month Lightspeed has original fantasy from Sean McMullen and Heather Lindsley, and fantasy reprints by Maurice Broaddus and Theodora Goss, and original SF by Caroline M. Yoachim and Megan Arkenberg, plus SF reprints by Daniel H. Wilson and Carrie Vaughn. All that plus their usual author spotlights, an interview with Ken Liu, and book and movie reviews. eBook readers get a bonus novella by Eliot Fintushel, and two novel excerpts.

Here’s the complete fiction contents of the September issue.

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Issue 43 of Swords and Sorcery Magazine, cover-dated August 2015, is now available.

Swords and Sorcery Magazine is edited by Curtis Ellett. Each issue contains two short stories, and is available free online. This issue includes new fiction from Connor Perry and Sandra Unerman.

“Stragglers in the Cold,” by Connor Perry, is the tale of a skin changer faced with the choice of dying of starvation in the snow or breaking the rules of his kind and taking another person’s body. Perry is new to Swords & Sorcery but not to fantasy. His work can be seen on-line in his web serial, Monsters of Nottingham.

“Thorncandle House,” by Sandra Unerman, is the story of a man coming home against his will to a house that wants him more than he wants it. Unerman’s work has not previously appeared in Swords & Sorcery but she has been a fantasy writer for many years. She has recently published stories in Frostfire Worlds and in the Worms anthology from Knightwatch Press. She lives in London and is a member of the Clockhouse Writers’ Group.

Read the current issue here. We last covered Swords and Sorcery Magazine with Issue #42.

Swords and Sorcery Magazine is edited by Curtis Ellett, and is available free online. Fletcher Vredenburgh reviewed issue #42 in his July Short Story Roundup.

Our September Fantasy Magazine Rack is here, and all of our recent magazine coverage here.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies #181 has new stories by Fran Wilde and Suzanne Palmer, a podcast by Fran Wilde, and a reprint by Ferrett Steinmetz.

“Bent the Wing, Dark the Cloud” by Fran Wilde
In the sky behind, a group of children Calli’s age swooped and dove in unison, followed by one of the tower’s magisters. Calli heard scraps of song. A lesson about wind shifts. The students’ wings cut patches of bright color in the deep blue air. Calli knew each span and spar, even from this distance. She’d tested them all.

“Moogh and the Great Trench Kraken” by Suzanne Palmer
Moogh decided, with regret, that he would have to temporarily abandon his trek due west and instead walk alongside this water for a bit until either he outlasted or outpaced whatever curse made it seem to go on forever. He declared its true name to be the Tricksy River, and decided if he ever found the trickster responsible for it he might justifiably commit some minor violence upon their person.

Author Interview: Fran Wilde

Audio Fiction Podcast: “Bent the Wing, Dark the Cloud” by Fran Wilde (51 minutes, 30 seconds)
Liras tried to remain at his workbench and finish the customer’s wings, but the pain grew too much.

From the Archives: “My Father’s Wounds” by Ferrett Steinmetz (from BCS #75)
Father guides my hand to the ruin of his belly. My fingers sink into the wound, touching something moist and pulsing —

Fran Wilde’s story “Bent the Wing, Dark the Cloud” is set in the same world as her just-released debut novel from Tor, Updraft. And we recently reviewed Suzanne Palmer’s excellent story “Tuesdays,” from the March 2015 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction.

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Mythic Delirium 2.1, the July-September 2015 issue, is now on sale.

Mythic Delirium is an online magazine of fiction and poetry edited by Mike Allen (The Black Fire Concerto), who’s also the editor of the popular Clockwork Phoenix anthologies. Here’s Mike’s report on the issue from his editorial, with some great news on the latest installment of Clockwork Phoenix:

Welcome, readers, to the third year of Mythic Delirium’s second life.

We have fantastic fantastical fictions awaiting you in this issue, in which vampires and otherworldly beings consort in the circles of high fashion, witches swoop in from the sea to right ancient wrongs and fates hang on the outcome of a game of chess between opponents a century apart.

Our verses for this issue expand the otherworldliness, adding new chapters to the tales of Oz and The Tempest, granting new coats to villains and secret lives to cabinets, discovering new senses and working hearts.

It’s a wonderful way to celebrate, and boy, are we celebrating here at Mythic Delirium Books!

In May, Anita and I launched a Kickstarter campaign to reignite our flagship anthology series, and thanks to a moving show of support from the speculative fiction community and the incredible generosity of our backers, Clockwork Phoenix 5 is alive!

Here’s the complete table of contents for Mythic Delirium 2.1.

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The eighth issue of the online-only Fantasy Scroll Magazine, cover dated August 2015, is now available.

There’s lots of news from Fantasy Scroll this month — starting with their big Year One anthology, Dragons, Droids and Doom, which contains every story from their first year, including tales by Ken Liu, Piers Anthony, Rachel Pollack, Hank Quense, William Meikle, Cat Rambo, and Mike Resnick. It is edited by Iulian Ionescu and Frederick Doot, and will be available in trade paperback and digital format in November.

In his editorial, Iulian Ionescu provides his usual sneak peek of the contents of issue #8. Here’s a snippet:

Here we come to the rescue with another packed issue, filled with monsters, aliens, knights, spaceships, and dragons. We start strong with Tony Peak’s “The Light Comes,” a story of struggle in a world where a strange disease takes lives regardless of age. This is Tony’s second appearance in FSM and we’re really glad to see him back.

“Minor Disasters” by Elise R. Hopkins reminds us of the fragile world we live in and how everything can turn to dust in the blink of an eye. Kate O’Connor’s “White Horse” is next, following the life of a soldier and his encounters with a magical white steed.

Next is “ReMemories” by Nancy Waldman, a moving story about a future where humankind can record, store, and manipulate the mind’s memories. Alexander Volkmar’s story, “Gunman on the Wall” reminds us of the constant need to believe that things are better on the other side.

Here’s the complete table of contents.

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