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Science Fiction Classics #10 Now on Sale

Science Fiction Classics #10 Now on Sale

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Science Fiction Classics 10-smallIf you’re a pulp fan like me, you’re always interested in high quality facsimile reproductions of pulp magazines, especially ones available at reasonable prices. So I was delighted to discover Science Fiction Classics, a magazine that reproduces a complete pulp magazine with every issue. They’ve published ten issues, focusing (so far) exclusively on that grand old lady of the pulps, Amazing Stories.

The most recent issue, Science Fiction Classics #10, reproduces one of the rarest early pulps, and certainly the rarest issue of Amazing — the very first Amazing Stories Annual, from 1927. It includes the complete Barsoom novel The Master Mind of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and a short story by A. Hyatt Verrill, as well as five reprints — two classics from A. Merritt, including the long novella “The Face in the Abyss” and “The People of the Pit,” and tales by Austin Hall, Jacque Morgan, and H. G. Wells. It also contains interior artwork by Frank R. Paul, Gambee, and others. The complete contents are:

Preface by Hugo Gernsback
The Master Mind of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
“The Face in the Abyss” by A. Merritt (1923)
“The Man Who Saved the Earth” by Austin Hall (1919)
“The People of the Pit” by A. Merritt (1918)
“The Man Who Could Vanish” by A. Hyatt Verrill
“The Feline Light & Power Company Is Organized” by Jacque Morgan (1912)
“Under the Knife” by H. G. Wells (1896)

Science Fiction Classics is published by Pulp Tales Press. Issues are print on demand, and available through Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Lulu, and other places. Issue #10 was published on June 3, 2015; it is 132 pages, priced at $12.95. The cover is by Frank R. Paul. Order right at the Pulp Tales Press website.

See our August Fantasy Magazine Rack here, and all of our recent magazine coverage here.

July Short Story Roundup

July Short Story Roundup

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Between Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, Swords and Sorcery Magazine, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, July was rich with fiction (nine stories, two poems, and a video treat), and some of it is pretty darn good. So let’s get started.

oie_105135GlDNN9g6Heroic Fantasy Quarterly #25, with beautiful banner art by Dana Martin, has the usual complement of stories and poetry, and, this month, a special bonus from editor Adrian Simmons.

“Beast Hunter’s Song” by Michael A. Liguori, is about Sedrick the monster hunter’s second chance in life. Dragon hunters get all the glory, but the really dangerous and dirty work is done by the men bold and crazy enough to stalk the caverns of the Underlands for beasts that can swallow a dragon whole. Since the High Lord of Hunters decided there aren’t enough monsters left underground to hunt anymore, men like Sedrick have been reduced to guard duty.

When a Trogon, a beast “twice the size of a dragon, with two or three heads and terrible claws that could cleave an ox in half with a single swipe” ravages a city, the High Lord has no choice but to call Sedrick back to duty. While the plot is nothing out of the ordinary, there’s a wild inventiveness to Liguori’s underground world and its denizens. The end felt a little abrupt, but it could easily serve as an introduction to more adventures for Sedrick, which I would like to read.

In Linda Donahue’s “White Elephants” Darius, sent to guard an Indian princess betrothed to the Persian emperor, becomes infatuated with his charge. When she and the priceless white elephant accompanying her are snatched by a roc, Darius is determined to rescue her. The thing is, neither the emperor nor the Indian king’s emissary care much about the princess; they just want the elephant rescued. There’s magic and mystery behind everything, and Darius is forced to make some dangerous choices along the road to save the princess. This is a solid adventure tale with a setting not used often enough in fantasy.

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The Dark Issue 9 Now on Sale

The Dark Issue 9 Now on Sale

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The Dark Issue 9-smalThe Dark is a quarterly magazine co-edited by Jack Fisher and Sean Wallace. The ninth issue features four all-original short stories:

“Hani’s: Purveyor of Rusks, Biscuits, and Sweet Tea” by Sara Saab
“A House of Anxious Spiders” by Jy Yang
“The Old Man in the Kitchen” by Patricia Russo
“Mother of Giants” by Kristy Logan

You can read issues free online, or help support the magazine by subscribing to the ebook editions, available for the Kindle and Nook in Mobi and ePub format. Issues are around 50 pages, and priced at $2.99 through Amazon, B&N.com, Apple, Kobo, and other fine outlets. A one-year sub (six issues) is just $15 – subscribe today.

If you enjoy the magazine you can also support it by buying their books, reviewing stories, or even just leaving comments. Read issue 9 here, and see their complete back issue catalog here.

The issue is cover dated August 2015. We last covered The Dark with Issue 8.

See our August Fantasy Magazine Rack here, and all of our recent magazine coverage here.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies 179 Now Available

Beneath Ceaseless Skies 179 Now Available

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Beneath Ceaseless Skies 179-smallBeneath Ceaseless Skies #179 has new stories by Therese Arkenberg and Kendra Leigh Speedling, and a podcast by Caroline M. Yoachim.

“The Grace of Turning Back” by Therese Arkenberg
Semira watched Aniver hold audience with the Queen of the Dead, nerving herself to cross the river to them.

“The Exile of the Eldest Son of the Family Ysanne” by Kendra Leigh Speedling
I played the memory three more times. On the last time, I saw a hand reach down and take something.

Audio Fiction Podcast: “Seasons Set in Skin” by Caroline M. Yoachim
Horimachi’s own tattoos were from before the war, when black ink was made of soot instead of faery blood. Read by Tina Connolly.

Issue 179 was published on August 6, 2015. Read it online completely free here.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies is edited by Scott H. Andrews and published twice a month by Firkin Press. Issues are available completely free online; you can also get a free e-mail or RSS subscription.

Firkin Press also sells a Kindle/e-Reader subscription, which includes automatic delivery to your Kindle or other device. A 12-month subscription comes with 26 issues and costs only $13.99. Single issues are available on Kindle and at Weightless Books for 99 cents. Subscribe here.

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Michael Swanwick’s “The Night of the Salamander” Live at Tor.com

Michael Swanwick’s “The Night of the Salamander” Live at Tor.com

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The Night of the Salamander-smallMichael Swanwick’s new novel Chasing the Phoenix was published by Tor this week, and to help mark the occasion, Tor.com has published the fifth tale in his ongoing “Mongolian Wizard” series, “The Night of the Salamander.”

“The Night of the Salamander” is a fantasy set in an alternate fin de siècle Europe, featuring a locked room, a murder, and an unexpected kind of magic. The previous stories in the series were all published at Tor.com, and they are all available completely free. They are:

“House of Dreams” (November 2013)
“Day of the Kraken” (September 2012)
“The Fire Gown” (August 2012)
“The Mongolian Wizard” (July 2012)

All five stories were marvelously illustrated by Gregory Manchess, who also provides the art for the newest installment (at right). The entire series was acquired and edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden.

Michael Swanwick is also the author of The Iron Dragon’s Daughter and its sequel The Dragons of Babel, Stations of the Tide, Jack Faust, Bones of the Earth, and other novels, plus nine collections, including A Geography of Unknown Lands, Tales of Old Earth, and The Dog Said Bow-Wow.

“The Night of the Salamander” is 5,400 words. Read the complete story here.

We last covered Tor.com in July, with Michael Livingston’s story “At the End of Babel.” For more free online fiction, see our complete magazine coverage here.

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, August 1963: A Retro-Review

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, August 1963: A Retro-Review

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fantasy_and_science_fiction August 1963-smallHere’s an issue of F&SF from Avram Davidson’s tenure, and Davidson’s stamp is, to my eye pretty evident. It’s a reasonably significant issue simply in that it includes part of a Heinlein serial.

The features include a book review column by Davidson, in which he covers a piece of non-fiction by Patrick Moore and Francis Jackson on the possibility of Life in the Universe, some Burroughs reissues (Davidson, in recommending the books, writes “Hark! Is that the squeal of an angry throat?,” which later (slightly changed) became a story title for him), Walter Tevis’ The Man Who Fell to Earth (Davidson was unimpressed), a book on whales, and (very briefly) Cordwainer Smith’s You Will Never Be the Same, taking time to deny that “Cordwainer Smith” was ever a pseudonym of Robert Silverberg – and here I was, hoping that he would at long last reveal this in one of his bibliographic posts right here!

The cover is quite impressive – it’s by Ed Emshwiller, for Ray Nelson’s “Turn Off the Sky” – there’s a bit of a Richard Powers vibe to it, though it’s still of course Emsh… and a rare case where beautiful woman on the cover doesn’t look like his wife Carol.

There is also of course a science column by Asimov (“T-Formation,” a relatively weak outing, about large numbers), a Feghoot (about time travel and a couple of women of loose virtue – I’m sure you can guess the pun), a quite nice poem on the loss of the mystery of Venus due to Mariner II, by R. H. and Kathleen P. Reis; and, surprisingly, a letter column! Notable letters include one from James Blish complaining about the term “Science Fantasy” (“… stands as a warning that the author reserves the right to get the facts all wrong”); and one from a reader complaining about Davidson’s editorial hand and declining to renew his subscription – who was the reader? One E. Gary Gygax!

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July Issue of Swords and Sorcery Magazine Now Available

July Issue of Swords and Sorcery Magazine Now Available

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Swords and Sorcery Magazine July 2015-smallIssue 42 of Curtis Ellett’s Swords and Sorcery Magazine, cover-dated July 2015, was published at the end of July. Each issue of Swords and Sorcery contains two short stories, and is available free online. This issue includes new fiction from Jeremy Harper and Gerry Huntman.

In “Without Sin”, by Jeremy Harper, Dorian Valentine, the ghost queller, assists an aspiring priestess with a final task of mercy for her dying uncle, who has never shown any. Harper has written two previous Dorian Valentine stories, both published in Lore. He has previously had non-fiction published in Swords & Sorcery.

In “Harsh Is the Light”, by Gerry Huntman, an aging warlord confronts his enemies, and the pain in his own past. Huntman has published many stories, including “Husks” in Swords & Sorcery in February 2014.

Read the current issue here. We last covered Swords and Sorcery Magazine with Issue #41.

Swords and Sorcery Magazine is edited by Curtis Ellett, and is available free online. Fletcher Vredenburgh reviewed issue #41 in his June Short Story Roundup.

See our August Fantasy Magazine Rack here, and all of our recent magazine coverage here.

The Digest Enthusiast #2 Now on Sale

The Digest Enthusiast #2 Now on Sale

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The Digest Enthusiast 2-smallI love a lot of aspects of the fantasy and science fiction genres — books, movies, TV shows, comics, conventions, board games, video games. But it was digest magazines like Analog, Asimov’s, and F&SF that first brought me into the field, and which formed the heart of the genre for me. It was in the pages of those magazines that I first discovered my favorite authors, and was exposed to the news, reviews, interviews, art and gossip that gradually taught me just how rich the field was — and taught me to love it.

I share this experience with a lot of older fans, and that’s why you see so many reviews of old digest magazines like Galaxy, Venture, Amazing and Fantastic here at Black Gate. It’s not just that they contain great old fiction, but because the magazines are so vital to the history of the field. (And, let’s face it, because of the great cover art.) SF, fantasy and mystery digests are inexpensive and easy to collect, and at every decent-sized convention or trade show, there’s sure to be a few fans selling, buying, and swapping digest magazines.

So I was delighted to see the first issue of The Digest Enthusiast in January of this year. The debut issue was 116 pages and packed with articles on Galaxy, protective sleeves, Walter Gibson’s The Big Story, and much more, including interviews with F&SF editor Gordon Van Gelder, Phyllis Galde, editor and publisher of Fate magazine, and more.

But before I could get around to ordering it, the second issue arrived — and this one’s even bigger. Weighing it at a whopping 151 pages, it contains articles on Borderline, the Astounding Trading Cards, The Mysterious Traveler Magazine, H.L Gold’s Beyond Fantasy Fiction, Archie Comics Digests, and much more. There’s also reviews of current magazines, including Monster! #15, Asimov’s July 2015, and the July issue of Analog. There’s even four pieces of original short fiction!

Needless to say, I ordered a copy of the second issue as soon as it was available. It arrived yesterday, and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. I especially appreciated the reviews of current digests, which I found well written and enthusiastic. Here’s Rudolph Schmidt on Black Gate blogger Derek Kunsken’s novella “Pollen From a Future Harvest,” in the July issue of Asimov’s.

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Sentient Crows, Weavermen, and the Mughal Empire: A Review of Outposts of Beyond, July 2015

Sentient Crows, Weavermen, and the Mughal Empire: A Review of Outposts of Beyond, July 2015

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Outposts of Beyond July 2015-smallOutposts of Beyond has a name that connotes intergalactic travel, parallel dimensions, and the dark, far-flung regions of the universe — all trappings of science fiction. So it comes as no surprise that, even though the magazine contains fiction and poetry in the SF and fantasy genres, it leans a little more toward the former, at least in the case of the July 2015 issue. But this is Black Gate, so I’ll stick with the fantasy content.

“Drakoni,” by Penny Lockwood Ehrenkranz, is a real-world-meets-fairyland story that might have a certain amount of charm for the pre-teen and early-teen crowds. Ultimately, though, it didn’t strike me as very original and didn’t develop the protagonist effectively. And there’s a hint at her otherworldly nature at the beginning of the tale that never really gets resolved or explained, leaving a troubling loose end. I think the ending is supposed to be happy, but it only left me feeling sorry for the heroine, who seemed to be retreating from a lonely reality.

“Of Feather and Claw,” by Jason Lairamore, is a story of two lost children trying to return to their parents, but they’re stuck serving as pawns in a war between a pack of giant coyotes and a murder of sentient crows led by an over-sized corvid king. Their efforts fail, but help arrives in unexpected forms.

This tale had a delightful weirdness to it, but even weirdness can do with some basic realism in which to ground it. In some cases this was lacking, like when a child shows no reaction after suffering a horrific injury. This sense of detachment lent the story a folkloric or mythological feel, which may have been the point, but for me it was a bit jarring. Lairamore rounds the tale out nicely, though. Worth reading.

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Beneath Ceaseless Skies 178 Now Available

Beneath Ceaseless Skies 178 Now Available

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Beneath-Ceaseles-Skies-178-smallBeneath Ceaseless Skies #178 has a new story by Raphael Ordoñez, author of “Day of the Dragonfly” (and the novel Dragonfly, featuring the same character), and Benjanun Sriduangkaew, better known as notorious blogger Requires Hate, subject of Laura J. Mixon’s Hugo-nominated “Report on Damage Done by One Individual Under Several Names.” It also features a podcast by Kate Marshall, and a reprint from Nicole M. Taylor.

“The Scale-Tree” by Raphael Ordoñez
Zeuxis led them up to the highest storey. There he left them while he went back and forth between darkroom and roof with his camera and the parts to his flying machine, carrying them up to the pavement that surrounded the topmost spire.

“The Insurrectionist and the Empress Who Reigns Over Time” by Benjanun Sriduangkaew
In a palace shaped like bromeliads Yin Sanhi sat sipping a liquor of fermented cactus essence and sand persimmon. The chamber was papered by scrolls of proverbs on statecraft. The mathematicians and artists meant to send her dancers in pale silk and musicians with wrists like flutes, but she had declined, choosing instead silence and solitude.

Audio Fiction Podcast: “Stone Prayers” by Kate Marshall
Mattar comes to the house of Anaharesh in search of a single word; a word to end a war.

From the Archives: “A Spoonful of Salt” by Nicole M. Taylor (from BCS #79, October 2011)
He tasted of salt. Naomi half-expected to see him melting in the places where her mouth had been.

Issue 178 was published on July 23, 2015. Read it online completely free here.

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