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The mid-May Fantasy Magazine Rack

The mid-May Fantasy Magazine Rack

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Apex-Magazine-71-April-2015-300 Asimovs-Science-Fiction-June-2015-300 Clarkesworld-104-300 The-Dark-Issue-8-300
Beneath-Ceaseless-Skies-172-300 Heroic-Fantasy-Quarterly-24-300 Innsmouth-Magazine-15-300 Knights-of-the-Dinner-Table-219-300

The mid-May April magazine rack is crowded with a mix of print (Asimov’s, Knights of the Dinner Table) and online (The Dark, Clarkesworld, BCS, and HFQ) magazines. This month we say goodbye to Innmouth Magazine, which published its last issue last summer. Click on any of the images above to see our detailed report on each issue.

As we’ve mentioned before, all of these magazines are completely dependent on fans and readers to keep them alive. Many are marginal operations for whom a handful of subscriptions may mean the difference between life and death. Why not check one or two out, and try a sample issue? There are magazines here for every budget, from completely free to $7.50/issue. If you find something intriguing, I hope you’ll consider taking a chance on a subscription. I think you’ll find it’s money very well spent.

Our late April Fantasy Magazine Rack is here.

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Knights of the Dinner Table #219 Now on Sale

Knights of the Dinner Table #219 Now on Sale

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Knights of the Dinner Table 219-small DC Showcase 12 Challengers of the Unknown-small

The latest issue of Knights of the Dinner Table boasts another great Kirby tribute by the fabulous Fraim brothers. The cover is an homage to DC Showcase #12, featuring the Challengers of the Unknown, drawn by the great Jack Kirby and originally published in 1957. (Kirby later claimed he reused elements from this series at Marvel Comics, when he collaborated with Stan Lee to create The Fantastic Four four years later.) Click on the images for bigger versions.

I remember buying the very first issue of KoDT, at a comic convention here in Chicago. I had no idea then that it would become one of the longest-running independent comics in history.

Knights of the Dinner Table Magazine is written and drawn by my friend Jolly R. Blackburn, with editorial assistance by his talented wife Barbara. Readers of the print version of Black Gate may remember the KoDT spin-off The Java Joint, which appeared in the back of every issue (and was eventually collected in a single volume in 2012).

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Beneath Ceaseless Skies 172 Now Available

Beneath Ceaseless Skies 172 Now Available

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Beneath Ceaseless Skies 172-smallI love a good weird western. So you can imagine how intrigued I was by the latest issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Scott H. Andrews’ magazine of literary adventure fantasy. It’s a special weird western issue, celebrating the release of their new themed anthology Ceaseless West. Issue 172 contains three new stories, a reprint, a podcast, and more.

“Splitskin” by E. Catherine Tobler
My love reveled in winter’s sunbroken days, when the light spills to the fresh-fallen snow to stab a person in the eyes. Gugán flit from path to stone, a trickster comfortable with his Raven heritage. I, as Eagle, startled at every shift of snow, caught always unawares in the bright sun as he pelted me with clumps of melting cold.

“Swallowing Silver” by Erin Cashier
John Halpern knew it should be a heavy weight on his conscience, to wake up and know that he was going to kill a thing that used to be a man. Whether it was or wasn’t was a topic of much internal contemplation for him as he walked up the long path to his brother-in-law’s house to ask for help. The fact that his brother-in-law was himself a devil-man did not escape him.

“The Snake-Oil Salesman and the Prophet’s Head” by Shannon Peavey
Leaving Leo alone, with his brother’s head. Leo stepped closer to the jar. Cary’s white-blond hair floated up from his skull, the tips waving slightly. It looked like strands of spiderweb, or exposed nerves. “You still telling people things they don’t want to hear?” He tapped on the glass. As if he might rouse it to speech.

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Galaxy Science Fiction, September 1952: A Retro-Review

Galaxy Science Fiction, September 1952: A Retro-Review

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Galaxy Science Fiction September 1952-smallWith this issue, Galaxy completed its second year of publication. That’s 24 issues of top-notch science fiction. It’s tough to match that stamina, and I applaud H.L. Gold, his staff, the authors, and the artists for staying the course.

“Delay in Transit” by F. L. Wallace — Denton Cassal is a sales engineer, traveling toward the center of the galaxy to solicit a top scientist to work for his company on an instant communication device. His journey takes him through Tunney 21, a planet inhabited mostly by Goldophians, who look somewhat like seals. Equipped with an AI device named Dimanche, Cassal is able to read people based on their body chemistry and temperature. He’s being pursued, but Dimanche’s intelligence and advice give Cassal confidence, provided he’s willing to listen.

This piece was reprinted in Bodyguard and Four Other Short Science Fiction Novels From Galaxy edited by H. L. Gold in 1962. In this issue, however, it was credited as a novella. I liked the use of the AI as well as the setting of Tunney 21. Wallace also does a nice job with the pacing.

“The Snowball Efect” by Katherine MacLean — To prove the value of sociology (and his own department), Wilton Caswell meets with the university president to create a list of rules for an organization to employ in order to grow membership. If an organization adopts the rules and shows growth, then the president has quantitative proof of the depatment’s value; the underlying principles of philosophy can promote success to all graduates. Caswell and the president choose the Watashaw Sewing Circle for their experiment and then withdraw to see what happens. It turns out that the rules work. They work so well, in fact, that the sewing group expands into a broader organization — one focused on civic welfare and politics.

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The Dark Issue 8 now on Sale

The Dark Issue 8 now on Sale

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The Dark Issue 8-smallThe Dark continues its tradition of great covers, with a marvelous contribution this month from gaming artist Angus Yi. Check out his website here.

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

“The Ghost of You Lingers” by Kevin McNeil
“An Ocean of Eyes” by Cassandra Khaw
“A Shot of Salt Water” by Lisa L Hannett
“Momentary Sage” by Eric Schwitzgebel

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 8 here, and see their complete back issue catalog here.

We last covered The Dark with Issue 7.

See our Late April Fantasy Magazine Rack here, and all of our recent Magazine coverage here.

Goodbye, Innsmouth Magazine

Goodbye, Innsmouth Magazine

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Innsmouth Magazine 15-smallI was dismayed to find, as I was cataloging our recent magazine coverage for the Late April Magazine Rack, that the delightful digital horror zine Innsmouth Magazine, published by Innsmouth Free Press, released its final issue last summer.

In a post titled “Goodbye, Innsmouth Magazine,” the editors offered a brief explanation:

Well, it had to happen sometime. Innsmouth Magazine says a fond farewell with its final issue, number 15, this spring. We’ve had fun putting together this little zine, but don’t make enough sales to keep it afloat. So, it must go.

It’s always a sad milestone when the field loses another fine magazine. The good news is that Innsmouth Free Press continues, and has recently produced some terrific books, including Jazz Age Cthulhu by Jennifer Brozek, A.D. Cahill, and Orrin Grey, and the anthology Sword & Mythos, edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles. The final issue of the magazine, #15, is still worth your attention, and contains plenty of good stuff:

Innsmouth Magazine uncoils its tentacles with seven stories of the Weird and the macabre. Do you dare to stay in “The Peach Room”? Can you survive “The Lust of Ebon Teeth”? Could it be true that “The Ocean is Eating Our Graves”? Fiction by William Meikle and many others. Welcome to our final issue!

Innsmouth Magazine was edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles, and available exclusively in digital format for $4/issue. We last covered Innsmouth Magazine with issue #4. You can still purchase back issues through Amazon, Smashwords, Weightless Books, or right at their website.

Clarkesworld 104 Now on Sale

Clarkesworld 104 Now on Sale

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Clarkesworld 104-smallThe newest issue of Clarkesworld, one of the best genre mags on the market, is now on sale. Issue 104 contains five new short stories, plus reprints from James Van Pelt and Hannu Rajaniemi.

Short stories featured this issue are:

“The Garden Beyond Her Infinite Skies” by Matthew Kressel
“For the Love of Sylvia City” by Andrea M. Pawley
“Mrs. Griffin Prepares to Commit Suicide Tonight” by A Que, translated by John Chu
“Ossuary” by Ian Muneshwar
“An Evolutionary Myth” by Bo-Young Kim
“Solace” by James Van Pelt (from Analog, June 2009)
“Tyche and the Ants” by Hannu Rajaniemi (from Edge of Infinity, Nov 2012)

Non-fiction includes “Destination: Mars” by Andrew Liptak, who’s also been writing a fine series of pulp and classic SF retrospectives SF at Kirkus Reviews over the last few months (see a partial list here); “Another Word: It’s Good to Be Lazy and Foolish” by SF author Ken Liu; an interview with author and editor Cat Rambo; and an editorial, “Overload!” by Neil Clarke, in which he talks about (among other things) his upcoming Year’s Best Anthology: The Best Science Fiction of the Year, Volume 1, to be published “sometime in 2016” by Night Shade Books. This issue also includes two podcasts.

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Apex Magazine #71 Now on Sale

Apex Magazine #71 Now on Sale

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Apex Magazine 71 April 2015-smallYikes — I’m getting behind on Apex Magazine. I haven’t even looked at the April issue, and May is out already. It’s tough been an obsessive magazine fan; there’s never enough hours in the day.

Well, let’s lift the cover off the April issue and see what we’ve got. Looks like original fiction by Naomi Kritzer, AC Wise, Sean Robinson, and more — plus poetry, an interview with AC Wise, an article on Class and Writing Fantasy Novels by Jennie Goloboy, short fiction reviews, and more. Here’s the complete TOC.

Fiction

“Beatification of the Second Fall” by Sean Robinson
“Silver Buttons All Down His Back” by AC Wise
“Crow” by Octavia Cade
“Wind” by Naomi Kritzer
“Slow” by Lia Swope Mitchell
“This Thing of Darkness” by Yzabel Ginsberg (eBook/subscriber exclusive)

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Heroic Fantasy Quarterly Q24 Now Available

Heroic Fantasy Quarterly Q24 Now Available

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Heroic Fantasy Quarterly 24One of the most reliable magazines out there for adventure fantasy, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, has just produced their 24th quarterly issue. This one contains short stories by Cullen Groves, Dennis Mombauer, and Andrea G. Stewart, poetry by Coleen Anderson and David Farney, striking banner art by Serbian artist Vuk Kostic, and news on their upcoming anthology, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly Volume 1.

The short stories are:

The Madness of the Mansa, by Cullen Groves
There are mysterious goings-on in the city of Asongai, which is a call to opportunity for a sea-wolf named Draba. Adventure, intrigue, vice and verse await! Cullen Groves may be familiar to readers of HFQ, cutting a skaldic swath through 2014 with his poems The Sword and The Lay of Hrethulf Glamirsbane.

Melting Gold and Ashes, by Dennis Mombauer
A world riven by war and revolution teeters at the brink of collapse and anarchy and pauses to celebrate one its few heroes.

The Reeds of Torin’s Field, by Andrea G. Stewart
Rounding out our fiction is a tale of bounty hunting, murder in the night, and worse than murder. Good stuff!

Heroic Fantasy Quarterly is an ezine dedicated to publishing short works of heroic fantasy. It is edited by Adrian Simmons, David Farney, William Ledbetter, and James Frederick William Rowe, and published four times a year in July, October, January, and April. Issues are posted to the website, and are completely free. See all the details on issue #24 here.

Galaxy, April 1961: A Retro-Review

Galaxy, April 1961: A Retro-Review

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Galaxy April 1961-smallHere’s an issue from Galaxy late in H. L. Gold’s editorial tenure, which probably means that Frederik Pohl was doing most of the editorial work. (Pohl officially took over with the December 1961 issue, but I have read that he was editor in all but name from the late ’50s.)

It’s got a pretty impressive Table of Contents, though it’s a bit disappointing in that the best known writers (Sturgeon and Leiber) are not at their best, and a couple of the other well-known writers (Saberhagen and Lafferty) are early in their careers and not fully developed yet.

It’s also pretty thick, 196 pages including the covers. The feature set is smallish: an editorial by Gold (or at least signed by him) called “Puzzles for Plotters,” which poses a couple of puzzles that (he avers) humans can solve but computers can’t; the brief Forecast squib on what’s coming next issue; Floyd C. Gale’s Five Star Shelf of book reviews, very much capsule reviews – I do note that he liked Peter Beagle’s A Fine and Private Place very much – and Willy Ley’s science column, For Your Information, which covers several subjects: the Gegenschein, the annexation of Patagonia, seven league boots, and letters from readers.

The cover is by Mel Hunter, and it reminded me of Rick Sternbach’s work. It doesn’t illustrate any story, it’s just called “A Derelict in the Void,” and shows a ship investigating a wrecked spaceship. Interiors are by Virgil Finlay, Dick Francis, Jack Gaughan, Harman, and Walker.

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