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Monthly Short Story Roundup — December

Monthly Short Story Roundup — December

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oie_5233198hV9ZnPHThis past December, new short stories in heroic fiction were almost as scarce as good Conan pastiches. Not that it’s been a bad month for heavier fantasy fiction, as both the Milton Davis/Charles Saunders-edited Griots: Sisters of the Spear and John R. Fultz’s trilogy-ending Seven Sorcerers came out. It’s just short fiction that wasn’t happening.

In the past three issues of Beneath Ceaseless Skies, I found only a single story that fits the S&S bill (sort of). It’s like the editors have decided they will not satisfy my need for more/new/good tales of S&S adventure. I feel like they’ve read my short story roundups and are looking to spite me for being disappointed in their emphasis on almost everything but heroic fiction lately. Fortunately, Swords and Sorcery Magazine came through with its regular monthly pair of stories.

Swords and Sorcery Magzine #23’s first story (even though it’s referred to as the second in the editor’s preface) is “I Think Therefore I Die” by Fraser Sherman. Sherman, whose earlier work has appeared in Allegory and on Drabblecast, presents a Renaissance France where the key to what most of the world considers magic is really only the application of mathematical principles uncovered by Rene Descartes. Utilizing the techniques of advanced geometry, practitioners of Cartesian mathematics can travel between distant geographical points instantaneously. They can also affect minor healing on themselves. For the story’s roguish hero, Hugh of Essex, a skirt-chasing Cartesian prone to dueling, the ability to staunch his wounds is a valuable one.

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January/February Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction now on Sale

January/February Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction now on Sale

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F&SF Jan-Feb 2014-smallJust how excited I am by the arrival of F&SF every two months is probably unfairly influenced by the cover.

I can’t help it — I’m just a sucker for good cover art. Some of my favorite recent covers have been Max Bertolini’s marvelous down-in-the-dungeon piece for May/June 2012, Maurizio Manzieri’s enigmatic alien egg for July/August 2011, and our own Mark Evan’s first cover for F&SF, the 2012 Jan/Feb issue.

Of course, all the best magazine covers feature space ships, intrepid humans exploring foreboding alien landscapes and — especially! — robots. Which is why I was especially taken with the cover for the January/February 2014 issue, by the great Ed Valigursky.

Valigursky, who painted covers for IF, Amazing, Fantastic, and many others (not to mention many of my all-time favorite vintage paperback covers, like Space Viking and The Cosmic Computer), died in 2009, so I’m not sure how editor Gordon van Gelder managed to get his hands on a cover I’ve never seen before, but he did. Valigursky’s piece pays tribute to the classic look of F&SF from the 50s and 60s, and still somehow manages to look modern and fresh. That’s no small feat.

Chuck Rothman reviews the issue for Tangent Online, including Oliver Buckram’s novelette “The Museum of Error.”

Sometimes a wonderful conceit is more than enough to hold a story together. “The Museum of Error” is one of these: a museum that features various scientific mistakes –- the “Rounding Errors Through the Ages” exhibit, robots who insist they’re human, the Never-Right Clock, and Pete the Petrified Cat. Herbert Linden is the Assistant Curator for Military History, and is called to find out what happened to Pete, who may have been stolen by their competitors, the Science Institute. Oliver Buckram’s story is filled with imagination, and is very cleverly constructed, with a mishmash of what seem to be one-liners [that] all come together in the end.

This issue contains stories from C.C. Finlay (whose novella “The Nursemaid’s Suitor” appeared in Black Gate 8), Albert E. Cowdrey, Robert Reed, Alex Irvine, and others.

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Ares Magazine Kickstarter Begins!

Ares Magazine Kickstarter Begins!

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Ares Magazine 2014-smallLast month, I wrote a post about the Rebirth of Ares Magazine. Today, their Kickstarter campaign goes live.

Check it out here. They’ve got a great preview movie along with some other teasers, including an awesome illustration for a story I wrote.

If you’d like to see a magazine with both fiction and a playable game in each issue, jump in with your support today.

New Treasures: Weird Fiction Review 3

New Treasures: Weird Fiction Review 3

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Weird Fiction Review 3-smallTwo years ago I reported on the first issue of S. T. Joshi’s new magazine devoted to the study of weird and supernatural fiction, Weird Fiction Review (not to be confused with Ann and Jeff VanderMeer’s new online journal, also called Weird Fiction Review. Go figure.)

I recently stumbled across a pic of the third issue of Joshi’s WFR (at left), and it made me laugh out loud. I had to order a copy, and it arrived this week.

There’s lots to enjoy with the massive, 232-page issue. The front and back covers (see both here) are tributes to Mad magazine and the timeless artwork of Don Martin. Inside there are seven original stories from Michael Cisco, Joseph S. Pulver, Sr, and others.

There’s also a host of intriguing articles. Darrell Schweitzer looks at Lovecraft’s influence on one of the most important pulp SF stories ever written, “Who Goes There?”, in “John W. Campbell’s Lovecraftian Tale,” and Bradley H. Sinor presents a previously-unpublished interview from 1994, in “Excellence Demanded, Whiners Piss Off: The Last Interview of Karl Edward Wagner” (which picks up several of the themes in Wagner’s letter to editor Robert A. Collins published in Fantasy 55.)

There’s also a 16-page gallery of art by Jason Zerrillo, the latest installment of John Pelan’s column Forgotten Masters of the Weird Tale, a survey of the year in horror and gothic novels from Daniel Olson, a look at the classic 1966 kaiju film War of the Gargantuas (which author Stuart Galbraith IV calls “kind of a monster movie Nirvana, a film that delivers on the promise of its ingenious title in an orgy of gargantua vs gargantua action” — pic here), and lots more.

Weird Fiction Review 3 was edited by S.T. Joshi and published by Centipede Press on March 19, 2013. The issue contains fiction, poetry, and reviews on high quality paper with lots of color. It is 232 pages, priced at $25 for the sewn trade paperback. It’s a high quality package throughout. It’s limited to 500 copies, and is currently on sale for $20 from the publisher. Get more detail and order copies at Centipede Press.

Galaxy Science Fiction, July 1951: A Retro-Review

Galaxy Science Fiction, July 1951: A Retro-Review

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galaxy science fiction July 1951-smallWith a colorful, 4th of July holiday-appropriate cover, the July issue of Galaxy hit newsstands (or arrived in your mailbox if you were a subscriber), much to the delight of its readers (or so I imagine). The issue felt very full — as though H. L. Gold used some undetectable device to cram extra fiction into the folds. Or perhaps it was the anticipated conclusion of “Mars Child” and the absence of any science article. At any rate, I think this was one of the better issues.

“Venus is a Man’s World” by William Tenn — Ferdinand is the only boy on a rocket filled mostly with young women on a journey to Venus. That world offers a better opportunity of finding a suitable husband than Earth, where the population is mostly made up of women. Not that Ferdinand cares about any of that. He just wants something to do, so he explores the ship, including restricted areas, like one of the lifeboats. Except that someone’s already in the lifeboat — a stowaway who calls himself Butt. And Butt knows all kinds of things that Ferdinand’s sister never talks about. If only he’d let Ferdinand hold his gun…

I absolutely loved this story, and it was easily my favorite of the issue. The narration is told in first-person from Ferdinand’s point of view, and it is hilarious and engaging. Butt’s character is outstanding. This is also a piece that stands the test of time. It was eventually collected in William Tenn’s third collection, The Square Root of Man (1968).

“Common Denominator” by John D. MacDonald — As humanity begins to study another advanced race in the galaxy, they discover that the aliens have a crime rate and insanity rate of nearly zero. Charting the past millennia reveal that it all improved eight thousand years in the past. Lambert, Chief of the Bureaus of Racial Maturity, has the chance to speak with one of them and to try to understand how such a change was possible.

While the story itself is written well, I found the premises simplistic and absurd. But I’m not going to reveal the reason for the alien race’s rise in peace and safety because that is part of the bite of the story. I’m starting to see more of this trend in some of Galaxy’s fiction, though, where an author will envision what humanity (or a variety of humanity) might look like if X or Y was subtracted or added. And that utopia is but one tweak away.

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The End of Electric Velocipede

The End of Electric Velocipede

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Electric Velocipede 27-smallWe are very sad to report that Electric Velocipede, one of the finest small press magazines in the genre, has published its final issue. Editor and publisher John Klima addresses the reasons for his decision in his editorial, A Remembrance of the Future:

This was not an easy decision.. Finishing this final issue is my way of closing things out mostly on my terms.

There is outstanding money owed me that just isn’t coming. That means money meant for Electric Velocipede’s future needs to be used on the present; we’re unable to make new issues when we still have to pay for old issues. There are limited options for electronic subscriptions; and the largest and most popular, Amazon, stopped taking new magazines right around the time I ran an Electric Velocipede Kickstarter based around the plan of having Amazon subscriptions for future revenue.

I have outstanding debt from running Electric Velocipede — and since the magazine can’t even support itself, it doesn’t make sense to keep it going and continue to spend money without earning any.

Electric Velocipede was one of the most acclaimed independent genre magazines on the market. It was nominated for the World Fantasy Award four times, and won the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Fanzine. We reported on the successful Kickstarter, which raised over $7,500 to fund the magazine, in happier times last September.

Electric Velocipede 27, the final issue, contains short fiction from Daniel Ausema, Helena Bell, Geoffrey W. Cole, and many others. The cover is by Thom Davidsohn. Copies are available for your Nook or your Kindle for just $1.99.See complete details here.

We last reported on Electric Velocipede with issue 25.

Explore The Dark

Explore The Dark

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The Dark Issue 1-smallSean Wallace is an editing powerhouse.

I don’t use that term lightly. But let’s just look at the man’s accomplishments: in the last few years he’s edited or co-edited multiple magazines, including Jabberwocky, Fantasy Magazine, and the prestigious Clarkesworld, for which he was nominated for the Hugo four times (winning three times) and the World Fantasy Award three times. He’s edited numerous anthologies, including Best New Fantasy, Japanese Dreams, The Mammoth Book of Steampunk, People of the Book, Robots: Recent A.I., and War & Space.

Of course, that’s on top of his day job as founder, publisher, and managing editor of Prime Books — where he’s produced a terrific assortment of excellent titles. We covered more than a few, including Weird Detectives, Rich Horton’s The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy series, Circus: Fantasy Under the Big Top, The Return of the Sorcerer: The Best of Clark Ashton Smith, the War & Space anthology, and others.

So I was extremely intrigued when I heard he was launching a new online magazine of dark and strange fiction with Jack Fisher, former editor and publisher of the award-winning Flesh & Blood magazine. The debut issue of The Dark was released in October, 2013, and the second issue arrived on December 1st.

The first issue feature original fiction from Lisa L. Hannett, Nnedi Okorafor, Angela Slatter, and Rachel Swirsky. Issue 2 has all-new stories from Willow Fagan, Amanda E. Forrest, Sarah Singleton and E. Catherine Tobler.

The Dark is published bi-monthly; 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 49 pages, and priced at $2.99.

A one-year sub (six issues) is just $15, and so far I really like what I see. Get in on the ground floor of a promising new magazine — subscribe today.

Experience the Joy of the Pulps With The Incredible Pulps

Experience the Joy of the Pulps With The Incredible Pulps

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The Incredible Pulps-smallWe’ve been chatting a lot about pulp fantasy recently — for example, in our recent explorations of Appendix N, Unknown magazine, escaping our genre’s pulp roots, forgotten pulp villains, Clark Ashton Smith’s Martian pulp fiction, and much more.

I occasionally get asked what I mean by “pulp.” It’s not the most intuitive term, I’ll grant you that, especially for younger readers. For them, if it means anything it usually conjures up images of Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, and perhaps vague echoes of noir detective stories.

“Pulp fiction” means the fast-paced genre stories written for the popular magazines of the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s, and modern fiction written in conscious emulation of that style. The most popular of the pulp magazines, including Argosy, Adventure, All-Story Weekly, and Detective Story, had reliable circulations in the hundreds of thousands. They cost a quarter or less, and were printed on cheap (pulp) paper, frequently with ragged, untrimmed edges.

The pulps are still discussed and collected today for a number of reasons. Several of the most important writers of the 20th century — including Edgar Rice Burroughs, Sax Rohmer, H.P. Lovecraft, Ralph Milne Farley, Raymond Chandler, Agatha Christie, Louis L’Amour, and Harold Lamb — got their start in the pulps. They featured some of the most famous heroes of the early 20th Century, including Doc Savage, The Shadow, Conan, Buck Rogers, Tarzan, Zorro, and many others.

But the best fiction from the pulps has been reprinted many times and — unless you’re Howard Andrew Jones, Stephen Haffner, or John C. Hocking, on the trail of an obscure or neglected author — you rarely dig through pulps for the fiction any more. No, there’s really only one reason most of us still collect pulps. And that’s the fabulous covers and artwork.

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Voices in Fantasy Literature, Part 1

Voices in Fantasy Literature, Part 1

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Apex Magazine March 2013-smallI have gone through phases of reading adventure fantasy, planetary romance, smoke and sorcery and epic fantasy. These sub-genres pack serious power.

Adventure fantasy is an adrenaline hit. Planetary romances like A Princess of Mars are shots of heroic wish fulfillment. And smoke and sorcery wallow in the grit of a spaghetti western.

I also go through phases where I’m looking for the emotional power and the subtle voice and character work of more literary fantasy. I recently read three pieces of short fantasy that hit me hard for different reasons. All are available online for free.

The first was “If You Were My Dinosaur, My Love” by Rachel Swirsky, Apex Magazine, March, 2013. Swirsky’s whimsical voice captivates the reader with a sing-song charm, but subversively so. The very brief story rolls faster and faster down a hill, on its way to a powerful cliff.

Here’s a sample to give you a taste of its romantic, earnest strangeness:

If you were a T-Rex, then I would become a zookeeper so that I could spend all my time with you. I’d bring you raw chickens and live goats. I’d watch the gore shining on your teeth. I’d make my bed on the floor of your cage, in the moist dirt, cushioned by leaves. When you couldn’t sleep, I’d sing you lullabies.

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The Rebirth of Ares Magazine

The Rebirth of Ares Magazine

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Ares Magazine 2014-smallIn the early ’80’s, Simulation Publications, Inc. (aka SPI) published a magazine named Ares. It included science fiction and fantasy along with articles and a complete game in every issue. It was short-lived, lasting only 19 issues, and Dragon revived it briefly within its own pages as an Ares section (see our review of issue #3 of the original magazine, featuring the game Barbarian Kings). And so it remained as an intriguing concept that simply ceased publication.

But that wasn’t the last hope for Ares. As Yoda would say, “No, there is another.” One Small Step Games, under Michael Anderson, decided to venture into remaking the old magazine. “The big idea is to fill a void,” says Anderson, “a new magazine that combines a standalone, unique, playable board game in every issue with a collection of spectacular, new fiction.”

With pay rates of five cents per word, Ares is serious about finding great fiction. Their preferred genres include fantasy, science fiction, horror, and pulp adventure.

They plan on publishing bi-monthly, and each issue will include 80 pages of fiction and other content, wrapped around the playable game. The first game will be War of the Worlds by independent game designer Bill Banks.

On January 1, Ares will launch a Kickstarter campaign to raise funding for this endeavor. If successful, the target delivery date for the first issue is May 1, 2014.

A magazine of speculative fiction AND a playable game? That sounds like a great combination to me.

Check out their website for more information: Ares Magazine.