Magazines – Page 155

John Joseph Adams merges Fantasy and Lightspeed

Wednesday, December 7, 2011 John ONeill Comments 3 comments

Last month we reported that John Joseph Adams, editor of Fantasy and Lightspeed, had acquired both magazines from publisher Prime Books.

I think I also said “Adams has not announced if he’ll make any changes to the magazines.” Well, strike that.

After publishing the December issues of both magazines, Adams made this announcement on his blog:

We’ll be merging Fantasy and Lightspeed. But never fear: We won’t be doing away with any of Fantasy‘s fiction; each issue of the combined magazine will contain four science fiction stories and four fantasy stories. We won’t be reducing the number of stories, or replacing any Fantasy content with Lightspeed content; this will be a true merger…

Since we’re doubling the amount of fiction in each issue, we’re going to raise the price of our ebooks — but not by double: We’ll be raising the price to just $3.99. So you’ll be getting twice as much fiction, for just a dollar more per issue; plus, from here on out, each ebook edition of Lightspeed will feature exclusive content that you won’t find on our website — namely, in addition to the eight short stories you’ll also find [on] our website, each ebook issue will now feature a novella-length story.

We’ll be keeping the www.fantasy-magazine.com website up as an archive, but all future Fantasy content will appear as part of Lightspeed, at www.lightspeedmagazine.com, so be sure to update your bookmarks and RSS feeds!

Adams also announced that they’ll be eliminating the non-fiction articles that accompany each story, in order to focus more on fiction. However, they will continue to publish feature interviews and author spotlights each issue.

While I’ll miss the separate identity Fantasy had as a standalone magazine, overall I think the changes are positive. And $3.99 per issue is a real bargain for that much fiction.

We last covered Fantasy Magazine in April with issue #49.

You can read the complete announcement here, and purchase the Kindle editions of Lightspeed and the final issue of Fantasy — featuring stories from Joe R. Lansdale, Seanan McGuire, Alasdair Stuart, Naomi Novik, and Nike Sulway — for just $2.99 each.

Interzone November-December # 237

Saturday, December 3, 2011 Soyka Comments 2 comments

The November – December issue of Interzone contains substantial new stories by Lavie Tidhar (“The Last Osama”), Jim Hawkins (“Digital Rites”), Douglas Lain (“Erasing the Concept of Sex from a Potobooth”), and Caspian Gray (Caspian Gray); artwork by Richard Wagner, David Gentry, Steve Hambidge; “Ansible Link” genre news and miscellanea by David Langford; “Mutant Popcorn” film reviews by Nick Lowe; “Laser Fodder” DVD/Blu-Ray reviews by Tony Lee; book reviews by Jim Steel and other contributors.

Interzone alternates monthly publication with sister dark horror focused Black Static, published by the fine folks at TTA Press.

You can subscribe to the print version here, or the electronic edition here; there’s also a special discounted rate for a joint subscription to both Interzone and Black Static. Lifetime subscriptions are also available. What you’re buying, in essence, is a 10-year subscription at the current rate. If you think you’re going to live for at least another decade, and you think Interzone will also be around for as long, this could be a bargain for whatever time you and the magazine have after that. If that weren’t enough, you can also opt for joint lifetime sub that gets you sister publication Black Static for a slightly reduced rate. Sign your life away here.

Cosmic Crimes Stories #2

Tuesday, November 29, 2011 John ONeill Comments 0 Comment

Okay, I don’t really know anything about Cosmic Crimes Stories. I’d never even heard about it until today.

But I know it’s cool. And let’s be honest — that should be good enough for you.

What is Cosmic Crimes Stories? I’m operating a little on faith here, since I’ve never actually seen a copy. But according to the website, it’s “a biannual digest of science fiction and fantasy crimes and criminals.”

Um, what?

A little more digging reveals that it’s a magazine of science fiction mysteries, tales of crime on far off planets and in strange dimensions. That alone makes it totally unique in the history of the genre, far as I know.

And it’s published two issues in 2011, which already makes it one of the most reliable small press magazines in the genre.

Here’s the blurb for the second issue, dated July 2011:

Crime will always be with us, and as laws evolve, so will the techniques of violating them. Will slavery exist when we encounter other intelligences, and if so, will the relationship be parasitic or symbiotic? What complications can arise when a detective pursues a criminal across dimensions? How does a perfect society react to an axe murderer in its midst?

Perhaps I just have a weakness for unusual magazines. But I’m intrigued. Maybe I’ll ask David Soyka to review the latest issue. That guy covers everything.

Cosmic Crimes Stories is published in January and July, and edited by Karen L. Newman. Individual issues are $9 plus $2.50 shipping and handling, and a one-year subscription is $16 plus $4 S&H. You can order online here.

Black Static #25

Saturday, November 26, 2011 Soyka Comments 0 Comment

393 The November Black Static features new horror fiction from Alison Littlewood (“About the Dark”), Christopher Fowler (“The Curtain Parts), Ray Cluley (“The Travellers Stay”). Nathaniel Tapley (“Best. Summer. Ever.”) and Barbara A. Barnet (“The Holy Spear”). Nonfiction by the usual suspects, Peter Tennant, Tony Lee, and D.F. Lewis. The editor is Any Cox.

Black Static alternates monthly publication with sister SF and fantasy focused Interzone.

You can subscribe to the print version here, or the electronic edition here; there’s also a special discounted rate for a joint subscription to both Interzone and Black Static. Lifetime subscriptions are also available. What you’re buying, in essence, is a 10-year subscription at the current rate. If you think you’re going to live for at least another decade, and you think Black Static will also be around for as long, this could be a bargain for whatever time you and the magazine have after that. If that weren’t enough, you can also opt for joint lifetime sub that gets you sister publication Interzone for a slightly reduced rate. Sign your life away here.

Anne McCaffrey, April 1, 1926 – November 21, 2011

Tuesday, November 22, 2011 John ONeill Comments 6 comments

Anne McCaffrey, one of the most loved SF and fantasy writers of the 20th Century, died yesterday at her home in Ireland.

McCaffrey is probably best known for her Dragonriders of Pern novels, which began with the novella “Weyr Search” in Analog in October, 1967.

“Weyr Search” won the Hugo Award for Best Novella; its sequel “Dragonrider” (published in two parts in Analog in December 1967 and January 1968) was awarded the Nebula. The two stories were collected as the first Pern novel Dragonflight, first published by Ballantine Books in July, 1968.

That was followed by an incredible 22 novels and two collections of short stories (some co-written with her son Todd), including The White Dragon (1978), the first hardcover SF novel to become a New York Times bestseller.

McCaffrey was a very prolific writer, with more than 100 books to her credit. Her first novel was Restoree (1967), and she had a real talent for series — including the Crystal Singer series, Freedom, Doona, Dinosaur Planet, Brain & Brawn Ship, Acorna, and many others. [I know — crazy, right? The only comparable modern author I can think of who has nearly this many popular series is L. E. Modesitt.]

I recently bought a collection of vintage Analog magazines, and came across the one above, with the “Weyr Search” cover by John Schoenherr. It reminded me that those were the days when genre magazines could catapult you to the very peak of the profession, something far more rare today. McCaffrey had published only a handful of stories and her first novel (barely) when “Weyr Search” appeared… within a year she had won both the Hugo and Nebula, and published the first novel of a series that would make her a bestselling writer.

In addition to stellar sales, Anne McCaffrey was highly honored by fans and her fellow writers. She won the Robert A. Heinlein Award in 2007, became a SFWA Grand Master in 2005, and was inducted into the SF Hall of Fame in 2006.

Weird Fiction Review, and its Doppelganger

Monday, November 21, 2011 John ONeill Comments 2 comments

Back in August we reported that Wildside Press sold Weird Tales magazine to Marvin Kaye, leaving editor Ann VanderMeer out in the cold.

But it didn’t take long for Ann and her husband Jeff VanderMeer, World Fantasy Award-winning author of Finch and City of Saints and Madmen, to bounce back with a new enterprise: Weird Fiction Review, an online journal of fact and fiction:

WeirdFictionReview.com is an ongoing exploration into all facets of the weird, from the classics to the next generation of weird writers and international weird. Reviews, interviews, short essays, comics, and occasional fiction.

Cool. Ann and Jeff are a creative force to be reckoned with, and together they have co-edited several fine fantasy anthologies, including The New Weird and the monumental The Weird: A Compendium of Strange & Dark Stories, a four pound, 1,152-page exploration of weird fiction over the last century. The new website looks extremely promising as well, featuring fiction by Jeffrey Thomas, Jean Ray, and Michal Ajvaz, non-fiction from Jeffrey Ford, Scott Nicolay, António Monteiro, and others, and a web comic by Leah Thomas.

Astute genre readers will note there’s already a fine periodical with the name Weird Fiction Review, a critical journal edited by the distinguished S.T. Joshi (see right). Published annually by Centipede Press, the first issue was released in Fall 2010. According to Ann & Jeff,

This site exists in a symbiotic relationship with S.T. Joshi’s print journal The Weird Fiction Review but does not share staff.

Whatever that means. But hey, we’re just happy to have Ann back at the helm of a new fantasy magazine, doing what she does best: discovering and promoting new talent. More power to her.

Clarkesworld Issue #62

Saturday, November 12, 2011 Soyka Comments 0 Comment

cw_62_300 The November issue of Clarkesworld is currently online. Featured fiction: “A Militant Peace” by David Klecha and Tobias S. Buckell, “The Smell of Orange Groves” by Lavie Tidhar and part two of Catherynne M. Valente’s “Silently and Very Fast.” Non fiction by Nathaniel Tapley, Jeremy L. C. Jones and Neil Clarke. The cover art is by Julie Dillon.

All of this is available online for free; there’s even an audio podcast version of “A Militant Peace” read by Mike Allen. However, nothing is really free. The magazine is supported by “Clarkesworld Citizens” who donate $10 or more.

We last covered Clarkesworld with issue #55.

John Joseph Adams buys Lightspeed and Fantasy Magazines from Prime Books

Monday, November 7, 2011 John ONeill Comments 5 comments

It’s been a tumultuous season for fantasy magazines.

In August Marvin Kaye surprised us by acquiring Weird Tales from Wildside Press, and last week we told you Realms of Fantasy magazine had folded again. And now Sean Wallace at Prime Books informs us that he’s sold Lightspeed and Fantasy magazines to current editor John Joseph Adams.

Lightspeed and Fantasy magazines are two of the finest online fiction magazines. Fantasy originally appeared in 2005, publishing six print issues before moving online in 2007. Its editors have included Sean Wallace, Paul Tremblay, and Cat Rambo, with Adams taking the reins in March of this this year.

Lightspeed, which publishes short science fiction, debuted in June 2010 with John Joseph Adams at the helm; it was a 2011 Hugo Award nominee for Best Semiprozine, and Adams was a 2011 nominee for Best Professional Editor, Short Form.

John Joseph Adams has been called “the reigning king of the anthology world” by Barnes & Noble.com. His anthologies include The Way of the Wizard, Brave New Worlds, Wastelands, The Living Dead, The Living Dead 2, By Blood We Live, Federations, and The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Adams has not announced if he’ll make any changes to the magazines. “It’s an exciting time to be involved in publishing,” he says in the press release. “Models are changing and so is the readership, and online magazines have a better shot at sustainability than ever have before. I believe the possibilities for growth are tremendous, and I look forward to staying in the vanguard of this new frontier.”

We last covered Fantasy Magazine in April with issue #49.

Read the complete press release here.

APEX #30 and Weird Fiction Review debut

Saturday, November 5, 2011 Soyka Comments 0 Comment

issue31_medium The latest Apex Magazine is now available; the thirtieth issue is the first by new editor Lynne M. Thomas. The issue features former editor Catherinne M. Valente’s “The Bread We Eat in Dreams” (who also contributes a farewell essay and a poem) and “The Leavings of the Wolf” by Elizabeth Bear. This month’s revisited classic story is “The Creeping Thing” by Robert Shearman. There’s also poetry by Tim Pratt and Bryan Thao Worra and non-fiction by Tansy Rayner Roberts, as well as several interviews. For those who might fear change, rest assured that the new editor intends to carry on the Apex tradition:

Apex will continue to shove at the edges of the genre until they bleed. I will be publishing transgressive, visceral stories and poems that show us the best and worst of who we are, rendered with style and precision. Expect work outside of your comfort zone: thoughtful, experimental, emotional, and brave. Here you will find stories and poems that show us a heart, sliced out carefully, still beating in the writer’s hands, for all the world to see.

Also, in the one door closes, another opens category, outgoing Werid Tales editor Ann VanderMeer and spouse Jeff (who you may also have heard of) have launched on-line Weird Fiction Review. There’s a combination of fiction, non-fiction, comics, interviews and other, well, weird stuff. As the editors describe it:

This site is meant to be an ongoing exploration into all facets of the weird, in all of its many forms — a kind of non-denominational approach that appreciates Lovecraftbut also Kafka, Angela Carter and Clark Ashton Smith, Shirley Jackson and Fritz Leiber — along with the next generation of weird writers and international weird. The emphasis will be on nonfiction on writers and particular books, but we will also run features on weird art, music, and film, as well as occasional fiction.

November/December Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine now on Sale

Friday, November 4, 2011 John ONeill Comments 1 comment

With all the recent bad news surrounding print fantasy magazines, it’s good to pause to reflect on the blessings we have. Especially those blessings that arrive in our mailbox every two months like clockwork, bringing the best in modern short fantasy. I’m talking, of course, of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, now in its 62nd year of publication. The latest issue has just arrived, and it looks terrific as usual. Contents include:

NOVELLAS
Quartet and Triptych – Matthew Hughes
The Ice Owl – Carolyn Ives Gilman

NOVELETS
Under Glass – Tim Sullivan
They That Have Wings – Evangeline Walton
Object Three – James L. Cambias
How Peter Met Pan – Albert E. Cowdrey

SHORT STORY
The Klepsydra: A Chapter from A Faunery of Recondite Beings – Michaela Roessner

Over at Locus Online Lois Tilton reviews the complete issue, including the excellent epic fantasy “Quartet and Triptych” by Matthew Hughes:

In the far-future Archonate, the thief Luff Imbry has decided it would be profitable to secure a group of rare and valuable alien figures, believed to be hidden in a maze on the grounds of a defunct family of aristocracy. The maze being full of deadly traps, he arranges to obtain the life mask of one of the deceased aristocrats, charged with her essence, in the belief that she will be able to negotiate the maze for him. But the essence in the mask has its own interests and demands, in exchange for which she offers an even greater treasure at the heart of the maze. At much greater risk….

Readers familiar with Hughes’ work will know pretty well what kind of entertainment they’re getting here: the eccentric characters, the highly mannered prose, the intricate plot.

This issue’s cover is by Kent Bash; cover price is $7.50. You can find more details on the issue at the F&SF website. We last covered F&SF here with the September/October issue.

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