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Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Vol. 149, Nos. 1 & 2 (January/February 2017)

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Vol. 149, Nos. 1 & 2 (January/February 2017)

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ellery_queens_mystery_201701-02So how are things going in “The World’s Leading Mystery Magazine?” Quite well, as it turns out, despite some significant format changes that began in the January/February 2017 issue. To save on printing and shipping costs, they’ve made the switch from monthly to bi-monthly issues, but made up for it by providing twice as many pages per issue, meaning that long-time subscribers won’t have to sacrifice a single page of mystery goodness. This issue, for example, has seventeen tales of crime and deduction.

It opens with “A Slaying Song Tonight” by Vicki Weisfeld. Honestly, I had trouble keeping track of all the characters in this one, so that the revelation of “whodunnit” kind of turned into “whowuzzthat.” Basically, one of a group of Christmas carolers commits a murder on their caroling route and it’s up to two of those carolers to suss out the guilty party.

“Flowing Waters” by Brendan Dubois was easily my favorite story of the whole bunch, concerning a military veteran who deals with her PTSD by adopting a dog who’s seen her own share of violence. Don’t feel ashamed if you cry by the end of this one.

“The Twelve Days of Dunwich” by Barbara Nadel provides a rare turn into supernatural territory with a crime story in which the narrator is the victim, who is dead … but not quite gone.

“The Children of Espiritu Santo” by David Dean concerns a gang that’s terrorizing a small town, specifically a church where a possible holy relic has recently been discovered.

“After Closing Time” by Nova Lee Maier is another one of those “plot to murder the spouse goes horribly awry” stories, complete with an appropriate O. Henry-style twist at the end.

“Night Terrors” by Owen Leddy is another standard trope story, this time it’s the one about the man who dreams of committing a murder every night, unsure why he’s plagued by the recurring dreams and terrified that those dreams will soon come true.

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March Issue of The Dark Now on Sale

March Issue of The Dark Now on Sale

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The Dark March 2017-smallThere’s a delicious Weird Western cover on The Dark this month, and that’s enough reason to check it out in my book. (Click the image at right for a supersized version.)

The magazine became a monthly last year, and so far in 2017 it’s published original fiction by Sara Saab, Lisa L. Hannett, Emily B. Cataneo, and Suyi Davies Okungbowa, plus reprints from Ray Cluley, E. Catherine Tobler, Michael Wehunt, and Michael Harris Cohen. At $1.99 per issue, it remains one of the best bargains in the field.

The Dark is co-edited by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Sean Wallace, with assistance by Jack Fisher. It is published online and in digital formats, and includes two original stories and two reprints each issue. Here’s the Table of Contents for issue #22, cover-dated March 2017.

“If We Survive the Night,” by Carlie St. George
“Caro in Carno,” by Helen Marshall (from The Mammoth Book of Cthulhu, 2016)
“The Thinker,” by George Salis
“The Mysteries,” by Livia Llewellyn (from Nightmare Carnival, 2014)

You can read issues free online, or help support the magazine by buying 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 — or subscribe for just $1.99 per issue. If you enjoy the magazine you can contribute to their new Patreon account here. You can also support The Dark by buying their books, reviewing stories, or even just leaving comments.

Read the March issue here, and see their complete back issue catalog here. The March cover is by breakermaximus. We last covered The Dark with the December issue.

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

Asimov’s Science Fiction, Vol. 41, Nos. 1 & 2 (January/February 2017)

Asimov’s Science Fiction, Vol. 41, Nos. 1 & 2 (January/February 2017)

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asimovs_science_fiction_201701-02This year marks the 40-year anniversary of Asimov’s and this issue not only includes a brief recap of the magazine’s history in an editorial, but also comments from each of the contributing authors about when they first read the magazine and what it means to them.

Check out the cover art by Maurizio Manzieri. That’s a scene from the first story in the magazine, “Crimson Birds of Small Miracles” by Sean Monaghan. On the surface, the story is about a father taking his two daughters to see the beautiful mechanical birds of the title, but there is also a much deeper and more touching story at work here, illustrating the truth that some tragedies will continue to follow us into the future, no matter how many advances we make with technology.

Next is “Tagging Bruno” by Allen M. Steele, a tale set in the future and on another world, yet concerned with current debates on wildlife preservation. Sure, it gets a little preachy, but the characters are all well-defined and the ending has just a tinge of fun irony to it.

“Still Life with Abyss” by Jim Grimsley starts with that old science fiction trope of the parallel universe and reverses the standard story. It’s set in a research station that monitors activities in all of the parallel universes. Of course, there are the usual “What if?” universes (America lost the Revolution, the South won the Civil War, the Nazis won World War II), but also all of the small changes in individual people’s lives. The idea is that we all have alternate paths that our lives might have taken and on some parallel world, we did. But the research team has discovered one man, one solitary man in all the recorded multiverse, whose life NEVER deviates from a single course, no matter what happens around him.

“Fatherbond” by Tim Purdom follows a group of human colonists who arrive on a new world, only to discover that another race of aliens has already arrived and is forbidding anyone to colonize it. The argument against colonizing is an interesting one. While there is no intelligent life native to the planet, intelligent life might naturally evolve there over hundreds of millions of years. So colonization is wrong not because it would displace current inhabitants, but rather because it would interfere with the natural evolution of future inhabitants. Obviously, some of the humans feel differently and the aliens’ motives aren’t as pure as initially stated.

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February Short Story Roundup

February Short Story Roundup

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oie_13616139DhBwLErAnother month, another roundup of solid swords & sorcery short fiction for your enjoyment. Follow along for a look at February’s offerings.

Swords and Sorcery Magazine Issue 61 kicks off its sixth year of publication with a bang; actually, a pair of bangs. The first little explosion comes in the form of a group of friends making stupid decisions in Tom Lavin’s “Trouble in the Viscount Tavern.” Deon surprises his friends Tenny and Ruald with a strange book left behind by an inn guest. Though its cover advertises it as Giselder Farnbrak’s Herbs and Homely Cooking, inside are spells. Despite misgivings from Deon, the others start to read some out loud for a lark. Lavin’s description of the resulting horrors is bone-chilling.

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Fantasy & Science Fiction, Volume 132, No. 1 & 2 (January/February 2017)

Fantasy & Science Fiction, Volume 132, No. 1 & 2 (January/February 2017)

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The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction January February 2017-smallSo I got a late start on this year’s reading, which means that I’ve just finished the January/February issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. As with any collection of stories from a variety of writers, I liked some more than others.

Before we even start, check out the cover art by Charles Vess. A little girl is using her blue magic hand to befriend a rat and a cat. You hardly even notice that she’s not so much sitting on a bed as she’s squatting up against it. (Click the image to embiggen.)

And the cover image isn’t just a random design. It’s a scene from the first story of the issue, “Vinegar and Cinnamon” by Nina Kiriki Hoffman. Nothing too deep here. Just a young witch in training who accidentally turns her brother into a rat, then has to track him down and figure out how to change him back. The writer doesn’t take the predictable route of focusing on the young witch, instead keeping the point of view on her brother and how being a rat alters his perceptions and priorities.

“The Regression Test” by Wole Talabi presents a variation on the Turing Test, as a computer program is designed to simulate the thought processes of a scientific genius. While the scientists can verify how well the program recalls information, they have no way of judging how close the personality is to the original, so they invite the scientist’s daughter to ask the program questions. Of course, there’s more going on here than a simple question-and-answer session.

“A Gathering on Gravity’s Shore” by Gregor Hartmann continues the Franden series. Since I’ve never read any other stories with this character, it was a little rough to get the character and setting straight at first. It’s basically a garden party in which Franden flirts with a botanist and tries to draw out opinions on a pending civil war.

Next is the novelette, “Homecoming” by Rachel Pollack. Again, this was part of a series of stories featuring Jack Shade, a paranormal investigator cursed to take on the case of anyone holding one of his business cards. This time, the case involves retrieving a missing piece of a woman’s soul. Of course, things go bad and Jack eventually has to enlist some supernatural help to prevent the end of the world.

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March/April 2017 Asimov’s Science Fiction Now on Sale

March/April 2017 Asimov’s Science Fiction Now on Sale

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Asimov's Science Fiction March April 2017-smallThe March/April 2017 Asimov’s Science Fiction is the magazine’s 40th Anniversary issue. I can still remember buying the second issue off the racks in Ottawa back in 1977. I vividly remember Isaac’s editorial, which cheerfully encouraged young readers to write science fiction, and how much it inspired me to try my hand at it myself.

I borrowed my parent’s typewriter, banged out a story, and mailed it in a few weeks later, dreams of being an SF writer in my head. I’m sure Asimov’s then editor, George Scithers, was cursing Asimov as he worked through the crush of submissions. I still have his personal rejection letter, which gently critiqued my plot, characters, and spelling. When I met George at the 2002 World Fantasy Convention in Minneapolis, I was finally able to thank him for his kindness to me a quarter-century earlier.

The double-sized March/April issue of Asimov’s is packed with intriguing stuff, including brand new fiction by Damien Broderick, Will McIntosh, Bill Johnson & Gregory Frost, Ian R. MacLeod, Suzanne Palmer, Sarah Pinsker, Dale Bailey, Rich Larson, Terry Bisson, and others. Here’s Sheila’s full description from the website:

March/April 2017 is our official fortieth anniversary! The exciting cover story is by Asimov’s Readers’ Award-winner Suzanne Palmer. In her tense new tale, a human-created artificial intelligence — left grieving and lonely on a distant planet — may annihilate an alien lifeform over a terrible misunderstanding. Don’t miss “Number Thirty-Nine Skink”!

Alan Smale flies us to another universe for an alternate view of “Kitty Hawk”; Ian MacLeod reveals the brutal “Wisdom of the Group”; We’ve come to expect that Damien Broderick will play with a myriad of motifs in his tales and certainly delivers in “Tao Zero”; Terry Bisson offers a wry explanation for why “We Regret the Error”; We find some twisted love in Rich Larson’s “Cupido”; while Will McIntosh provides us with another story of love gone wrong in “Soulmates.com”; “A Singular Event in the Fourth Dimension” is a charming Asimov’s debut for new writer Andrea M. Pawley; Sarah Pinsker will break your heart with “The Ones Who Know Where They Are Going”; Ian Creasey lets us know that it will only get worse “After the Atrocity”; with “The Invasion of the Saucer-Men” Dale Bailey treats us to another of his works inspired by fifties SF movie titles; Gregory Norman Bossert lets us know who’s a “Goner”; and we’ll learn why “Three Can Keep a Secret” from a mysterious con artist in Bill Johnson & Gregory Frost’s new novelette.

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Galaxy Science Fiction, September 1953: A Retro-Review

Galaxy Science Fiction, September 1953: A Retro-Review

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Galaxy Science Fiction September 1953-small Galaxy Science Fiction September 1953-back-small

The September, 1953 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction opens with Editor H. L. Gold weighing in on vocabulary guessing for future science fiction. He writes that

Objects and methods must be named so the reader will recognize them. All the author can do is apply logic, which sometimes works, as in the case of several commonly used terms invented by science fiction, but more often does not, as in terms that are born naturally, not synthesized.

He describes how some words, like nylon and Kleenex, are trade names. The word jeep came from how soldiers abbreviated “General Purpose Car” (listed as “G.P.” in stock lists). He concludes his remarks by writing:

If we were trying to predict instead of entertain, you’d be right in objecting to our inevitable bloopers (origin unknown). But would you rather wait for the correct lingo (lingua, tongue) or enjoy our guessing right now?

My answer: bring on the bloopers!

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The March Fantasy Magazine Rack

The March Fantasy Magazine Rack

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Alfred-Hitchcocks-Mystery-Magazine-January-February-2017-rack Beneath-Ceaseless-Skies-216-rack Clarkesworld-February-2017-rack Nightmare_53_February_2017-rack
Heroic-Fantasy-Quarterly-31-rack Beneath-Ceaseless-Skies-217-rack Beneath-Ceaseless-Skies-219-rack Nightmare-Magazine-March-2017-rack

Michael Penkas took on the lion’s share of our magazine coverage this month, with in-depth reviews of the latest issues of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Nightmare. Mike joins our current magazine reviewer, Fletcher Vredenburgh (whose beat is primarily sword & sorcery), as well as our Retro-reviewers, Rich Horton and Matthew Wuertz.

In other magazine news this month, Rich Horton presented his 2017 Hugo Nomination thoughts, recommending dozens of stories from all of the major magazines. See all the details here.

Check out all the details on the magazines above by clicking on the each of the images. Our February Fantasy Magazine Rack is here.

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Beneath Ceaseless Skies 219 Now Available

Beneath Ceaseless Skies 219 Now Available

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Beneath-Ceaseless-Skies-219-smallIssue #219 of Beneath Ceaseless Skies is now available, completely free on their website. It is dated February 16, 2017 and features fiction by Grace Seybold and Jeremy Sim, an Audio Fiction Podcast by Margaret Killjoy, and a reprint by Cory Skerry.

Jason at Featured Futures was enthusiastic about the Seybold.

Jeone Serrica is climbing what seems to be a world entirely of mountainside or cliff-face when, after scaring off a giant lizard, she encounters a village of strange women. After being somewhat ambivalently welcomed and despite being told to remain in her guest quarters, our intrepid explorer sneaks a peek at the villagers’ rites. What she sees mystifies and horrifies her but, before she can even try to come to terms with it, she’s snatched by a giant bird and taken off to an even stranger realm and an encounter that requires much more from her than even facing down giant lizards…

The imagination brought to bear in conceiving this doughty protagonist and this amazing world and the entities she interacts with was extremely impressive… it was fascinating throughout and will live in the memory for quite some time.

Read Jason’s complete review here.

Here’s the complete Table of Contents for issue 219.

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Nightmare, Issue 54 (March 2017)

Nightmare, Issue 54 (March 2017)

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Nightmare Magazine March 2017-smallUsually with Nightmare, by the end of the issue I’ve picked a clear favorite story. The stories are always well-written, but there’s usually one that especially moves me. This month, we’ve got two haunted towns and two haunted families that consistently play with the concept of who is haunted and who is the haunter. And I just can’t pick a favorite.

It starts with “Things Crumble, Things Break” by Nate Southard, about a town that’s slowly dying from a chemical accident. Or from something that they’re told is a chemical accident. While the author never mentions Flint (either in the story or in the proceeding interview), it’s impossible not to read this story of a toxic, abandoned city without thinking that tragedy wasn’t at least a subconscious influence.

Next up is “Alice Through the Plastic Sheet” by Robert Shearman (originally published in Remember Why You Fear Me: The Best Dark Fiction of Robert Shearman), that starts with the familiar trope of the boring suburban family being disturbed by loud neighbors … only to veer off in a David Lynchian direction rather quickly.

“You Will Always Have Family: A Triptych” by Kathleen Kayembe starts with a noise in a locked room (yet another familiar horror trope) and slowly reveals a tale of possession that alternates between three different points of view (hence the “Triptych” in the title). Kayembe doesn’t spare with the gruesome imagery, but at its heart this is a story about family and what it means to different people. And while I normally hate horror stories that delve too much into explaining the physics behind the supernatural, this one puts in just enough that we understand the stakes, while also explaining why so many possessed people end up looking so ragged so quickly.

It all winds up with “Seven Minutes in Heaven” by Nadia Bulkin (originally published in Aickman’s Heirs, appropriately enough), another “haunted town” story that has a twist ending that actually comes up in the middle. So you might begin reading this story thinking, “Oh, I know where this is going,” and you’re right, but that twist gets revealed in the middle, leaving the reader to sink even deeper into the nightmare. Because the only thing worse than finding a monster in your closet is realizing that there’s another closet behind that one.

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