Black Gate

I’m long overdue to check in on Apex magazine — I haven’t covered an issue since April. The September issue is due in just a few days, but I love Marcela Bolívar’s August cover so much I’m not going to wait for it.

Jason Sizemore gives us the complete scoop on the contents in his editorial.

Welcome to issue 87 – the issue where we break your heart…

“The Gentleman of Chaos” by A. Merc Rustad is a dark fantasy that shows the rewards of a well-disciplined long game. “I Remember Your Face” by E.K. Wagner is a heartbreaking post-apocalyptic tale of revenge, loss, and sacrifice. “Fall to Her” by flash fiction master Alexis A. Hunter takes us on a journey of unforgettable grief in a thousand words.

Our reprints this month are “Paskutinis Iliuzija (The Last Illusion)” by Damien Angelica Walters and an excerpt from Stay Crazy (Apex Publications, 2016) by Erica L. Satifka. Poetry editor Bianca Spriggs has an impressive lineup of poems for us: “Not Like This” by Mary Soon Lee, “This Earth” by Frank Tota, “The Labyrinth Keeper” by Anton Rose, and “Perplexities” by Peter Venable…

Rounding out our content are interviews with A. Merc Rustad and cover artist Marcela Bolívar and the latest incarnation of A.C. Wise’s short fiction review series “Words for Thoughts.” Be sure to check out the podcast version of “A Gentleman of Chaos” by A. Merc Rustad as read by Mahvesh Murad.

Here’s the complete TOC, with links to all the free content.

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British horror magazine Black Static #53, cover-dated July-August, is now available. Over at Dread Central, Gareth Jones has penned a rave review of the entire issue. Here’s a snippet:

One of the best stories to appear in Black Static in recent months (and that’s saying something!), Priya Sharma’s “Inheritance or The Ruby Tear” kicks off Black Static’s 53rd issue in formidable style. Part gothic romance, part Bone Tomahawk-esque rescue/revenge story, “Inheritance” follows the sorrows of Lord William Mansell, a wealthy aristocrat whose wife and daughter appear lost to the sea when their wagon falls from the cliff edge and is dashed upon the rocks… a thoroughly absorbing novelette that deftly blends elegant tension, mystery, frenetic violence and stark horror…

Harmony Neal’s “Dare” sees a group of teenage girls sitting around playing Truth or Dare whilst drinking vodka mixers. As expected for a genre work, things quickly get dark – the girls’ own unique demons sending them down a path of unified expression that sees “keeping up appearances” extend to collective disfigurement.

“The Rim of the World” by Kristi DeMeester paints an increasing sense of foreboding as it progresses, telling the story of couple Laurel and Jacob as they return to the ramshackle home of Laurel’s deceased grandmother. Laurel’s reminiscing reminds Jacob of the horrific run-up to his own sister’s death, tied in with a mysterious sand pile located not far from where the couple now lay. Atmosphere is the name of the game in this entry, DeMeester painting the sense of unseen, esoteric horrors lurking in the shadows, just waiting for the right moment to make themselves known…

Read the complete review here.

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Looks like Fletcher has been working a lot harder than me in the back half of the month — I thought I was doing pretty well by covering three August magazines (Asimov’s, Clarkesworld, and The Dark), but he’s managed detailed reviews of no less than six: Cirsova, GrimDark, Swords and Sorcery, Lackington’s, Weirdbook, and the newcomer, Red Sun. Here’s Flecher:

It turns out there were lots and lots of really good horror and science fiction short stories published this summer… In its short life, Collins has made GdM a consistently exciting publication, and GdM #8‘s two sci-fi stories are not bad at all. The first, “Viva Longevicus” by Brandon Daubs, is about genetically engineered pets going very, very wrong. It’s told by a colonel in the U.S.S. AeroCorps sent to investigate an infestation on a colonial world. A monster hunt on an alien world just isn’t the most original plot, but if it’s told with verve and intensity (and just the right amount of crazy)… “Burying the Coin” by Setsu Uzumé is about a sky-pirate’s sidekick getting her own ship at her boss’ expense. Nothing extraordinary but well done, decent tension, some real depth of characters, and an ending with real weight.

Finally, we come to newcomer Red Sun Magazine… I really like the first story, “The Orion Incident,” by David W. Amendola. It’s a paranoid excursion into the hull of a ghost starship. Believed lost several years ago, when it makes a sudden reappearance and looks to be on a collision course with Earth, its lone survivor is sent with an exploration team to see what’s going on. Suffice it to say, things goes less well than hoped for. The other story that grabbed me was Brenda Kezar’s “Star Jelly.” We already know from the movies that one blob from outer space is bad. This story explores, in gory detail, what would happen if a whole bunch of blobs fell at once.

Read Part One of Fletcher’s Summer Short Story Roundup here and Part Two here.

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It’s a little ironic that The Dark finally makes a long-anticipated leap from quarterly to monthly publication in May… and then I promptly miss the next two issues. It doesn’t really help that the magazine is published every month if I only make time to read it once a quarter. (Of course, I’m still reading fiction at Tor.com from back in April, so I suppose everything’s relative.) Let’s just cut our losses and jump back in with the August issue, mm’kay?

The Dark is edited by Sean Wallace, with assistance by Jack Fisher. Here’s the Table of Contents for issue #15, cover-dated August 2015.

“Floodwater” by Kristi DeMeester
“Wheatfield with Crows” by Steve Rasnic Tem (from Dark World: Ghost Stories, 2013)
“Some Pictures of Monsters” by Rhonda Eikamp
“Hairwork” by Gemma Files (from She Walks in Shadows, 2015)

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. Read the complete announcement, and sign up here. You can also support The Dark by buying their books, reviewing stories, or even just leaving comments.

Read the August issue here, catch up on their June or July issues, or see their complete back issue catalog here. The August cover is by Tomislav Tikulin. We last covered The Dark with the May issue.

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

I’ve been enjoying Charles Payseur’s short fiction reviews at his website, Quick Sip Reviews. Here’s what he says about the August issue of Clarkesworld:

It’s a month of surprises at Clarkesworld this August, as there is an extra original story plus a story in translation from German instead of the usual Chinese translation. So there’s definitely a lot to see with four short stories and two longer novelettes. The good news is that it’s all weird. Seriously, these are stories that push at the boundaries of the imagination. That conjure up strange worlds and uncertain realities and the vastness and power of both space and violence. Stories that set aliens next to 50’s greasers and mix time travel, tragedy, and immigration. And through it all there’s a sense of yearning that pervades. For a brighter future, a peaceful cooperation, and the comfort of another presence. To the reviews!

To the reviews, indeed. After a lead-in like that, it’s hard to resist. Read his complete review here.

I’m not completely used to longer fiction at Clarkesworld yet — and there are some longer pieces in this issue, including Dale Bailey’s “Teenagers from Outer Space” (11,690 words), and Karla Schmidt’s “Alone, on the Wind” (13,449 words, translated from the German). There’s also original fiction from Kali Wallace, Emily Devenport, Sean Bensinger, and Ryan Row, and reprints by Tobias S. Buckell and Madeline Ashby.

Here’s the complete list of stories featured this issue.

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