Black Gate

Issue #196 of Beneath Ceaseless Skies introduces new artwork by Geoffrey Icard, and features original short fiction by Alter S. Reiss and C.A. Hawksmoor, a podcast by Alter S. Reiss, and a reprint by Oliver Buckram.

“Sea of Dreams” by Alter S. Reiss
There was nothing Ierois could say; he made his way back to his house and took up the book he had been given. But there was something stale in the words. Over his years on the island, he had been given nine other books, but they had become outworn, nothing in them to distract him.

“The Stone Garden” by C.A. Hawksmoor
They rose with the light and worked long into the sunrise clearing a space beneath the broken roof, like the hollow an animal makes in the bracken by circling itself to sleep. Unloading the wood-burner from the wagon and coaxing it into place against the chimney breast was harder, and the tear in Gwyn’s shoulder tugged like wool caught in a wall.

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Mike Resnick’s Galaxy’s Edge magazine has been published since March 2013; it’s a bimonthly that has both print and digital editions. Truth be told, I thought it was a straight-up science fiction magazine, and didn’t pay much attention until recently. I finally took a closer look this month, and it seems like Galaxy’s Edge could be of interest to fantasy fans after all. The latest issue, #19, is cover-dated March 2016; Mike’s editorial includes a reprint of the last of his F&SF columns from the 90s, which celebrates forgotten treasures. Here’s a taste.

Readers of this column know that the late C. L. Moore is one of my favorite writers. Her Northwest Smith and Jirel of Joiry stories are classics of their type, and she was also able to produce truly brilliant works of art such as “Vintage Season.”

I’d like to tell you about one of her less well-known books. It’s called Judgment Night, and it’s sort of a transition between her early days as a Weird Tales fantasy specialist and her later career, in collaboration with her husband Henry Kuttner, as a creator of highly-polished, fast-paced science fiction.

Every pulp writer referred to “pleasure planets” — but only Catherine Moore created one that was worthy of the title: “Cyrille, where beauty and terror were blended for the delectation of those who loved nightmares.” It’s the world where much of Judgment Night takes place.

And, in an era when girls in science fiction stories were just lumpy boys, fit only for holding the equivalent of the hero’s horse, Moore created yet another powerful, competent woman, fully the equal of Jirel — the memorable Juille, who rebels against a rebellion.

The March issue of Galaxy’s Edge includes new fiction by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley, Larry Hodges, Steve Pantazis, Dantzel Cherry, Ian Whates, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, Sunil Patel, and Kary English & Robert B Finegold, plus reprints from Robert Silverberg, Janis Ian, David Drake, and Jean Rabe. It also includes Part Two of Leigh Brackett’s 1955 SF novel The Long Tomorrow.

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I’m not familiar with K. M. Ferebee, but a quick visit to her website, The Conference of the Birds, tells me she’s published short stories in Shimmer, Fantasy Magazine, Strange Horizons, and Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet.

It was her recent appearance at Tor.com that really attracted my attention, however. “Tom, Thom” is a dark fantasy tale available free online.

Young Tom has always dreamed of wolves, which everyone knows don’t exist. One day he goes out for a log from the woodpile, and when he returns, there is another Tom, like him, but other. This dark and compelling tale from short fiction writer K. M. Ferebee will make you reconsider what may be lurking in the forest.

“Tom, Thom” was posted at Tor.com on February 3. It was edited by Liz Gorinsky, and illustrated by Rovina Cai. It’s available here.

We last covered Tor.com with A.M. Dellamonica’s epic fantasy “The Glass Galago.” For more free fiction, see all of our online magazine coverage here.”

The contents of the March issue of online magazine Nightmare are now fully available at the magazine’s wesbite. This issue contains original short stories from John Skipp and Sandra McDonald, and reprints from Nancy Holder and Charles L. Grant.

Original Stories

“Bringing Out the Demons” by John Skipp
I pull up in front of Stanley’s four-story Los Feliz apartment building at 2:57 ayem Angie and Jack are already out front: Angie pacing, a furious smoke in her hand. Jack smiles thinly, salutes as I block the grade school playground driveway next door (the only available parking left), leaving enough room for the back doors of Jack’s van to load in if need be.

“The Modern Ladies’ Letter-Writer” by Sandra McDonald
Dear Susie: There are customary ways to begin a letter and end it, to address the envelope and set it to post. We have delivered to you (while you slept so prettily, your pale face a serene oval in the moonlight) this polite and improving manual of letters for the Fair Sex. We know you will be grateful. Do be aware that some correspondences may involve vows of fealty, freshly spilled blood, supernatural appeals to divine beings, and sacrifices of unusual scope. A modern lady avoids squeamishness about such matters.

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Lots of great reading for fantasy lovers this month — including some terrific tales at Tor.com, new issues of Fantasy Scroll, Lightspeed, Apex, Clarkesworld, Analog, and many more.

For our vintage magazine readers, Rich Horton reviewed the March 1964 Amazing Stories, and Doug Ellis dug deep into his impressive collection to report on the Early Chicago SF Fan Club, and Otto Binder’s 1937 letter on John W. Campbell, and we introduced you to Gideon Marcus’ website Galactic Journey.

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

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Beneath Ceaseless Skies 195 is the second issue to use Sung Choi’s cover art Research Lab. The next issue, #196 (published this week) changes up the artwork again. They’re moving so fast they’re hard to keep up with these days.

Issue #195 is another Science-Fantasy double-issue, featuring a bonus story and a bonus podcast. It contains original short fiction by Aliette de Bodard, Sarah Pinsker, and Jason Sanford, podcasts by Aliette de Bodard and Sarah Pinsker, a reprint by Chris Willrich, and an Audio Vault reprint by Aliette de Bodard.

“A Salvaging of Ghosts” by Aliette de Bodard
In the darkness at the hole in the ship’s hull, Thuy isn’t blind. Her suit lights up with warnings — temperature, pressure, distortions. That last is what will kill her: the layers of unreality utterly unsuited to human existence, getting stronger and stronger as the current carries her closer to the wreck, crushing her lungs and vital organs like crumpled paper when her suit finally fails. It’s what killed Kim Anh on her last dive.

“The Mountains His Crown” by Sarah Pinsker
The soldier shrugged. His look was almost sympathetic. They turned back toward the fields. I would have liked to tell them to take the road, to stop trampling our remaining crops, but I knew better than to rile them. The soldier’s horse dropped the chewed flower stalk as they disappeared back between the rows.

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