Black Gate

Steampunk Tales offers an interesting convergence of the new and old,  a pulp magazine for the iPhone (don’t worry, non-Apple heads, there’s also a downloadable PDF version). Volume 4  features ten stories:

“Convergence Culture, Pt. 2” by C.B. Harvey
“The Brass Pedestal” by Natania Barron
“The Gods of War” by Arkwright
“Miluth” by Alison Boyd
“Stormada, Pt. 3” by SatyrPhil Brucato
“An Unfortunate Engagement, Pt. 6” by G. D. Falksen
“Sideways” by Andrew Singleton
“The Choice for Cibyl” by David Soyka
“The Steam Mapper” by Clark Sumner Edwards
“The Juggernaut” by Rajan Khanna

And, yes that Soyka fellow happens to be directly related to me in the most direct way possible. But, check the issue out, anyway.

Canadian SF magazine On Spec completes its 20th anniversary of publication.

The Fall 2009 issue is guest edited by Robert J. Sawyer, and features fiction by Brent Knowles, Joanna M. Weston, Dave Cherniak, Amanda Downum, Erin Thomas, and Andrew Bryant. There are also poems by Phoebe T.H. Tsang and Lynn Pattison, as well as author interviews and other commentary.

Quite an accomplishment, eh?

In today’s mail arrived the December 2009 Interzone #225, containing these stories:

“Here We Are, Falling Through Shadows” by Jason Sanford
“By Starlight” by Rebecca J. Payne (a debut)
“The Killing Streets” by Colin Harvey
“Funny Pages” by Lavie Tidhar
“Bone Island” by Shannon Page & Jay Lake

As well as the usual assortment of columns and reviews.

Also in the mail is a slew of short story collections, including Interfictions 2, Paper Cities, Kurt Vonnegut’s posthumous Look at the Birdie, Conjunctions: 52 Betwixt and Between, and McSweeney’s Thirty Two.

As soon as I’ve read them, I’ll let you know. Just don’t expect anything in time for your Christmas shopping decisions.