Down to a Sunless Sea by Mathias B. Freese
Down to a Sunless Sea, a collection of fifteen well-crafted stories, should appeal to genre readers, at least a certain segment of them. Mathias B. Freese constructs mostly situational depictions of character, and his skill with this character development is considerable. With fewer words than most writers, he is able to convey depth and subtlety […]
Continue ReadingIdeomancer, June 2008, Vol 7, Issue 2
Marsha Sisolak, the publisher of Ideomancer, comments on the website that “this month, our theme seems to be dead people. Or if not quite dead, not quite your typical zombie, either.” Be that as it may, there is no doubt that the June 2008 issue of this imaginative magazine is alive and well, offering three […]
Continue ReadingLone Star Stories, #27, June 2008
Issue #27 of Lone Star Stories presents a by-now-standard sextet: from the three stories, one is particularly strong, and all three poems are highly recommended. The magazine typically offers challenging stories in a speculative vein, in various narrative styles and tones which make it—fortunately—hard to categorize; this issue is no exception. I have come to […]
Continue ReadingThe Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy, edited by Ellen Datlow
The Del Rey Book of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Sixteen Original Works by Speculative Fiction’s Finest Voices indeed contains some fine stories by some of the finest voices in speculative fiction. Before discussing the content, however, allow me to air a concern about the title, which in no way reflects upon my opinion of the […]
Continue ReadingThe Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories by John Kessel
Invest. Invest now. As John Kessel reveals through the multiplicity of hard satirical gifts borne in his latest collection, The Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories, odds are that you will become a hapless down-and-outer if you don’t—or perhaps, even if you do. Tomorrow may be a bitter pill to swallow—a descent into […]
Continue ReadingIlluminations: The Friday Flash Fiction Anthology, edited by Paul Graham Raven
Illuminations: The Friday Flash Fiction Anthology, edited by Paul Graham Raven, gathers together sixty-six tales by eight different authors in a charity project to benefit the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Its genesis was an exercise in motivation by Gareth L. Powell; he committed to writing a new flash fiction piece […]
Continue ReadingBlack Static #4
If acoustic static is white noise—a random signal with a flat power spectral density—then perhaps it follows that Black Static or, forgive the synoeciosis, black white noise, presents a primary inversion, a constantly fluctuating power spectral density. The fourth issue of this stylish horror magazine delivers six signal bursts, and I’m happy to report that […]
Continue ReadingTall Tales on the Iron Horse by Colin P. Davies
Tall Tales on the Iron Horse is the first collection of short fiction by Colin P. Davies and gathers nineteen tales, the oldest published in 1989 and the most recent in 2006, with some making their first appearance here. Despite this range in publication dates, none of these stories are dated, and in fact, some […]
Continue ReadingEscape Velocity #2, February 2008
Adventure Books of Seattle brings us the second issue of the full-sized, glossy covered Escape Velocity: The Magazine of Science Fact and Fiction, which contains thirteen stories (seven fewer than the debut issue) and an assortment of articles, interviews, and poetry in its ninety-four pages. The first issue, in the corresponding review here at The […]
Continue ReadingDog Versus Sandwich, February 2008
The February, 2008, issue of Dog Versus Sandwich offers three stories and one poem that propel this e-zine forward along its stated path of fantastic and surreal storytelling. To evaluate these stories by conventional expectations might lead us awry, so for a better idea of the appropriate yard stick, let me quote here from the […]
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