E-zines

Reviews of e-zines.

Hub Magazine, Issues #51-55

By Douglas Hoffman ⋅ June 23, 2008

The last five issues of Hub have included a few great reviews, several memorable short stories, and even a poem—one you won’t want to miss, even if the word “poem” makes you cringe.
D.K. Thompson’s “God-Shaped Box” in Hub #51 kicks off with one hell of a first-paragraph hook:
“I didn’t kill God; we should clear that […]

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Baen’s Universe, Vol 3 No 1, June 2008

By The Fix Contributors ⋅ June 20, 2008

In the first science fiction offering of the June 2008 issue of Baen’s Universe, “Last Plane to Heaven: A Love Story” by Jay Lake, a group of mercenaries in Mongolia are hired on what appears to be a routine mission: pass themselves off as Ukrainian mercenaries and stage a week-long hostage-taking. But when the hostage […]

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Distillations: Tell Me a Story

By Jennifer Mercer ⋅ June 19, 2008

A poem with a plot seems like a violation of some kind of natural law. The condensed design of poetry conveys the entirety of a moment at once. How can a poem build a narrative arc like that of fiction? The answer lies in the history of poetry itself. At one time, poetry’s mission was […]

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Lone Star Stories #26

By Shaun C. Green ⋅ June 19, 2008

Lone Star Stories is a bimonthly webzine which offers three pieces of fiction and three of poetry. That it has lasted for 26 issues (now 27) speaks well of its endurance and consistency. This issue opens with a short story—almost flash fiction—titled “The Stamp” by Terry Bisson. It’s deliberately simply written and tells the tale […]

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Lone Star Stories, #27, June 2008

By Alvaro Zinos-Amaro ⋅ June 15, 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 […]

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Written Word, #11, May 2008

By Carole Ann Moleti ⋅ June 10, 2008

Written Word continues its emphasis on dark fiction, and the darker side of human nature, in issue #11. Water, lost loves, and ghostly visions are the main themes. In the cover story, “I Came Upon a River,” Katherine leads us along the banks of a river which has claimed at least one life and threatens […]

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Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, #8, April 2008

By Jim Steel ⋅ June 9, 2008

In the fine traditional of Isaac Asimov, Jim Baen and, er, Vargo Statten, the Intergalactic Medicine Show webzine is named after a science fiction author. In some cases, such as Asimov’s, the author merely lends his name, and in others, such as the title under review, the author has a much more hands-on approach. […]

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Strange Horizons, May 2008

By Marshall Payne ⋅ June 9, 2008

Strange Horizons begins the month of May, 2008, with “The Gadgey” by Alan Campbell. In Scotland, two teenage boys on BMXs find a crashed spaceship. After much banter of Star Trek and E.T., the boys meet the alien they call a gadgey, who looks like the alien from the movie Predator, except in a silver […]

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Abyss & Apex, #26, 2nd Quarter 2008

By David Hebblethwaite ⋅ June 3, 2008

This was my first encounter with Abyss & Apex, a generalist speculative fiction webzine that seeks to publish “powerful stories with emotion that resonates in our minds and hearts long after the first reading” and “stories that stand out from the norm even in a genre that pushes the envelope of normal.” With the five […]

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Dog Versus Sandwich, May 2008

By Marshall Payne ⋅ June 3, 2008

The May, 2008, stories of Dog Versus Sandwich begin with “The Five Stages of Beef” by Peter Parrish. Jimmy must get home to his girlfriend, but he has a large problem: a cow has wandered onto the road, and he can’t pass. Getting out of his car, he engages in a maddening battle of rhetoric […]

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