Reviews
Flashing Swords #10
Flashing Swords is a magazine of Heroic Adventure Fantasy. Fans of the genre should find a great deal to enjoy within the pages of issue #10. Certainly you get value for money with thirteen short stories, plus poems, art, and nonfiction. On the whole, I thought the stories were fine pulp adventures, either dark-and-grim or […]
Continue ReadingParadox, #12, Spring 2008
There are fewer stories in issue #12 of Paradox due to the presence of the longest piece the ‘zine has published yet, a novelette by David Erik Nelson. All these stories have to do with war, either between cultures or nations. Though there are a couple of settings that have become very […]
Continue ReadingDistillations: Breaking the Line
Once upon a time, it was easy for both poets and readers to know where to expect a line break. The rhythm of the meter shows it and by the rhyme you would know it. However, the previous example is an example of why this approach is less common today. It takes a great amount […]
Continue ReadingTalebones, #36, Spring 2008
In issue #36 of Talebones, “The Cankerman Shower” by Paul Melko whimsically captures the campy Bat Durston drama (and many of the sexist stereotypes) of the ’50s space westerns that we’ve grown to love. Mr. Cankerman, however, as his name implies, is rotten to the core, and yet lovable in a Han Solo sort of […]
Continue ReadingSybil’s Garage, #5, February 2008
Issue #5 of Sybil’s Garage, edited by Matthew Kressel, is an eclectic mix of multimedia works, fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, from bist-girls to phantasmagoric supermarkets. With carefully rendered black and whites, the artwork highlights themes and characters, gracing each text with well-appointed visuals. To further the artistic experience, each work suggests a “To the […]
Continue ReadingA Guide to Folktales in Fragile Dialects by Catherynne M. Valente
Catherynne M. Valente’s A Guide to Folktales in Fragile Dialects from Norilana Books collects about two dozen poems, most of them previously published in various print and online venues. The poems largely draw from mythology and fairy tales. Interspersed among them are very short prose pieces, each labeled as being a particular tale […]
Continue ReadingAsimov’s, July 2008
Do you hear that sound? That, folks, is a year’s subscription to Asimov’s draining out of my bank account. Yeah, I’ve bought single issues, I’ve subscribed to other SF mags, but July’s cornucopia has sold me, and sold me well. There are future award winners in this issue, or what should be future award winners, […]
Continue ReadingFrom the Podosphere: April 2008
The highlight of April’s podcast short fiction must be the long-awaited launch of PodCastle, the latest offering from Escape Artists, bringing their output up to three podcasts and completing the main genres of speculative fiction: SF, horror, and now fantasy. I was privileged to narrate PodCastle’s inaugural story myself, Peter S. Beagle’s “Come Lady Death” […]
Continue ReadingAberrant Dreams, April 2008
Four new stories and four new poems are offered in the current online issue of Aberrant Dreams, updated mid-April. Additional new material includes a review by Ernest G. Saylor of The Prefect, a novel by Alastair Reynolds, and a “Myles Cabot Presents” interview with Michael Swanwick, author of the Nebula award-winning novel, Stations 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 […]
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