Monthly Archives: December 2017
Magazine: Diabolical Plots
You’ve probably heard me mention the submissions grinder website before, as that’s where I found the majority of the magazines I’ve reviewed. It’s an excellent tool for short story authors, as it will list magazines that are currently accepting submissions of a story’s genre and length. Also, if you log your submissions there, it will […]
Podcast: The Overcast
The Overcast is a podcast, based in the Pacific Northwest, which puts out a short story every two weeks or so. It must be as rainy as they say in that part of the country, as there are approximately one gigazillion podcasts there which have named themselves “The Overcast”. I haphazardly selected seven stories from […]
Podcast: The Drabblecast
The Drabblecast is a podcast which puts out a short story every week. Their tagline is “strange stories, by strange authors, for strange listeners”, and they deliver. I listened to five of their stories, and four of them are probably the weirdest stories I’ve read during my magazine quest. (The fifth was a fairly conventional […]
Magazine: Alien Dimensions #12
Alien Dimensions #12 Short Stories Antlions by Elana Gomel. First contact with some unusual aliens. They get jealous when a human man gets too friendly with one of their females. The Exchange by Neil Hogan. The main character is a woman whose job is first contact with aliens — by having sex with them. Part of her […]
Magazine: Just a Minor Malfunction, issue #3
Just a Minor Malfunction, issue #3 Short Stories Left to Her Own Devices by James Armer. A spaceship AI downloads its personality into a robot body, so it can explore a moon when the ship and its human passengers leave. A fresh copy of the AI is left on the spaceship without the developed personality. Day […]
Early Christmas Present
Merry Christmas Eve, everybody! I was trying to decide what to get all of you for Christmas, but it turns out the only thing you have in common is that you like to read a sci-fi book blog written by a grouchy old man. (My wife informs me that I’m not that old, but they […]
Magazine: Empyreome, issue #3
Empyreome, issue #3 Short Stories Quest for the Silver Shard by Adam O’Connell. A story about some fairy/pixie creatures, with a death by lawnmower at the end. Oscars on the Rue Jules Verne by L Chan. A human actress leads some mole-people in combat, because the mole-people need pheromone signals from queens, but mole-people queens are too […]
Magazine: Stupefying Stories, March 2017
Stupefying Stories, March 2017 Short Stories I Live the Warrior’s Life by Robert Russell. An engaging story with an abrupt mid-story ending. So, an engaging half of a story, I guess. Set in a post-apocalyptic America, where the apocalypse was caused by an Indian shaman unleashing spirits. The spirits don’t kill Amerindians. This is Not When […]
Magazine: Outposts of Beyond, July 2017
Outposts of Beyond, July 2017 (note that the linked item at Amazon has an incorrect cover image) You may have noticed that my last few magazine reviews did not have intro stories. I’m trying to wrap up round one of my magazine quest (which, I’ve just realized, began in late 2015) by the end of the […]
Magazine: Strange Horizons
Strange Horizons is not a magazine in the traditional sense, with monthly or quarterly issues. It’s a website with weekly issues, each containing one short story along with other types of content, such as poetry, articles, and reviews. I selected roughly a month’s worth of issues, from March 20 to April 17 of this year. […]
Magazine: Lyonesse Volume 1
Lyonesse, Volume 1 Lyonesse is another magazine in the superversive tradition, which I mentioned in my review of Astounding Frontiers. Unlike Astounding Frontiers, Lyonesse has open submissions periods, so if you’ve written some superversive fiction, this could be a home for it. There are two ways to read Lyonesse: you can subscribe and receive […]
Magazine: Broadswords and Blasters, issue #2
Broadswords and Blasters, issue #2 Broadswords and Blasters describes itself as “a pulp magazine with modern sensibilities.” By pulp, I’m assuming they mean that they publish both genres, action and adventure. (I stole that line from the editor of a competing magazine, Storyhack.) By modern sensibilities, I believe they mean stories featuring heroes who […]
Magazine: Astounding Frontiers #1
Astounding Frontiers, issue #1 Astounding Frontiers is a magazine put out by Superversive Press. “Superversive” is the name of a recent literary movement you may not be familiar with. This quote from author L Jagi Lamplighter serves as a nice, quick summary: You know how subversive means to change something by undermining from below? […]
Star Wars: The Laziest Jedi
I suspect that most of you have plans to see the next Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi, in the near future. I don’t plan to join you, mostly because I was disappointed by the previous movie in the series chronology, The Force Awakens. I may change my mind if someone I trust recommends the […]
Magazine: Lontar, issue #6
Lontar, the Journal of Southeast Asian Speculative Fiction, Issue #6 Lontar is, as far as I know, Singapore’s only SFF magazine. Like many regional SFF magazines, it is supported by a government grant. [Update: the magazine has lost its government grant and is now attempting to fund its final two issues through Patreon.] The magazine […]
NaNoWriMo wrap-up
November’s over, and I achieved my NaNoWriMo goal of 30 novels in 30 days. I posted about my first 17 novels earlier, here are the remaining 13: Running Ragged — A street urchin witnesses a crime in an illegal drug lab, and goes on the run from the perpetrators. Can’t Eat This — A prototype android responds to […]
Planetary Defense Command 