Issue Five of StoryHack is now out in both Kindle and Print versions. This issue includes a story written by me! I hope you’ll all buy the issue and try to guess which story I wrote. Leave me a comment if you have a guess.
I’m really proud to be in the same magazine as some authors whose work I’ve bragged about in the past, JD Cowan and Jon Mollison. There are some other names I recognize as well, and some I don’t — maybe they’re new to being published like I am.
I’ve slacked off on writing additional short stories, but this publication might encourage me to get back to it. I’ve got another major career shift coming up soon, but if I can get that sorted out, I might hit the keyboard again.
Sadly, Broadswords and Blasters has announced that they will cease operations, but they’re going out with a bang. Issue 12 is being released/shipped on the 15th, and you can order it now in Kindle or Paper formats. It’s a double-length issue, so you get a lot of stories (I just checked the table of contents — 18 stories) for your money.
I’m a little disappointed in myself that I haven’t read or reviewed more issues of Broadswords and Blasters, and also that I never submitted a story to it. They have been one of the few magazines with the goal of entertaining their readers rather than convincing them to think a certain way.
I’m hoping to put out a couple of reviews of back issues next month, and I’d like to eventually get to all of them. They will still be available at Amazon, so if you like issue 12, you’ve got 11 more to check out.
If you like StoryHack and/or Broadswords and Blasters, you might also like Cirsova. They don’t have a new issue out right now, but one is scheduled for March, and if you’ve been slacking on your reading like I have, there are probably some issues for you to catch up on.
Leave a comment and let me know what you think of these magazines, and whether there are others you read regularly. I’m going to buy the magazines I’ve highlighted today, and I hope you’ll join me so we can boost them up in the Amazon rankings and maybe bring in a few new readers.
Planetary Defense Command 
I know that magazines keep trying to succeed, but do they? I also wonder who their target is?
I think a lot of the newer magazines break even, but they don’t make money that would begin to compensate the editors for their time. It’s a hobby/passion for them.
The target market for the newer magazines (at least the ones I like) seems to be people who are fed up with stories that are pretentious literary dull-fests, or political propaganda, or both.
For the older, established publications, their targets seem to be industry insiders and people who’ve forgotten to cancel their long-term subscriptions even though they aren’t reading the magazines any more.
Congratulations on publication.
Thanks, I hope it won’t be the last.
It won’t be.
Congratulations! That is excellent news! Hmm, let me guess…. Are you H.A. Titus?
Looks like StoryHack has answered your question below. The sleuths are closing in on my secret identity!
The plot thickens…! 😃
Bookstooge: Both Cirsova and I have had Kickstarter campaigns, so I guess that succeeding, right? We make excellent magazines, so that’s definitely success. I think Alex at cirsova is just about breaking even these days, I’m still a ways out from that, so none of the tiny publishers are quitting their day jobs anytime soon.
The Mithril Guardian:Planetary Defense is not H. A. Titus. She has a website at https://hatitus.com/ though. If you buy the mag, the answer might very well be found within… (Shameless self promotion)
Thanks, StoryHack! I’ll take a look at her webpage. And that sounds like a good plan to me! 😃
Congrats on the story!
Of the four newfangled, semi-pro, pulpy magazines I’ve read, I would rank them:
Cirsova > Broadswords and Blasters > Tales from the Magician’s Skull > Skelos
Thanks! I haven’t tried Magician’s Skull or Skelos yet.