Heliotrope 3 Live!

Heliotrope Issue #3 is live and available online for free.

I was not too impressed with the first two issues, but considering how well they pay I hope / expect to see some stronger fiction from Heliotrope.

Short Fiction 'Zines

In light of the Short Fiction discussions I have come across recently, here's a glimpse of what I'm reading.


Actively Read:
Subterranean Online
Strange Horizons
Lone Star Stories
Chiaroscuro
Clarkesworld
Weird Tales (subscription)
Heliotrope


Single Issue Pick Ups:
Steampunk Magazine # 1 (not so good)
Subterranean # 4 (the John Scalzi SFF cliche issue...it’s good, just not as great as the Online edition)
Electric Velocipede # 11
Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet # 20
Rabid Transit: Long Voyages, Great Lies (solid anthology of four stories)



I will definitely pick up more print editions of Subterranean. I really love this small press. I fully expect to order more from the Rabid Transit line of chapbooks. I still need to read EV and LCRW (still need to receive LCRW for that matter), so opinions forthcoming for those zines. I imagine I will purchase a chapbook or two from EV, though. I am very interested in the just published William Shunn chapbook.

I hope / intend on purchasing some One Story, Intergalactic Medicine Show, and perhaps Jim Baen's Universe at some time in the future.

What is readily apparent here is that I only subscribe to one magazine and that’s just because they had a great discount / deal for the subscription. Otherwise I probably would not subscribe to Weird Tales. I would love a similar offer for Asimov's or F&SF. When we're talking $5 (or so) at a time, it is easier to budget in a single issue of a zine. Pulling a subscription fee at any single time is a bit tougher and questionable if the value is there. For markets that only publish a couple of times a year, one at a time is a decent value and gives me a chance to see if this is something that is worth an additional investment. I don't know that I have that option with an Asimov's.

I know there are other free markets out there, but for whatever reason the Actively Read ones are the ones I have focused on before I decide to try to branch out again and find some more.

underwhelm me again

After I read the excellent A Letter Never Sent I have come across a handful of underwhelming stories. Starting with a Cat Rambo story, which was decent (I rather enjoyed the manticore dropping the refrain "gnaw your bones" to frighten people), I’ve read six stories. Brazos, by Jerome Steuart, was surprisingly good. It deals with a man talking to the father of a River God down in Texas. The River God wants to marry the man’s daughter, but the father has read all the myths and knows that it generally does not end well. Strange Horizons has fairly consistently published quality stories and Brazos, while not one of the best, is solid. Sadly, the Heliotrope stories all disappointed. Honey Mouth had some potential, but On the Air and American Gothic...very disappointing. I really want Heliotrope to be a solid market for stories which publishes fiction which astounds and makes me sit up and notice. But, taking the first two issues into account...so far it isn't. Transtexting Pose from Clarkesworld...anyone know what that was about? Made no sense at all! The Cat Rambo was okay, but overall, I’m underwhelmed with this grouping.

I'll Gnaw Your Bones, the Manticore Said - Cat Rambo (Clarkesworld: July 2007)
Honey Mouth - Samantha Henderson (Heliotrope #1)
On the Air - Edward Morris (Heliotrope #1)
American Gothic - Michael Colangelo (Heliotrope #1)
Brazos - Jerome Steuart (Strange Horizons: July 2, 2007)
Transtexting Pose - Daniel Speegle (Clarkesworld: July 2007)

Bottom line: the only story I had any sort of appreciation for was I'll Gnaw Your Bones.