State of the Story

Neil Clarke has an editorial over at Clarkesworld Magazine with some new data regarding magazine sales and the overall state of the short fiction industry. As he mentions in the article, this is an update to a similar editorial from last year.

Also at Clarkesworld is an interview with ten SFF magazine editors:
Patrick Neilsen Hayden (Tor.com)
Shawna McCarthy (Realms of Fantasy)
John O'Neill (Black Gate)
Cat Rambo (Fantasy Magazine)
Mike Resnick (Jim Baen's Universe)
Stanley Schmidt (Analog)
Jason Sizemore (Apex Digest)
Gordon Van Gelder (Fantasy & Science Fiction)
Sheila Williams (Asimov's)
Ann Vandermeer (Weird Tales)

That is one powerful lineup and includes most of the largest and most significant publications in the genre today (I'd include Subterranean, Strange Horizons, Electric Velocipede, and LCRW, but that's just quibbling over further inclusion of stuff I like. I can't argue with that lineup).

Good stuff there, if nothing earthshattering.

"Tetris Dooms Itself", by Meghan McCarron

So, “Tetris Dooms Itself” from Meghan McCarron is not actually about Tetris. I’ll chock that one up in the “disappointed” column.

The story itself...it’s a Clarkesworld story. This is actually something of a description. It’s a bit on the weird side and I’m not sure that describing the story will really capture it. Running at just under 3300 words, it’s worth the time to check it out.

It’s a story with random kidnapping, disfigurement, re-growing limbs, obsession, some sort of a “sham-game”, and I think this is all somehow metaphor for emotional abuse and being the “other woman” in a relationship. I think. Maybe.

Oh yeah, and Tetris does make an appearance, but it isn’t really about that.

“Tetris Dooms Itself” is a bit grotesque in the abstract (or, perhaps it is grotesque in what gets described, but if the story is metaphor, is it really grotesque in the physical? Does this even make sense?)

Decent story. I liked it, but I’m not sure I really know what it is about.

Tetris Dooms Itself?

There is a story up in the new issue of Clarkesworld titled "Tetris Dooms Itself".

How awesome is that? I don't know what the story is actually about (though if it really is about Tetris dooming itself, I may be in love).

No matter what I may think of the story after I read it - Thank you Meghan McCarron for what I firmly believe is the best story title I have ever seen.

The Clockwork Chickadee

Clarkesworld Magazine will publish Mary Robinette Kowal's story "The Clockwork Chickadee" in its June issue. I had the opportunity to read Mary's story in advance of publication, and like I have found with so much of Mary's work, it was really good.

"The Clockwork Chickadee" is, simply, a story of deceit and trickery as a little windup Chickadee plots her revenge on the little windup Sparrow.

Chickadee kept her head down when she could so as not to give him the satisfaction of her notice. It was clear to her that any bird could fly if only they were attached to a string like him. The flight, of which he was so proud, was not even an integral part of his clockwork. A wind-up engine hanging from the chandelier spun him in circles while he merely flapped his wings. Chickadee could do as much. And so she thought until she hatched an idea to show that Sparrow was not so very special.

The story is, in turn, playful and charming, well thought out and deliberate, and Kowal appears to have written her own version of an O Henry story.

It works.

It should come as no surprise that I quite enjoyed "The Clockwork Chickadee" as I am a noted fan of Mary Robinette Kowal's work, but written with a simplicity which likely masks the work that went into crafting the story and making sure that what happens at the end is, in fact, set up at the beginning "The Clockwork Chickadee" is as good as anything she has published before.

New Clarkesworld Art - Naomi Chen

While I find the fiction up at Clarkeworld to be generally hit or miss for my tastes, the artwork is without a doubt all hit.

This latest piece by Naomi Chen is no exception. Striking. The artwork can also be found here.

New Clarkesworld Stories - September

Two new stories are up at Clarkesworld Magazine for their September 2007 issue.









Little Conversations, by Caitlin R Kiernan
Lost Soul, by M P Ericson

That is some outstanding artwork for the September issue.

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.