A Look at Beneath Ceaseless Skies #120

It's been a little while since I last reviewed an issue of BCS.  The current issue contains the usual two stories, one with steampunk themes, which is a little different than what you usually find here. 

First up, "The Clockwork Trollop" by Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald.  A scientist in Victorian England try to reduce the number of women engaging in prostitution by creating an untiring and hygienic lady of the night.  (He envisions training the current prostitutes to maintain their replacements.)  Like much social engineering, this one has some serious unexpected consequences.

This was a relatively short story, and the general way things end up isn't exactly unexpected.  Still, Doyle and Macdonald do a good job of capturing the feel of the times.  This one had an aura of Arthur Conan Doyle  hanging over it.

The longer of the two stories was "The Drowned Man" by Laura E. Price.  This is a complex tale about two sisters who are returning from an island that isn't entirely in this world.  They've recovered an artifact for a museum and are hoping the museum will hire them in this capacity on a regular basis.  While in the middle of the ocean, they spot a man in the water.  At first they think he's drowned, but when the ship's crew pulls him onboard they discover he's still alive.

They should be asking themselves why he's still alive if he's in the middle of the ocean...

The thing I liked most about this one were the hints regarding the two sisters.  Ms. Price seems to have worked out the backstory quite thoroughly.  I'm not sure if "The Drowned Man" is a stand alone with a detailed background, the inaugural installment of a new series, or only the most recent episode of a series already begun.  I rather hope there are either other stories about these characters out there, more to come, of both.  The sisters aren't exactly lady-like nor are the the kind of women warmly welcomed in polite society.  The author hints they may have been raised by a witch, so that probably has something to do with it.

Anyway, an enjoyable issue, although the subject matter of "The Clockwork Trollop" might not be to everyone's taste.  The next issue should be out within a few days, so look for another review soon.

 

2012 in Retrospect: Short Fiction

This past year was a good year overall for short fiction.  And some of the most exciting short fiction was published online with or without the option of subscribing.  There were also the usual print venues, both periodicals and anthologies.  In this post, I'm going to try to provide an admittedly incomplete overview of the short fiction field in 2012, emphasizing online venues.  I didn't read thoroughly enough in the print periodicals (Asimov's, Analog, Hitchcock's, Ellery Queen, or F&SF) to have a feel for them.  And there were enough original anthologies that flew past my radar that I'm not even going to try to discuss any of them.

And as for the electronic magazines, with one exception, I'm only going to mention the ones I read at least once this year.  I'm not going to discuss individual stories; I don't have that kind of time.  Rather, I'm going to try to give a general idea of what the magazine was like.  Links and subcription information (where applicable) will be provided.

A Look at Beneath Ceaseless Skies #109

I'm trying to get caught up on periodical reading before diving back into some novels.  It's been a while since I looked at Beneath Ceaseless Skies.  BCS is one of the best publications for short adventure fantasy out there.  I try to read every issue, even if I don't review all of them.  I'm a little behind right now, but I hope to get caught up during the Christmas break.

Anyway, the latest issue is live, so let's look at it.

October

Well another page on the calendar had turned, and I'm more behind than ever.  Some things never change.  Here's what I've got on the plate for October.  First, sometime tomorrow, I'll announce the winner of the James Enge book giveaway.  I've got a dentist appointment in the morning along with my son, followed by a three hour class, so it might be later in the day before that announcement goes up.

The next novel on the agenda is Steel and Sorrow by Joshua P. Simon.  I'll probably start it sometime this weekend.  I'll refrain from saying what novel is after that; I'm going to play it by ear.  I've got several I'm going to read this month, but I haven't decided on the final order.

There are a couple of items that are seasonal in nature that I want to sprinkle in the mix, so I'm not going to lock myself down to any particular sequence.

One thing I am going to read a great deal of over the next few months is short fiction.  In the next week, I want to review the premier issue of Nightmare magazine (I'm about a third of the way through now, and it's great), the new fiction being posted on Black Gate, the anniversary double sized issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies (it's not live as of this writing, but I have a subscription and have already downloaded it), plus the inaugural stories in Eclipse Online.  Jonathan Strahan was kind enough to send me advance copies of the first two stories, and I'll be reading those over the next day or two.  Plus I have a number of anthologies and single author collections sitting on the shelves I've been wanting to finish.

That's plenty to keep me busy.

Beneath Ceasesless Skies is Having a Subscription Drive

One of the best online magazines of any genre, period, and a great source for adventure fantasy is Beneath Ceaseless Skies.  Right now they're having a subscription drive.  A one-year subscription (26 issues, one every other week) is only $13.99.  The formats available are mobi, epub, pdf, and prc.  To sweeten the pot, when you subscribe during the drive, you will get a free copy of The Best of BCS, Year One or The Best of BCS, Year Two.  Your choice. That's hard to beat.  I renewed my subscription tonight.

If you're not familiar with Beneath Ceaseless Skies, you can find reviews here, here, here, here, here, and here. 

Beneath Ceaseless Skies Hits 100 Issues

Beneath Ceaseless Skies 
Cover art by Raphael Lacoste

The one hundredth issue of BCS won't go live for another day or so, which means I'll have to put the links in for the individual stories later (done), but I wanted to try and create a bit of advance buzz for the issue.  (Having a subscription, I got my copy early.)  Beneath Ceaseless Skies is one of the best fantasy markets out there, and it publishes every other week.

I'm behind on reading the short fiction magazines I subscribe to, or I would have reviewed some of the preceding issues.  I may still.  But 100 issues is a milestone that deserves to be celebrated.  Instead of the usual two pieces of fiction, there are four, just like in the issue marking the three year anniversary of the magazine (reviewed here).  Here's what you'll find.

New Issue (#96) of Beneath Ceaseless Skies Now Available

Beneath Ceaseless Skies
biweekly
free online or through electronic subscription

A new issue of BCS went live today, unless you subscribe, in which case you've had it since Sunday night/Monday morning.  But I digress.

This issue contains two stories.  Let's take a brief look at them.

More Science Fantasy at Beneath Ceaseless Skies

I've been swamped lately between dayjobbery and trying to finish a novel for review at Futures Past and Present, which is why I've not posted anything for almost a week.  The current issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies went out to subscribers nearly two weeks ago and live on the web a few days after that; I finished reading the stories last weekend.  It's late Friday night and I'm just now getting time to sit down and write it.

Not that you want to hear about my chronological issues.  You want to know if the current issue is worth reading.  The answer is, of course.  The real question is, what are the stories about and how do they compare with the previous issue, which kicked off the science fantasy month?

Science Fantasy Emphasis at Beneath Ceaseless Skies

If you check out the current issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies and happen to be paying attention, you might notice references being made to Science-Fantasy Month.  This in my opinion is a good thing since science-fantasy is one of the subgenres we don't see much of these days.  And since BCS is published every two weeks, and this is the first issue of March, there should be another issue with this emphasis next week.  So how does this issue hold up?

Beneath Ceaseless Skies Celebrates Three Years

 Beneath Ceaseless Skies has been publishing some of the best fantasy to be found on the web or anywhere else for three years now.  Adventures Fantastic would like to congratulate BCS for three great years and wish them many more.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies marked its three year anniversary with its current issue, a double issue.  If you're wondering what a double issue for an electronic magazine is, you get twice the amount of fiction.  And it's good fiction, which is what you expect from this publication.  That's one of the reasons I decided to start the Seven Days of Online Fiction with Beneath Ceaseless Skies. 

It's been a while since we looked at BCS, so here's a quick overview of the contents. 

The Greatest Show...Anywhere

A few weeks ago, when I was doing the series Seven Days of Online Fiction, I looked at what was the then current issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies on Day 1.  Because I wasn't reviewing series fiction as part of the Seven Days, I only examined one story.  The one I didn't look at was "The Finest Spectacle Anywhere" by Genevieve Valentine.  After I posted the review, the editor, Scott Andrews, kindly sent me an email telling me the story was self-contained. 

I'd intended to go back and look at the story.  Then Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus came to town.  They're set up at the coliseum getting ready for a series of performances that start tomorrow.  I've been driving by the elephants going to and from work every day this week.  What better motivation to visit a circus in a fantasy world?

Seven Days of Online Fiction, Day 8: Recap

So a week ago today, I acted on this crazy idea I had to look at a different venue for online fiction every day for a week, with as much a focus as possible on fantasy.  I called the project Seven Days of Online Fiction.  It started when I read Karen Burnham's list of work that had received multiple award nominations this year; most of the short fiction was available online.  (Karen updated the list on Wednesday.) 

I've had the opinion for a long time now that what has been appearing online is just as good as what the print magazines have been publishing.  I intentionally left anthologies out of the mix because even the few anthology series that appear regularly have at least a year between volumes and are often trumpeted as Events.  I wanted to look at what was appearing on a consistent basis.

So I managed to read and post for seven days in a row, although the last couple of days were a bit of a strain from a time commitment perspective.  Links to each day are in the sidebar on the right.  The next time I do something like this, I'll have at least half the posts done before any go live.  Anyway, I thought I would take today, Day 8, if you'll allow, to look back and see what I've learned from this experience.

Seven Days of Online Fiction, Day 1: Beneath Ceaseless Skies

The first story we'll be looking at in our Seven Day of Online Fiction is"Buzzard's Final Bow" by Jason S. Ridler in the May 5 issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies.  This is issue number 68 for those of you who are counting. The other story in the issue is "The Finest Spectacle Anywhere" by Genevieve Valentine.  It's the second in a series.  Since one of the rules of The Seven Days is to only look at standalone stories, it won't be considered here.  It looks intriguing, though, so I may post about it after The Seven Days.

More Beneath Ceaseless Skies

In a previous post a few nights ago, I reviewed one of the two stories in the current issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies.  At the time, I was under the weather, and so passed on reading and reviewing the second in favor of getting some much needed rest.  Some of you may  have thought that it was hardly fair to Eljay Daly, the author of the second story, "Dirt Witch".  And I would agree with you.  So today I read that story, and here's my review of it.

The story concerns a young girl named Dorota in the village of Szukowo.  The village is plagued by ghosts of soldiers.  If you have the misfortune to be caught outside after dark during the winter, you can be shot or bayonetted.  Some years ago, Dorota's father stole a fire-flower from a witch, and since then the villagers have been able to defend themselves.  Unfortunately, as the story opens, Dorota's father has died in a drowning accident, the details of which we're not given.  What matters is now the village has no defense against the ghosts.  Mocked by her grandmother for not being as brave as her father, Dorota decides to find the witch and try to bargain for another flower.  Of course, it's not going to be that easy. 

Daly does an excellent job of gradually revealing to the reader that things are quite what they seem.  Did I say "quite what they seem"?  Things aren't at all what they seem.  The inside of the witch's house is bigger than the outside and truly creepy.  There's been a pattern in recent years to make witches good and beautiful.  I view this trend in much the same way I view the current fad of vampires being sensitive, attractive, and glittery in sunlight.  In other words, a bunch of bunk, a heap of horse puckey, and a cartload of crap.  (I toned that last sentence down in the interest of being sensitive to those of differing taste.)  I'm pleased to say that Daly has made her witch truly vile and despicable.  The woman is evil, but not without understandable motives.  This is a tough thing to pull off, especially in a short story, and most especially when the witch is only onstage for a what would be a few pages in a print venue.  Oh, and I thought the antlers were a nice touch, Eljay.

I don't normally care for stories involving witches, partly for the reason listed above, but I enjoyed this one.  Eljay Daly is a new writer, and if this story is typical of her work, she's going to be one to watch.  While this wasn't heroic fantasy in the strictest sense, Dorota definitely shows courage and heroism and isn't afraid to fight with whatever at hand can be used as a weapon.

As I've said before, I'm not very familiar with BCS, but based on what I've read so far, that is going to change.  If you've not checked out Beneath Ceaseless Skies, do.  The stories are high quality and well written.  The magazine advertises itself as a literary fantasy magazine.  Usually when something promotes itself as literary, I tend to treat it with a bit of skepticism since much of what's called literary sacrifices story for style.  That's not the case with BCS.  They've combined the best of story and substance.  I hope they're around for a long time.

New Issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies

I've been a bit under the weather since I got back from ConDFW, so this will be a short post.  I'm getting better, thank you.  (And thank you, pharmaceuticals.  Better living through chemistry!)

A new issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies was posted today.  You should check it out.  I've been aware of BCS for a while but only recently began reading it.  I do enough reading on a computer screen as part of my dayjobbery that I haven't kept up with the online publications like I should.  That's in the process of changing.

Anyway, BCS posts new issues every two weeks, usually with two stories.  The current issue leads off with "The Ghost of Shinoda Forest", by Richard Parks, a tale of honor and loss in feudal Japan.  This story showcases Parks' ability to develop mood and character in a short space, and is one of the better stories I've read in a while.  It also is the latest in a series, but functions perfectly well as a stand-alone. 

I met Parks when he was a regular attendee at the early Conestogas, the SFF convention in Tulsa.  This would have been in the late 90's and early 00's.  He quit coming after a few years.  I remember him as a soft spoken man, but one who was easy to talk to.  I've long thought him to be one of the more underrated writers working at short fiction lengths in fantasy for the last decade.  It would be nice to see him get more recognition.  He has several collections out, and has a web page, which unfortunately doesn't seem to have been updated in a while.  There is a bibliography there, if you're interested in reading more of his work.  Of course if you're one of those people who like things current, check his livejournal page.  It was updated yesterday.

The second story, "Dirt Witch" by Eljay Daly, I haven't read it yet.  Since I'm not feeling at the top of my game, I probably won't read it tonight.  I'm going to turn in early.  When my energy levels are back up, I'll post a short review.  Until then, I'm starting to fade and need to call it a night.

What I Read While Stuck in Airports

I've been on the road for the last few days, traveling due to dayjobbery.  I've spent a lot of time in the air and in airports.  I had to make two connections to get where I was going and again to get home.  I took my Nook with me, loaded with stuff.  Unfortunately, you aren't supposed to have the things on during taxiing, takeoff, and landing.  Something about interfering with the plane's navigational system or something.  I'm not sure of the details. 

Anyhoo, before I left I bought and downloaded the Beneath Ceaseless Skies anthology.  This is a collection stories from the first year of the magazine.  I must confess to not being as familiar with the publication as I need to be.  That's going to change.  I'm only about a third of the way through, but the stories are top notch.  Less sword and sorcery than I prefer, but still good high quality, well-written pieces.  Worth checking out, and for three bucks, you will get your money's worth.  All proceeds go to the authors and artists.  Check it out, along with the magazine.  I'll be posting about it more in the future.

In addition to reading a business book and the current issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, I ended up getting a used paperback copy of David Drake's Other Times Than Peace.  I pretty much only read this one on the way back while I couldn't read the Nook, so I only got about 130 pages into it, finishing the first two stories.  Still, Drake does a good job of pulling you into a tale with only a few words.  One of the things I like best about his work is that he draws on ancient history.  He's another author I need to read more of.

I still haven't started the latest McDevitt, Echo, and since he'll be at ConDFW next weekend, I need to get moving on that.  I haven't had much time to blog lately, but I thought I would pass along some recommendations on what I've read lately.  Expect a report on ConDFW when I get back.  Until then, look for at least one more post later this week.