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 Quick Look at the Second Issue of Nightmare Magazine

I realize that November is almost over, and the new issue of Nightmare will be out in a matter of hours, at least if you have a subscription.  So I'm behind for the month.  Like you aren't?

Anyway, I wanted to take a look at the second issue since the first was a little different.  It contained four pieces of original fiction.  Starting with the current issue, Nightmare will run two original stories and two reprints. 

So let's take a quick look, shall we?

The Premier Issue of Nightmare Magazine is so Good It's Scary

Yes, I'm starting another review with another bad pun.  As I said previously, some things just have to be done.

Nightmare Magazine is the new online venture from John Joseph Adams, through Creeping Hemlock Press.  Whereas Lightspeed focuses on science fiction and fantasy, Nightmare will feature new and reprint horror and dark fantasy, with interviews, nonfiction, and artist spotlights thrown into the mix. 

Funded by a Kickstarter campaign, Nightmare is out of the gates and running, having gone live on October 1.  If the quality holds, it will definitely be worth the money I spent to support it.  Supporters got their electronic copies the same day the magazine went live, or I would have posted a review in advance.

While current plans are to publish two new and two reprint stories a month, the first issue has four new stories, an editorial by Adams, a column by R. J. Sevin, Author Spotlights in which the authors discuss their stories, and part one of an interview with Peter Straub.  Cover artist Jeff Simpson is the featured artist in this issue's Artist Spotlight.

Since this blog tends to be fiction oriented, let's take a look at John Joseph Adams' selections, shall we?

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.