Literary fantastic, magical realist and weird fiction books
* “Sometimes you do a thing because it is the only arrow you have left in your quiver. You do it, not because you have a brilliant plan, but because if you do nothing your soul withers and dies.” “I NEVER THOUGHT it would be her.” Plato’s grandmother said the same thing every time they […] Read more »
Letter from the Editor Another year, another issue! I started this magazine intending to do two per year. Now, festooned with a multitude of hats, I am grateful for the time to do one. Such is life, which evolves as it grows—we all know that. But what about death? My culture of origin, Anglo-America, isn’t […] Read more »
Review by Paul StJohn Mackintosh Radiant, Not Abominable Apologies, first, for any spoilers in this review, but readers should know they’ll get plenty of good stuff, even if they have a heads-up on some of the reveals. Stoker Award-winning Canadian author David Nickle presents a historical-fantastical body-horror epic, looping in Brownshirts, fighter aces, extreme […] Read more »
Review by Paul StJohn Mackintosh Stone Three The Stone Sky, third in N.K. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth series, comes hard on the heels of her second Hugo Award for the trilogy’s second volume, The Obelisk Gate. This is definitely not a standalone volume, though: you absolutely need to have read the first two books of […] Read more »
* “They pushed past the eighth layer of clothing. This was as deep as he’d dared go his first night in the house, once he’d realized what he had here.” A TIPSY MARIE Antoinette leaned into Albert’s back until she was uprighted by an Abraham Lincoln on rollerblades. At the king of all housewarming parties, […] Read more »
Review by J. S. Loveard “Now I live inside a story and fret about its outcome.” So says the often arch narrator of Ian McEwan’s latest novel Nutshell. The story? Shakespeare’s Hamlet. In twenty first century London, the narrator discovers that his mother, Trudy, and his uncle, Claude, are not only lovers, but are plotting to murder his father, […] Read more »
Review by William Grabowski [A] very large yellow butterfly with black spots like microchips on its wings; flying toward her: It had a scrunched-up, old man’s brown face, with wrinkles, sort of pruney, she thought. Jane Yolen has been referred to as “the Hans Christian Anderson of children’s literature,” a claim I’m not […] Read more »
Review by Paul StJohn Mackintosh A Howling Good Time I reviewed Stephen Graham Jones’s Mapping the Interior here recently, and I’m glad to report that Mongrels: A Novel is very different. It also deserves every accolade it’s received. Mongrels won a slew of best novel nominations, including for the 2016 Shirley Jackson Award and Bram […] Read more »
* Iphigenia had been Agamemnon’s daughter, sacrificed to and, some said, rescued by the goddess, taken to Greece and set to preside over the rituals there. Iphigenia, the name Kate had chosen. THE MAGLEV TRAIN accelerated away eastward, following the route that had once been State Highway 20. Caleb stood on the platform and let the […] Read more »
Review by William Grabowski She was not a ship at all; she was the ocean, deep and vast, with a form forever changing in waves of green and blue. I’ve been fortunate these past weeks to receive books by authors mostly new to me—including Caroline M. Yoachim‘s debut collection. As much as Weird Fiction […] Read more »
* “Sure, back in England Tom would be the wonder of the age and we’d—he’d—be rich and meeting royalty and such like. But what’s a man with a donkey head in a place where wishes come true?” SPELLMAN MATHERS’ TRAVELING Show & Zoo of Ordinary Creatures was shut up for the night. Tasks completed, Spellman kicked […] Read more »
Review by Paul StJohn Mackintosh Destroying Your Certainty Nadia Bulkin’s debut collection comes roaring out of the gate with one of the strongest titles of the year. As far as I know, the title is nothing to do with Marguerite Duras’s Destroy, She Said. Nor, fortunately, is it anything to do with the song by […] Read more »
We are pleased to introduce the winner of the 2016 New Voices Contest, Benjamin C. Jenkins. What follows is a short essay by Ben, about writing about his winning story, “Headdressing,” and his perspective as a Native American writer. I didn’t set out to write “Headdressing” with any Native American elements in mind, but somehow they […] Read more »
* See the Elephant, Issue 3: Slipping Through the Cracks explores what it means to slip through a crack, intentionally or not, into oblivion or freedom; how it feels to be threatened by some terrible, broken thing, or to break ourselves. These stories range from the darkest impulses of human (and inhuman) nature, to […] Read more »
Review by Paul StJohn Mackintosh Inescapable Origins I already had the pleasure of reviewing Stephen Graham Jones’s superb short story collection After the People Lights Have Gone Off, so it’s an equal pleasure to renew acquaintance with his often very domestic focus. But that’s domestic in an entirely different sense than you might think. Here, […] Read more »