Month: July 2012

Daily Science Fiction: April 2012 Review

written by Frank Dutkiewicz

Are you still an avid reader of Daily SF? You should be. Read on and see whyâ€

 

“What Jerry Knows” by Shane D. Rhinewald (debut 4/2 and reviewed by Frank D) is the tale of a savant. Jerry prattles off numbers, important events in history, and formulas. Jerry is lost in his mind, but the protagonist knows how lost all of man would be without Jerry’s obsession with numbers.

“What Jerry Knows” is more of a reminiscence, than a tale. The story is brief, and I don’t want to reveal too much, but the tale is about the protagonist’s need to show his gratitude. Not a bad tale. Very nice.

 

“This Rough Magic” by Christie Yant (debut 4/3 and reviewed by Dustin Adams) is somewhat abstract, drawing little on a plot arc, but is nevertheless quite a delightful read. I classify this as a romance story, and while that might not be for everyone, perhaps not even me, I enjoyed each word of this flash fiction length tale.

The writing is solid and flawless. The setting, while simple, is given complexity by the uncertain nature of the story’s narrator. She has great power, yes, but it’s mollified by a man whose life she saves, leading to a great dichotomy of character.

While this strikes me as more of a scene than a story, I’m inclined to *recommend* it based on the writing skill alone, but it also happens to be a great scene.

Recommended.

 

Sora saves the Emperor’s life with the magic of his flute in “After” by C. L. Holland (debut 4/4 and reviewed by James Hanzelka). He is rewarded with gold and the removal of his hands. Once healed, he is escorted outside the palace to be robbed. Found by others who have suffered a similar fate his damaged soul is healed by their presence, allowing him to repay the Emperor in time.

This was an interesting piece, well developed and well written. The story of revenge served by those most harmed is a satisfying, if familiar tale. The twist provided in this one will hold your interest.

 

Ava is enduring a visit from her father in “Back In My Day” by Stacy Danielle Lepper (debut 4/5 and reviewed by James Hanzelka) . Tired about hearing how everything was better, “Back in My Day”. He blithely ignores each of her counter arguments, continuing the argument until she demonstrates the upside of progress.

I’m conflicted on this story. There are some odd constructs that I found confusing. For example, in the opening when she flicks a switch and the baby opens his eyes; it lead me to believe he was an android. This ambiguity is disconcerting and it took several reads to sort out the intent. In spite of this I generally liked the story, particularly the ending. Something I wish was possible today.

 

In “Nameless” by Mari Ness (debut 4/5 and reviewed by James Hanzelka), the protagonist’s name has been stolen. The singer tries to sing her a name, her aunts and uncles try to find her name and she can’t remember her name. The singer takes her on a trek to find her name, but as she discovers it can be a long journey for someone who is nameless.

This is a long meandering story of discovery, with little discovered. It does a good job of creating a world, but not much else. If you are drawn to esoteric studies in world building this is your story, if not, I would advise not investing the time.

 

A time traveler sets to compound a wrong into a right in “Older, Wiser, Time Traveler” by M. Bennardo (debut 4/9 and reviewed by Frank D). The protagonist in this tale talks of a hypothetical circumstance with himself on the merits of time traveling to undo a crime of passion. The man discusses steps needed to carry out his plan while he steels himself with what must be done.

The narration of “Older” has the appearance of an interview. It took me some time to place who and what the characters in this tale, and their roles, were. Intriguing tale told by a strong writer. I enjoyed the end result.

 

Hero devolves into a relic in “Rust” by Steven Saus (debut 4/10 and reviewed by Frank D). Max Ribaldo had been one of many soldiers cut down in battle. But good soldiers never die when advanced technology can find another use for them. Max serves many years as a cyborg fighting machine. Now he is the last one. His remaining time is as an artifact and guide for a museum. Max thinks back to his time as a soldier, and contemplates how much of his humanity remains.

“Rust” is less about a battle droid and more about the line in which machine erases the man within. Max has always believed, or perhaps has an overriding program, that convinces him that he is still human. The story bounces from a museum tour group to flashbacks of Max’s career.

Max is a cold and clinical being. His answers to questions are factual, even when the questions are meant to elicit an emotion response. The reader is left with the impression the man within has been erased, but the question remains on whether it is the hardware that has made Max that way or the horrors of war.

Rust is a thought provoking work of science fiction.

 

A man must have a mysterious box in “A Case of Curiosities” by Guy Anthony De Marco (debut 4/11 and reviewed by Frank D). The protagonist is intrigued with a box in a novelty store. The box is full of curiosities, alluring items that can’t be removed.

The story is full of twists. The tinkerer who sold him the box proves to have ulterior motives. The changing story made it difficult for me to buy the premise.

 

Elle receives two presents for her birthday in “A Hole in Time” by Amy Gaertner (debut 4/12 and reviewed by Frank D). A gift that is purchased with sentiment, and another that erases the sentiment away. Elle is a research scientist. Her colleague, Luisa, presents her with her latest invention, a hole in time. She is willing to share credit with Elle but Elle fails to see the value of Luisa’s findings.

The protagonist in “The Hole” is suffering from an early version of a mid-life crisis. She comes off as irritated from the start, so when Luisa has two unexpected gifts for her, Elle is cold, contrite and unappreciative. The ‘hole’ Luisa discovers is an imperfection in time and space but its effects are psychological.

I confess, I wasn’t taken in with this story. An unlikeable protagonist coupled with a premise that didn’t go anywhere made for a tale where I didn’t really care about. Like Elle, I couldn’t see the significance of Luisa’s hole, although I doubt I would have dismissed it as she did. Most of the story was a subplot of Elle’s dour disposition. Sure, her career hasn’t turned out the way she would have liked but that only made her like everyone else.

“A Hole in Time” is a good metaphor for my experience reading it.

 

“A Slice of 3.141592653589793238462643” by Oliver Buckram (debut 4/13 and reviewed by Dustin Adams).

How can you argue with a story that’s 314 words long and about Ï€? Three characters with historically significant names eat Pie, drink coffee, and debate the strange patterns surrounding this enigmatic number.

314 words. Really? Yes. Fun story. Worth reading.

 

The protagonist is dumped by her boyfriend in “Objects in Space” by Alex Livingston (debut 4/16 and reviewed by Frank D). David’s ‘Dear John’ letter only states that he ‘needs space’. The protagonist had to sacrifice something dear to her just for the right to read it. She hunts down David to find out what he meant.

This story is set in a future where there is a limit for the amount of things you can have. Not conducive to a pack rat, to say the least. “Objects” is semantically clever. I liked the to-the-point ending of this piece.

 

Reality TV catches Mars’ first astronauts by surprise in “Infested” by Stephen V. Ramey (debut 4/17 and reviewed by Frank D). A crewmember finds the first micro-camera in a bathroom. Soon, the news leaks to the rest of the crew and a search to find all the cameras tears the ship apart.

“Infested” is a story of how people react when they discover their privacy has been sacrificed for a voyeuristic public. I found this tale to be quite clever and accurate. If I were I a part of this crew, I may have done the same thing they had, even if he consequences proved to be far worse than the violation of my privacy.

Recommended.

 

“A Special Day” by Shannon Fay (debut 4/18 and reviewed by Frank D). A ski bunny takes a sudden interest in the protagonist and buys him a coffee. The ensuing conversation drifts to an unlikely subject.

The subject matter in “A Special Day” is about the day no one celebrates, the pre-anniversary date of their death. It is a day only the snow bunny can appreciate. The tale has a twist that comes out of nowhere yet isn’t surprising when it is revealed. I found the story to be sound but was one where the protagonist became a third wheel in the tale. Interesting.

 

Artor the Sorcerer aims to seize the great books of sorcery held in a vault in “Undone” by Greg Porter (debut 4/19 and reviewed by Frank D). But a pest has foiled his ambitions.

This very brief tale introduces a pun-ly named creature that completes the crafty twist of this tale.

 

Something menacing lurks in the deep in “Mad Cats and Englishmen” by Laura Anne Gilman (debut 4/20 and reviewed by Frank D). The pirate ships’, Fifth of Moon, mascot can feel its presence. As a cat, Oliver knows when he is being watched. The ships extrinsic Captain has been oddly distant and on edge. Herself, the Quartermaster, is aware of his strange behavior as well. The Fifth of Moon is a hunted vessel, hunted by something evil below the waves.

Taking “Mad Cats” all in is an adventure all by itself. It is a serious tale set in the high seas of the 17th century with a mythological monster, and a cast of characters worthy of a Disney cartoon. The story centers around a mismatched trio: a talking cat, a woman who serves as second-in-command, and a brighter than the average parrot. The first half of the tale serves as a gradual buildup of tension. Danger lurks unseen. The crew can feel it. Danger reveals itself in the form of a sea serpent. The beast is after the Fifth of Moon, and the Captain is up to the challenge of facing down a worthy opponent.

“Mad Cats” is long tale for Daily SF, and I don’t just mean its actual length. The story is told unnaturally long for the publication’s usual choice of sharp and to-the-point fiction. Despite the unusual characters used to tell this tale, the plot to “Mad Cats” reads like a cliff note version of Moby Dick, but with a monster motivated by the thrill of the chase instead of vengeance.

On the surface, using Oliver as the stories protagonist seems odd and unnecessary, but as I was reading the tales climatic scene, I concluded that using a talking cat as the narrator was a stroke of brilliance. Fifth of Moon became the monster’s play thing. Only a cat could identify with the chasing of prey for sport. Oliver’s inner psyche knew they were in trouble before any signs of danger became apparent to the rest of the crew, which helped to set the tone of this piece.

If you have little patience for a slowly developing plot, you may want to avoid this tale. But if you like the idea of meshing Narnia-like characters into a literary classic storyline, by all means give “Mad Cats” a look.

 

Two sisters stop at an intersection and are confronted with the image of a Mutie in need of help in “Ella and The Man” by K.S. Clay (debut 4/23 and reviewed by Frank D). Muties are the diseased of a future tomorrow. Inflicted with a sickness that leave them speechless, and other aliments not clearly defined, they are the pariah of society. The Mutie looks familiar to Ella. She wants to help the man but her sister, Carmen, is dead set against it. A passing motorcyclist changes things when he throws a Molotov cocktail on the Mutie. Ella springs into action, forcing her sister to react.

The Muties’ in “Ella” are modern day lepers. The disease has become so widespread the hospitals no longer treat it. Things have degenerated to the point where compassion has gone out the window.

I found this tale choppy. The dialog came out in half spoken sentences, the author’s way of showing her protagonist’s distraction. It made much of tale confusing, which is too bad because I rather liked the sudden change of events when the cyclist appeared and the twist at the end. Not too bad of a story.

 

A man has a hard time getting over a break up in “You’ve Ruined This For Me” by Ewan C. Forbes (debut 4/24 and reviewed by Frank D). The protagonist is depressed. He won’t leave his house, answer the phone, go to work†Nothing outside, even Armageddon, can get him to care enough to rejoin the real world.

This is the tale of one self-absorbed man. All the noises, news reports, and warnings from his friends can get him to see if the world has gone on without him. As odd of a premise as that sounds, I am betting everyone has been in the same place this clod finds himself in this story. Kudos to the author for creating such a convincingly heartbroken man.

 

“Dolly at the End of the World” by Amanda C. Davis (debut 4/25 and reviewed by Anonymous) is a brief, post-apocalyptic story about a young woman/girl called Dolly, who looks after a red box. Most of the dialogue in the first part of the story is Dolly conversing with herself, and responding as though it is her Pappy speaking, and not her–a split personality kind of thing. It’s quite a nice touch and gives a sense to the odd circumstances she grew up in. One thing Pappy told her was to never open the red box–okay, pappy…

But then Malcolm turns up and he seems to have little respect for Pappy’s edicts…

It’s quite a nice little story, but since it was written from the point of view of a naive young person who has grown up alone and has very little experience, it felt a little one dimensional at times, but the nice writing helped.

 

A brother would do almost anything for a sister who has always been there for him in “You Can’t Come Here Anymore” by Luc Reid (debut 4/26 and reviewed by Frank D). Almost.

This very short tale had an ending I still haven’t fully grasped.

 

Pritchard chooses to get in touch with his emotional side in “The Bittersweet Here and After” by Maggie Clark (debut 4/27 and reviewed by Frank D). Pritchard’s wife Myna is dying. Frail, hacking up blood, her end is near. Pritchard wants to be able to experience the grief of losing a loved one so chooses to disable his emotional governing nano-protocols. Absorbing the full brunt of bitter emotions grants him the ability to see people for who they are, while making him appear dangerous to those around him.

“The Bittersweet” is set in a world where emotional outbursts are kept in check by technology. “Ease” tapers the bitter feelings that mankind suffers through. Those who have embraced the technology have excelled in society while the ones who haven’t are falling behind. The benefits aren’t always so grand, however. A story of a dancer who kept dancing on broken feet moves Pritchard to forgo Ease while his wife is ill. He senses he has lost something, and wishes to not miss what will be important during his most trying of times.

I had to read this tale twice to be able to grasp its meaning. The author chose to tell this original concept from the perspective of a man experiencing the feelings of men in years gone by. Nano-protocols in this tale are shown in a soft 1984-esque light. Society has benefited from the technology. Crimes of passion have fallen, children are easier to deal with, and wars are things of the past. Governments, production, businesses , all run smoother. All the people in Pritchard’s life tell him he is making a mistake and that his choice is a selfish one.

Pritchard sees the world through the eyes of a bitter man struck with grief and guilt. Ease has taken away the filters many of us have installed to spare our fellow man from the hurtful thoughts we have stored safely within. His friends and co-workers are rude. The observations they make are callous and uncalled for. Still others wonder what real feelings are like, questioning whether the people that are close to them have suppressed the real them within because technology has deemed it better for society.

“The Bittersweet” is a thick tale. It is told through subtle body language and with the gurgling feelings of a man who hasn’t truly grasped his own feelings in a very long time. There is an underlining subplot in that the story explores the age old question of what is best for society; the greater good of man versus what it is to be a man. I am glad I read it a second time or I wouldn’t have been able to appreciate the effort Ms Clark put into it. The story is difficult to grasp with the way she told it, but a story like this could be told in only the way she chose. For those of you who wonder where man is heading attached with the little bits of technology that have become so ingrained into our culture, this story is a can’t miss. It may prove to have been prophetic, one day.

 

“Diatra” by Kevin Pickett (debut 4/30 and reviewed by Anonymous) is a short story about the decommissioning of a living space craft and it glances at the relationship that has developed between the craft and its captain.

This is a very brief story that didn’t really grab me as it feels like not much happens. The ship is manoeuvred into position and is driven toward a star. There is some dialogue between the ship and the captain and there are some emotional buttons pressed, but only in passing.

I am aware from the bio that this is the author’s first published piece and, with that in mind, there are a lot of positives to take away (smooth writing, nice pacing) but I think the story would have benefited from a little more happening, perhaps a final twist or something.

 

?????

I have nothing to add here. I would have liked to have announced a Daily SF story as a finalist in the Million Writer’s Award (didn’t happen), or cheered that Locus and/or Tangent Online has decided to change their policy and include Daily SF in their circle of publications worthy of covering (fat chance). I can tell you about the wonderful Kindle editions of past months of Daily SF, they are worth checking out.

There is one opinion I’d like to share. I would like give my first recommendation for the art of this month. I think all of the monthly covers DSF have used have been first class, but this month’s DSF rocket with a wonderful fiery moon and outstanding star filled sky was extra special. Jonathan Westbrook deserves recognition for the splendid work of art.


Have you’ve seen this person? He is wanted for crimes against the written word and for assault and battery on the English language. Despite being rejected over 800 times he still mercilessly stalks and harasses editors of speculative fiction, and may be responsible for several of them closing down because of his failure to take a hint. If you have seen him or know of his whereabouts, contact Diabolical Plots immediately. Seize any material he is in possession of (laptop, pad and paper, quill and parchment) to stop his crime spree, by any means necessary.

Specutopia Inaugural Issue!

written by David Steffen

Just a brief note to point out that the brand new speculative fiction magazine Specutopia has launched, edited by Dale Wise. They publish every 2 months in various and sundry electronic formats, for $3.49 you’ll get 7 short stories, including my story “Never Idle” about a man who can talk to cars and the woman he stops to help on the side of the road when she’s having car trouble.

If you want a sample of the kinds of stories are in the issue, you can read Greg Mellor’s “Hollow Spaces” for free on their website. If you check back around August 1st, James Beamon’s “Death of the World’s Greatest Detective” will be available to read for free.

Enjoy! And if you do buy a copy, feel free to make a comment here about my story or the issue in general!

Book Review: Fifty Shades of Grey

written by David Steffen

The book Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James has been mentioned in many many different media sources over the last year, to a much larger degree than most books get attention. Now, this happens periodically with books that gain some mainstream appeal, like Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code and, Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, and JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series. I didn’t really know what kind of book this particular one was until I saw a Saturday Night Live fake Mother’s Day commercial, wherein various families come home to give their mom breakfast in bed or other traditional gifts, and find her in bed, in the bathtub, or in the laundry room masturbating, causing much embarrassment on everyone’s part. Ah, erotica.

Now, it’s not news to me that erotica is popular. Any book store, or even your average department store, has a huge rack of romance and erotica, easily picked out by the bare-chested musclemen on the covers. What did surprise me, though, is that any particular erotica book has become so popular to become visible enough that it makes a good topic for a fake SNL commercial. Your average fan of erotica reads voraciously, and so as a result there are so many different books on the shelves, seemingly rotating by the week, that it’s very unusual for a single one to become so popular. So I decided to read it to find out what all the hype is about. I have not read an erotica novel before. I have read plenty of novels and short stories with erotic scenes or erotic themes, but never one where the primary purpose is to get the reader hot and bothered. And… realize I am not the target audience for this book. I am judging it based on my tastes which are not the same as other people’s tastes. I also realize that this doesn’t fall under Diabolical Plots‘ usual jurisdiction–but I reserve the right to move the boundary from time to time, especially for a book with so much hype.

Okay then, on we go:
The protagonist of the story is Anastasia Steele, and shortly after the story begins she travels from Portland to Seattle to interview Christian Grey, a CEO who will be speaking at her college commencement in the near future. Ana (as she prefers to be called) is not only a virgin, but she had never felt sexually attracted to anyone in her life, until she met Christian. Christian is a dazzlingly attractive well-endowed billionaire who is very sexually experienced but who is only interested in relationships with himself as the Dominant member, with lots of bondage and sadomasochism. There is an immediate attraction between the two of them, and they begin a trial relationship which tests the boundaries between what he demands of her and what she is comfortable giving. The seeking of this balance is the primary arc of the book, and the source of most of the tension (there are some sideplots but that’s the core of it all).

When considering a piece of fiction, I think one of the more meaningful measures of value is the question “Was it effective?” where the definition of “effective” depends on what effect one expects from a particular genre. With erotica, I’d consider it effective if I was turned on by it, which probably makes it almost as difficult as judging comedy, because each person’s tastes will be different. I will say that it was somewhat effective for me. There are early “vanilla” sex scenes in which he eases her into sexual experiences without yet introducing her into bondage and sadomasochism. Despite the annoying narration style (about which I will elaborate shortly) I found these initial scenes effective. But the book as a whole after that point, didn’t work for me all that well for me. This could just be a matter of what I find sexy compared to other people. I don’t understand the pain equates with pleasure concept, and I cringe at the idea of intentionally inflicting pain on others. As the book went on, in my imagination Ana became less and less of a person because of the narration style and because I was skeptical that anyone would make the choices she made, and so instead of feeling like a story about real people really having sex, it became much harder to take it seriously.

Okay, so I mentioned annoying narration. Allow me to elaborate. For one thing, this book has a large amount of internal monologue. Probably about half of it is just expressions of surprise like “holy crap” and stronger expletives. Which gets really old when it happens every few paragraphs. I can at least understand it when it’s used in regard to major events like losing her virginity, and starting to experience bondage. But she uses it in the strangest places, like “Holy crap. Christian Grey just emailed a winky face to me.” This after she’s had sex with him a bunch of times–why is that so shocking at that point? At another point he asks “Sugar?” while making her tea, and she thinks he’s calling her by a pet name, rather than asking what she’d like in her tea. Which… makes me really wonder what’s wrong with her.

But the aspect of the narration that was strangest and just distracting was the way she split her inner thoughts into three distinct characters. There were parts that had no attribution, and then parts that were attributed to her subconscious and others attributed to her inner goddess. Judging by the nature of these different characters’ actions, I guess that the inner goddess is her long-dormant libido, and her subconscious is her somewhat repressed sarcastic side? Anyway, the inner goddess gets lots of descriptive play, putting on cheerleading uniform to cheer on some new sex position or toy, doing Olympic flip routines to celebrate, while the subconscious generally spends her time making sarcastic comments and giving skeptical looks through wing-shaped glasses. During some scenes these two are described as arguing with each other, and generally do everything that Ana is too afraid to do. Okay, I understand that everyone’s personality has different aspects that each become stronger during different settings, with different people, and so on. And I think that this is meant to convey that. But it was so over the top for me that I just found it really distracting from everything else in the story–at times I wondered if she’s actually supposed to be schizophrenic.

One of the biggest problems I had in the story was that an adult virgin, who is aware that she has no experience with any kind of sex, would so easily consent to a sexual relationship based around bondage and sadomasochism without even experiencing any other kind of sex first. At several points she is not sure if some of his strong behavior is what every man does or if it is just him, and any amount of experience would help her learn that.

One thing that I thought that the story did VERY well was flirty emails between Ana and Christian. Throughout the whole book I looked forward to the two characters parting ways so that they could exchange some more emails. The change in subject lines as they reply back and forth, snarky answers, misdirection, flirty comments. I liked that a lot, and I never got tired of it.

My wife also read the book about the same time that I did in order to find out what the hype is about, and her opinions were similar to mine in most respects. So not every member of the female sex is a huge fan. And, no, she didn’t just agree with me to humor me–she has no compunctions about disagreeing with me when she thinks I’m wrong. We had quite a lot of fun pointing out things about the book that we found strange.

SPOILER

This isn’t a book review in which I’m too worried about spoilers, since it’s much more about the experience than any surprise plot elements, or anything like that. But endings are important, and so if you don’t want to find out how it ends, skip past this section. Christian makes it very clear very early on that he enjoys causing her pain. From the very beginning she does not understand that, and it frightens her. She allows him to cause some pain in the story, and finds that she even likes it, but it still troubles her that Christian wants to do it not so that she will like it, but to punish her. Even though he wants to punish her when she disobeys him, he has allowed her to draw where the limits are in this punishment. They discuss this as the story goes on, but they make little progress in the discussion because of their different points of view. But near the end of the story the argument comes to a head, and she tells him that she wants to find out how extreme the punishment will get, and she tells him to just let loose. He does, beating her with a strap with all the force he can muster, and she ends up breaking it off with him as a result. I can’t say that I understand why she does it. Well, I mean, I can understand why you would break up with someone who wants to beat the hell out of you, but he had been upfront about that from the very beginning. He only strapped her like that when she demanded that he do so, and then she breaks up with him over it. That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. In any case, the story ends with them parting ways, and her feeling like her life is falling apart. There more books in the series, so presumably their paths do cross again in the near future.

END SPOILER

All in all, I don’t regret reading it. I like to have an idea what appeals to the masses. I like to criticize popular fiction, and when I do so I want my opinion to be based on the source material not just hearsay. Some of the earlier sex scenes were reasonably good, and the flirty emails were consistently entertaining and a highlight for me. But overall I was glad I got it from the library instead of buying it. I wouldn’t personally recommend the book to anyone because of the distracting narrative style and the fact that I just didn’t find it all that exciting for most of the book. But, it sold enough copies to become a New York Times bestseller, so in the words of Levar Burton, “You don’t have to take my word for it.”

Interview: Leah Cypess

interview by Carl Slaughter

Leah Cypess is a fantasy author with 2 novels under her belt (“Mistwood” and “Nightspell”, 2 recent stories in Asimov’s (“Twelvers” and “Nanny’s Day”), another novel due in early 2014 (“Deathsworn”), and a fist full of rave reviews. A free anthology of her short stories is entitled “Changelings and Other Stories” and is available from B&N, Amazon, and Smashwords. Her website is www.LeahCypess.com.

“I wrote my first story in first grade. The narrator was an ice-cream cone in the process of being eaten. In fourth grade, I wrote my first book, about a girl who gets shipwrecked on a desert island with her faithful and heroic dog (a rip-off of both The Black Stallion and all the Lassie movies, very impressive). After selling my first story (Temple of Stone) while in high school, I gave in to my mother’s importuning to be practical and majored in biology at Brooklyn College. I then went to Columbia Law School and practiced law for almost two years at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, a large law firm in New York City. I kept writing and submitting in my spare time, and finally, a mere 15 years after my first short story acceptance, I sold my first novel to Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins). I live in Brookline, Massachusetts (right outside of Boston) with my husband Aaron, a researcher and doctor at the Joslin Diabetes Center, and our three children.”

Carl Slaughter: You have 2 stories in Asimov’s, science fiction’s leading magazine. How does an author who specializes in fantasy accomplish such a feat?

Leah Cypess:Â By writing science fiction stories! For years, I submitted borderline fantasy stories to Asimov’s and got form rejections. But as soon as I started submitting science fiction stories, I got positive responses and then, rather quickly, my first acceptance. Even though I write mostly fantasy, I read both fantasy and science fiction, so writing science fiction stories is not difficult for me (although since it often requires research, it does take longer).

CS: You gave up a promising career in law to become a full time fiction writer. How has that worked out for you so far? Ever tempted to second guess yourself?

LC:Â It has worked out great so far. And I’ve never second guessed myself, because even though law pays very well, it is a very all-consuming lifestyle. For people who enjoy what they’re doing, that’s great. I didn’t enjoy the practice of law enough to do it all the time, and because of that, the lifestyle made me very unhappy.

CS: You’ve had 3 children while forging career as a highly successful author. Raising a child, especially a young child, is the ultimate challenge, and you’re doing triple duty. So how have you accomplished THAT task?

LC:Â That one I’m still figuring out! A part of the answer is that my kids are naturally, and are encouraged to be, rather independent. Another part of the answer is that I definitely do not get enough sleep.

CS: Your newest novel, “Deathsworn,” was originally scheduled for fall 2013, then pushed back to winter 2014. This is summer 2012. I assume you wrote “Deathsworn” in spring 2012. Why does it take so long to get a book into print?

LC:Â The book wasn’t actually pushed back; fall 2013 was my agent’s estimate of when it would be published, but when the publisher put it into the schedule, it went in winter 2014. It takes at least a year to get a book into print because of all the work that has to go into the manuscript first — multiple rounds of revision, copyediting, proofreading, etc. And once that’s done, the publisher needs time to get the advance copies into the hands of librarians, bookstore owners, reviewers, etc. Plus, of course, publishers are working on many books simultaneously, so no single book can get rushed through all those steps at maximum possible speeds.

CS: Is the plot to “Nightspell” related to “Mistwood”? Is “Deathsworn” related to “Nightspell” or “Mistwood”?

LC:Â All 3 of those books are stand-alones. Nightspell takes place a few years after Mistwood, but in a different part of the world and with a different main character. There is one crossover character, but aside from that there is no connection between the books. Deathsworn is set in the same world but hundreds of years in the future, when things have changed a lot; I’m not even sure if my publisher will call it a companion novel or a completely new duology.

CS:Â Will “Deathsworn” be one story or will one of the novels be a prequel/sequel?

LC:Â Deathsworn is the first in a duology. It has a complete story arc of its own, with a beginning, end, etc.; no cliffhangers, I promise! But the sequel will pick up where the first book left off.

CS: For several years, you’ve been a member of the Critters Writers Workshop. What kind of feedback do you get from other members and to what extent does that help you? Do you submit all your stories to Critters? Do you make major revisions based on workshop critiques? Do you have other first readers besides on Critters? Have you tried other workshops?

LC:Â I get all sorts of feedback from Critters, and I find it all very helpful. One of the things I like about Critters is that you get multiple feedback from different people who are not bouncing off each other, so it’s very helpful in spotting trends. (i.e. If one person is confused by a sequence in my story, but everyone else seems to get it, I’ll react very differently than if 7 out of the 10 critiquers are confused by it.) I submit all my stories to either Critters or my other critique group, Codex, before sending them out. If the critiques seem to call for it, I do make major revisions, often multiple rounds of revisions.

CS:Â Why do so many of your stories feature ghosts?

LC: I hadn’t realized they did, and had to stop and think about it myself! Ghosts are one of those enduring tropes that you can play with in so many ways, and of course they tie into the ultimate mystery, which is what happens to someone after they die. Fantasy is all about the unknown, and the idea that there’s more to life than what you can plainly see, so I guess my love of fantasy segues naturally into a love of ghost stories.

CS:Â Why a medieval type setting so often?

LC:Â Short answer: Tolkien.

Longer answer: I love fantasy books that take on new, non-medieval non-European settings, but at the same time, I think there is a reason why that setting is so popular. The limitations on technology in medieval times lends itself naturally to being a fantasy setting. In addition, the fact that it IS the default fantasy setting means that readers have an understanding of it and know what to expect, which means you get to spend less time on the worldbuilding and more time on telling your story.

CS:Â Why YA?

LC:Â When I was writing Mistwood and Nightspell, I actually didn’t realize that I was writing YA. All the high fantasy I’d read until then was published as adult (even though so many of them featured teenage characters, coming of age stories, etc.), and I just assumed high fantasy had to be adult. Problem was, I told the story in 70,000 words, which I was told repeatedly was too short. I didn’t want to pad the story with another 30K words, so I didn’t know what to do. Luckily, at about that time I read Dreamhunter by Elizabeth Knox, which made me realize just how much the YA genre had expanded since I’d grown up reading L.J. Smith. When I began submitting Mistwood to YA publishers, I got immediate positive responses, which made me realize that at heart it really was a YA story after all.

CS: Your science fiction stories don’t follow a distinct pattern. But almost all your fantasy stories involve the main character trying to solve a mystery about themselves and the people around them. The plot resembles a detective story, with pieces of the puzzle uncovered scene by scene and chapter by chapter, with the final revelation reserved for the very end. What’s the explanation for this pattern?

LC: Probably that I love detective stories, and that’s the pattern I naturally fall into for most stories. My science fiction stories tend to follow a different track from my fantasy stories — rather than starting out with a character and a situation, as I do with fantasy, I usually start with an idea. My main job is figuring out how to build a story around that idea, and often it’s enough work weaving the idea into the story without adding other secrets and mysteries as well. (Often! Not always.)

CS: So many fantasy writers rely on traditional magical beings. Dragons, unicorns, mermaids, vampires, werewolves, zombies, angels/devil. In your case, witches, ghosts, and shapeshifters. Why not original characters?

LC:Â I agree — why not original characters? — and I don’t hesitate to write readers who do use original characters. Myself, I find it much more fun to play with tropes. I also think that the tropes cover a lot of ground, and some writers seem to bend themselves over backward making up names and descriptions for some sort of original creature when, actually, it’s just a dragon (or whatever) with some changes. When writing the fantastical, I think any tropes or standards you can assume the reader shares with you are things to be taken advantage of rather than scorned.

Carl Slaughter is a man of the world. For the last decade, he has traveled the globe as an ESL teacher in 17 countries on 3 continents, collecting souvenir paintings from China, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, and Egypt, as well as dresses from Egypt, and masks from Kenya, along the way. He spends a ridiculous amount of time and an alarming amount of money in bookstores. He has a large ESL book review website, an exhaustive FAQ about teaching English in China, and a collection of 75 English language newspapers from 15 countries. His training is in journalism, and he has an essay on culture printed in the Korea Times and Beijing Review. He has two science fiction novels in the works and is deep into research for an environmental short story project. Carl currently teaches in China where electricity is an inconsistent commodity.

Daily Science Fiction: March 2012 Review

written by Frank Dutkiewicz

I have been looking forward to this month for a very long time. Why? Read onâ€

 

The protagonist teaches his daughter on the realities of genie-powered electricity in “Genie Electric” by Andrew Kaye (debut 3/1 and reviewed by Frank D). A light bulb has burned out. The genie who powered it, died. This makes the protagonist’s daughter sad but genies are what makes the world go around.

“Genie Electric” is a parallel world where genies are electrically charged beings. A history lesson using the same names who discovered how to harness electricity in our world, as the masters who learned how to harness the magical being’s power. The little girl in this tale becomes regretful that we have used others as slaves to improve our own welfare.

The story is cuter than my harsh synopsis. For a flash story, I found it to be very clever. Well worth a read.

 

“The Sacred Tree” by Mike Resnick (debut 3/2 and reviewed by James Hanzelka) is a story of the Yakima. They are a Northwestern tribe and are threatened by the white man, who has come to claim their land, their women and their souls. When the Indian agent threatens to conscript members of the tribe as scouts, killing two men in the process, the tribe seeks help from the spirits. The medicine man asks for help from the sacred tree, his wish is granted, but at what cost?

I loved this story, but that may be because I grew up in the west and went to school at a university that has a Native American tradition. The lore of the indigenous peoples is strong in the west and this story captures that essence beautifully. The author also manages to drive the tale forward to today, and shows us that powerful gifts often require great sacrifice. I recommend this story to everyone who wants to understand this culture.

 

“The Way” by Frank Dutkiewicz (debut 3/2 and reviewed by James Hanzelka). John and Helen are old and feel they are becoming a burden to their children. They set out on one last adventure, one last memory before all the memories fade. One more spin around the block before life winds down. What they find is themselves and the joy they once knew.

This is a well written tale of life and love. It wraps the reader in the lives of these two people, nearing the end of their journey. While the tale is about John and Helen, most of us will see ourselves in their story. The author has done a superb job of weaving hope and joy into that last stage of life. I can recommend this story to anyone who wants to feel that for themselves.

 

“Painted Haven” by Michael Banker (debut 3/6 and reviewed by Frank D). Light is taking over. Not sunlight but brightness with substances. The strange stuff frightens Alyssa. She runs to her old boyfriend; confident Henry will know what to do. She finds him painting his apartment, a last ditch solution to keep the light at bay.

“Painted Haven” is one of those rare short stories that had me on the edge of my seat in the first paragraph. The strange light that falls like snow had me completely intrigued. I had hoped Henry would have some sort of answer but the guy turned out to be a flake. The promising and intriguing premise quickly became something I hadn’t bargained for when I first dove in. Although the story took a path I’d rather not gone down, a touching moment of the once couple reminiscing, painting scenes of there life together while they cover the walls to keep the unknown at bay.

Although the second half of this tale didn’t turn out the way I hoped, “Painted Haven” still was a nice story. I’m betting more than a few were glad it traveled in the direction the author took it.

 

A man makes it his life long quest to discover “How Love Works” by Stephen Gaskell (debut 3/7 and reviewed by Frank D). The protagonist in this tale suffers a broken heart from his first teenage love and spends the rest of his life recovering from it.

The story is part of the numbers quartet, using Planck’s Constant as its trigger. The lad in this tale lives a full life, full enough to make me envious. The tale thinly links to the trigger.

 

In “Prophet” by Laura Lee McArdle (debut 3/8 and reviewed by Anonymous), a precocious 4 year old is conversing with God about his decision to make a rather unimaginative and orderly woman a pre-school teacher. It is an interesting conversation and is well-written and nicely paced, and, of course, you’d imagine God has all the answers..

Let’s just say God provides the raw materials…

I enjoyed this short story and would give it a 5 and half rocket dragons (out of seven).

 

The main character in “Insomnia” by A.G. Carpenter (debut 3/9 and reviewed by James Hanzelka) is an assassin, but the good kind. His job is to eliminate people who will cause problems for mankind in the future. The side effect is a never-ending parade of hallucinations and endless insomnia. When he is tasked to kill the witness of his latest hit he can no longer stand the strain and saves her. After all, he wonders, how much damage can one person do.

This is a nice story, well setup and neatly plotted. The writing is crisp and clear. There is enough of a twist in the vaguely familiar tale to keep you interested. I also liked the slightly noir overtone in the story. A nice read for a little daily diversion.

 

“The Take” by Alex Shvartsman (debut 3/12 and reviewed by James Hanzelka).

Ever wonder what happens to actors when new technology replaces older forms of entertainment? Like those silent stars that lost their jobs when talking pictures came into being, plays and movies become extinct when real life experiences become possible to experience? What will those involved in the more traditional theater have to give up to stay employed?

The story here is one of confused reality occasioned by new technology. The author has done a fairly good job of giving us some insight to those left behind as science advances. The theme has been handled by better by others, but this is a good effort. It is well written and works on a basic level.

 

A patient is being given some terminal news in “Mortal Coil” by Ian Nichols (debut 3/13 and reviewed by Anonymous). This story is told from the perspective of the doctor. Apparently the patient suffers from a syndrome that causes him to reject some of the technology floating in his bloodstream–tech that keeps living. The doc has to give him the bad news…

A nicely written flash story with a simple twist at the end. I quite enjoyed it and the medical elements were well done. Five out of seven rocket dragons.

 

Space and time separate Vu and Loi. The distance between the two siblings is as great as their link is strong in “The Heartless Light of Stars” by Aliette de Bodard (debut 3/14 and reviewed by Frank D).

Loi was the eldest of his Vietnamese family, keeper of the ancestral shrine. Despite the eight year distance in time, Vu eagerly awaits Loi’s video messages. An ansible station has immediate information but such equipment is out of the reach of ordinary citizens. Vu instead must wait for eight year news, even when he is aware of the eventual outcome in Loi’s destiny.

“Heartless” focuses on the family structure of this sibling pair but the real draw of this tale is the eight year day-to-day information Vu receives even when he knows of his brother’s fate. When the gravity of the story is revealed, the reality of what Vu is putting himself through, turns the story into a voice from the past instead of a letter from overseas experience. The subtleness of Ms Bodard’s ability to spring a twist sets her apart from many other writers. A pity the twist made the backstory almost irrelevant, but then again, that may be why the twist works so well.

 

“The Body Shop” by Devin Wallace (debut 3/15 and reviewed by Frank D). James needs to buy his daughter something important. Body shops need to turn a profit, however. Fortunately, James has just what they need for him to complete a trade.

“The Body Shop” is set in a future where pawn shops we’ll deal with anything. James is a parent who proves he is willing to do anything for his angel. The most impressive thing about this tale was the author is still in high school. I see big things in young Mr Wallace’s future.

 

A girl sacrifices truth to satisfy her vanity in “No Gifts of Words” by Annie Bellet (debut 3/16 and reviewed by Frank D). Afua is ugly. She wishes to be beautiful so attempts a foolhardy theft of a witches’ potion. The witch catches her in the act and condemns her to a life of lies.

“No Gifts” is the tale of a girl living with the consequences of her actions. Afua had hoped to be free from the torment of being different. The potion granted her beauty but a curse of never being able to tell the truth had left her friendless. Her life takes a twist when a handsome king stops near the field in which she works. She declares herself a queen of the lemurs to him. The lie amuses the king. A few days later, a lemur appears. The creature becomes mesmerized by Afua as she tells her lies of amusement to him.

I found this story attractive. Although it drifted, and the twist was predictable, I couldn’t help but to be drawn into this curious tale. A well-written fable.

 

“Memories of My Mother” by Ken Liu (debut 3/18 and reviewed by Frank D). Amy’s mother is dying. She has only a couple years to live but thanks to the miracle of light speed space travel, she can see her daughter grow up.

“Memories” is a collection of short visits Amy has with her mother. Once every seven years, Mom returns for a day. Catching up on seven years in one day is no way to carry out a relationship. Amy is left confused with each visit, caught between resentment and gratitude for a mother she sees briefly.

I can’t imagine a woman, even a dying one, would leave after spending a day with a child , or rebellious teenager. It would feel like abandonment to me and I can’t see how anyone else wouldn’t see it the same way. Original idea, would have been better if lengthened and the premise hashed out in greater detail.

 

“Guaranteed to Work” by Lee Hallison (debut 3/20 and reviewed by Frank D). The magic has gone out of Ruth and Frank’s marriage. Retirement has not turned out as Ruth had envisioned it. Instead of traveling and enjoying the last years of their life, Frank has become crotchety and distant. Resentment builds for her. A kindly old man at the coffee shop has a solution to her problem; a love potion. A powder that make them forget all the petty annoyances that has become their life.

“Guaranteed” is a fantasy story that is frighteningly close to reality. The everyday irritations that bugs Ruth about her husband has crescendo to a constant nails-on-chalkboard nuisance. You can see her feelings toward Frank has become something closer to hate than love. Ruth’s godfather offers her a chance to bring back the love they had in their youth. The choice sounds like a no-brainer until Ruth analyzes what ‘change’ really means.

I confess, I reread the ending several times and I’m still not sure exactly what happened. Although I felt unsatisfied with the conclusion I must say this tale was more of an eye opener than most I’ve read before. Ms Hallison deserves a lot of credit for making a fantasy story read a lot more real than the majority of non-speculative stuff I’ve read before. Well done.

 

“Godshift” by Nancy Fulda (debut 3/21 and reviewed by Carl Slaughter) has something for everyone.

Science discovery: “Ladies and gentlemen, we have just provided experimental validation for string theory.”

Hard science: “String theory predicted that space-time encompassed ten or more dimensions, most of them curled up so tightly as to be unobservable. Even the Large Hadron Collider was unable to generate enough energy to perceive them. Ilyona had first suggested using M-brane topologies to uncurl localized segments of higher-order dimensions.”

Mysterious, global phenomenon: “Over the past three days, there have been 165 cases of criminals brought to justice by natural forcesâ€And all of them, every last one, occurred during one of our five-minute luminosity peaks”

Science debate: “Give up the search for the extra dimensions predicted by string theory, just because a series of absurdities occurred while we were accelerating particles?… Co-occurrence does not imply causality.”

Famous science device: “Large Hadron Collider, world’s largest and highest energy particle accelerator.”

Fundamental science concepts challenged: “All of the results agree with each other if we assume a change in the generally accepted physical constants.” “Physical constants don’t change. That’s why they’re constants.” “Well, yesterday, they did. For exactly five minutes, the gravitational constant decreased by 0.003 Ã’- 10â˒11. The speed of light increased by 512 meters per second. And the weak nuclear force appears to have fluctuated, as well.”

Science premise: “If one supposed that God existed within the fabric of the Universe–was the Universe, for lack of a better description–and if one used the Large Hadron Collider to alter the physical constants that governed the Universe…Then one must, of necessity, have also altered the nature of God.”

Religious-philosophical debate: “Because if you’d ever believed in Him–really believed–you’d have asked yourself, eventually, why He allows horrible things to happen in this world. You’d have asked yourself how God can let children suffer; why He doesn’t come down and do something about it.” “Well, according to every religious nut on a soap box, He did something about it today.”

Office romance, his version: “He probably should not have slept with her. They always got arrogant afterwards. But he had such a weakness for students who were so obviously dazzled by his brilliance.”

Office romance, her version: “It wasn’t smart to snap at your thesis advisor. Especially not when you were sleeping with him to make sure your name actually ended up on the research papers.”

In the midst of all the discussion about data and debate about implications, God manifests. How’s that for an ambitious plot device.

“Godshift” is about the age old struggle between a scientist and a religionist. Both are true believers. Despite ensuring that his name will be a household word for the rest of the history of the human race, the scientist isn’t satisfied. He wants to keep pushing buttons. The religionist cannot accept tampering with God and intervenes to stop the scientist from pushing any more buttons. Judging from the ending, the religionist will probably prevail. Ah, but in the interval, the scientist has enough time to push plenty more buttons.

The presentation is mostly pedestrian, but Fulda ‘s flare that we saw in her two Nebula stories – “Flashback” and “Movement” – peeks through in a few places: “The feeling was back again, a vague sense of wrongness that had permeated each of their research runs over the past three days. It was a fleeting, tentative thing, hard to put your finger on; like walking into a familiar room and finding all the furniture moved one inch to the rightâ€And it was back again: the sense of wrongness, as if all the light in the room suddenly came from a different direction.”

This story is part of a series by 4 established authors who refer to themselves as the Numbers Quartet. Every story is based on a dozen physical and mathematical constants – pi, zero, speed of light, etc. In this case, infinity. The other three authors are Aliette de Bodard, Stephen Gaskell, and Benjamin Rosenbaum. All the stories are short pieces and were published in Daily Science Fiction between January 12 and March 28, 2012. The stories appeared in chronological sequence, with the oldest developed concept, pi, being first.

 

“The Fabulous Hotel” by Sandra McDonald (debut 3/22 and reviewed by Dustin Adams).

In a dystopian future, one man’s vision of a grand hotel is well received. Permission granted, he sinks deep, deeper than anyone should, into his plans. Abandoning everything but his vision, he draws, and draws, and draws.

I liked this story, but I’m not sure if it’s a commentary on never reaching perfection, or a straight tale of futility in a futile world. Read it, decide for yourself.

 

“Frog/Prince” by Melissa Mead (debut 3/23 and reviewed by Dustin Adams).

Normally when a princess kisses a frog, he springs into manly form, fully clothed and with a grasp of language that I’m still working to attain. Thanks to Melissa Mead, we get the perspective of a frog who is, well, a frog. Becoming a man was not on his short list of things to do today. (List provided by the author.)

At first he wrestles with having to become a prince, but later embraces it. After all, the princess – is a princess. Around 3/4 through is where this fairy tale really gets turned on its ear. What happens when a once-frog and a princess have… offspring?

I subtracted one rocket because I felt the ending could have had a little more punch, but the intent is solid, as is the story. Worth checking out.

 

You may want to pay attention to the pre-flight instructions “In The Unlikely Event” by Ferret Steinmetz (debut 3/26 and reviewed by Frank D). This tale is a futuristic look at the hazards of interstellar travel. The story is a friendly announcement from the friendly crew before your spaceship takes part in its decades long journey.

Mr Steinmetz’s inspiration for this humorous piece came to him while he listened to check list of horrible possibilities of air travel the stewardess cheerfully announced before his plane took off. Funny work of flash.

 

“A Different Rain” by Mari Ness (debut 3/27 and reviewed by James Hanzelka).

Mary had spent her life in space and was eager to enjoy her home planet. She wanted to experience everything, especially the rain. She had only seen it once before and when a sudden storm arose she had her chance. She ran to enjoy it, even if it was a different kind of rain.

This is a nice little tale about expectations. Those things we dream of are seldom what we expect when we finally get them. Sometimes they are better, but more often than not they are worse. Mary would find that fulfilling expectations is difficult. I found this story interesting enough, even if it was somewhat expected.

 

She found the dark cloak in her closet, buried in the bottom in “Underneath” by Amelia Beamer (debut 3/28 and reviewed by James Hanzelka) . Now she can go out in public and no one will see the self-loathing, the cloak will hide it. But this cloak has a life of its own and soon she can’t separate it from herself. Maybe if she can destroy it she can be herself again. Or can she?

This is either a tale of madness or magic. Maybe it’s both. The author makes an attempt to draw us into the world of the main character and she does a fairly good job, but in the end it fell short for me. The writing is solid enough, but perhaps the subject matter is too dark and conflicted. Maybe the madness too close to the surface to be fully engaging. Some will find this story to their liking, but I wasn’t one of them.

 

A spaceport employee is “Offering Solace” by Jamie Lackey (debut 3/29 and reviewed by Frank D) to travelers. Her solace is a liquid in a bowl. She offers passerby’s a free whiff. The aroma is unique to each customer. The protagonist feels unappreciated, for she pours herself into her work.

“Offering Solace” was a sweet story that had an unexpectedly dark ending. It left me not knowing how I should feel about it.

 

A Wizard’s loyalties are tested in “The White Raven’s Feather” by David D. Levine (debut 3/31 and reviewed by Frank D). Ibude is a prisoner. A wizard, spoil of a lost war, serves his master , the Karshan Warhalt Kraig. He works on a magical spell he and lost wife had been working on before his home, Ubini, had fallen. He is still a year away from completing his work but Kraig is becoming impatient. Ibude does the only thing he can do to aid his master, reveal the positions of enemy.

But the spell shows Karshan’s enemy and former ally, the Svaargelders, soldiers massing near a cliff. Ibude recognizes the spell the enemy is about to use and realizes his wife and partner in magic, Ejira, work.

“White Raven” is a gripping tale of a man forced to use his genius to aid a people who destroyed all he held dear. An agreement between Karshan and Svaargelder split the married pair. Ibude was told if he were to die or escape his wife would be immediately executed. It is his genius that has kept him alive. He is overjoyed when he learns that his wife is still alive. His plot to be reunited with her takes a turn when Svaargelder soldiers coalesce out of thin air and are within the walls of the city.

I found myself intrigued with this tale. The tension and anxiety Ibude experience’s is brought to life for the reader. He is a pacifist forced to abandon his principles. His belief that Ejira shares his morals is dashed deep in the story. What I really enjoyed was the path Mr Levine chose for a resolution to Ibude’s dilemma.

Good Sci-fi and fantasy use the wide open settings only those genres are capable of bringing to life, as a canvas of commentary of the people we are today. Great writers can do it so well you may not even notice the subtle metaphor they so artfully articulate.

Recommended.

 

Should the name say it all?

I recently turned an avid reader of all types of fiction onto DSF. He said (not first time I heard this) that he didn’t realize DSF published fantasy. He assumed the magazine published only science fiction. He has come to enjoy receiving their daily emails but his confusion brings to light an inherent problem Daily SF has.

Daily SF is one of the most inclusive speculative fiction markets in the industry, but you wouldn’t know that unless you actually took the time to view their library (or read more than a weeks worth of material). A lot of people won’t read science fiction. Too many place the genre in a Star Trek/Star Wars box. The fact of the matter is more lovers of speculative fiction gravitate to fantasy than science fiction, and horror (vampires, zombies, and the like) is quickly coming up the rear. DSF publishes all of this (and a lot more) but too many readers don’t know it.

So, is a name change in order? Would the magazine be more attractive to a wider audience if DSF became Daily Science Fiction and Fantasy? Maybeâ€.

Have you seen Mr Anonymous? His whereabouts are unknown. I haven’t heard from him in a very long time and I am getting concerned. I would give you a description but my arrangement with him forbids me to do so. So I can’t tell you his height, age, race, hair color, if he has hair, where he lives, what hemisphere he resides in, what he drives, if he drives, his spouses description, his sexual preference, or what type of pet he has. I can’t even confirm his real gender. But, if you have seen, him, her, them (?), please let me know.