Another edition of the Haul of Books has arrived, featuring stuff I bought or received for myself! This particular edition is magazine-heavy, since I bought a whole bunch of magazines and what not some time back and have since received a few special copies of magazines in the last month or so. A lot of the stuff below might be unfamiliar to a lot of you, and that’s really unfortunate. GUD and Tales of the Unanticipated really are top notch venues that haven’t received nearly as much attention as they should.
That’s enough from me. Here’s the image, followed by the descriptions:
The descriptions are, from left to right, top to bottom (taken from Amazon or publisher websites):
1. Tales of the Unanticipated, Number 30 signed by Jason Sanford (won)
Includes fiction by Eleanor Arnason, Stephen Dedman, Martha A. Hood, Patricia S. Bowne, Patricia Russo, William Mingin, Jason Sanford, Catherine Lundoff, Patricia Russo, Cornelius Fortune, Douglas J. Lane, T. J. Berg, Barbara Rosen, Terry Faust, Kurt Kirchmeier, Matthew S. Rotundo, and Sarah Totton; poetry by F. J. Bergmann, Ann K. Schwader, Ruth Berman, P M F Johnson, Ann Peters and Ellen Kuhfeld, Alexis Vergalla, G. O. Clark, KC Wilder, Zoë Gabriel, and Sandra Kasturi. Featuring the Art of Jules Hart.
2. Tales of the Unanticipated, Number 21: Ghosts and Machines Issue
Our “Ghosts and Machines” issue, including fiction by Eleanor Arnason, Stephen Dedman, Martha A. Hood, Judy Klass, R. Neube, Fred Schepartz, Sandra Rector & P.M.F. Johnson, Manfred Gabriel, Naomi Kritzer, Kelly David McCullough, Robert H. Beer, Douglas M. Stokes, Steven E. Burt, and William Laughlin; and poetry by John Calvin Rezmerski and Ruth Berman.
3. Crossed Genres, Issue 12: The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Issue
– 10 diverse stories of queer characters
– “Heinlein’s Friday: A Trans Novel?” by Cheryl Morgan
– “Why Gay Sci Fi and Fantasy Is Important” by Lee Wind
– Interview with author & outlaw Kate Bornstein
– Astounding cover art by Julie Dillon
– 7 pieces of creative art & comics by Megan Rose Gedris, David Willis, Michelle Gruben and Katoo Deziel
4. Tales of the Unanticipated, Number 18: Myths, Folk Tales, and Legends Issue
Spring 1998. “Myths, Folk Tales, and Legends” issue, including Ursula K. Leguin interviewd; fiction by Neil Gaiman, Stephen Dedman, Martha A. Hood, Patricia Russo, Mark W. Tiedemann, Judy Klass, Gerard Daniel Houarner, and Amy Benesch; and poetry by John Calvin Rezmerski.
5. Greatest Common Denominator, Issue 4 (Spring 2009) (subscription)
Issue 4 begins with the end of the world and moves on from there. From the unromantically magical take on Ragnarøk in the lead story “Unbound” to the curious history of squid in “A Man of Kiri Maru”, this issue is steeped in mythos, making use of the old familiar tales and some new ones, mixing cosmologies from around the world–and from other worlds as well.
But the focus, be it of prose, poetry, or art, is always on the human–on the clashes between imagination and reality, on choices and redemption, on what the Other can tell us about ourselves. And like any GUD magazine, this one’s eclectic; browse around between the covers and you’re sure to come upon some things you’ll like, whether you’re a genre junkie or a generalist. We hope you’ll find some beauty, something uncommon, and that, for just a moment, the angle of the light will seem a little bit different.
6. Greatest Common Denominator, Issue 5 (Winter 2009) (subscription)
Issue 5 wraps a scientific core with our most eclectic selection to date—including two mini graphic novels and a script that will have you bubbling over with mirth.
We open with Rose Lemberg’s “Imperfect Verse”, a tale of poetry, deception, and warring gods; then span the years to Andrew N. Tisbert’s “Getting Yourself On”, which sees mankind taken to the stars but suffering new forms of wage-slavery.
There’s science fiction that stretches to the fantastic, science that once stretched the fantastic and has now become brilliantly pervasive, and dollops of science in otherwise mundane lives (see “The Prettiest Crayon in the Box”).
Of course, we’ve got fantasy, psychological horror, humor, and drama; poetry serious, sublime, and satirical; and art that stretches from the real, to the surreal, to the violently semi-abstract.
7. Electric Velocipede, Issue 15 & 16 (Winter 2008)
Issue #15/16, our first double issue, 164 pages and almost 100,000 words of content! Featuring an amazing color wraparound cover from T. Davidsohn. There’s also fiction from people like Patrick O’Leary, Patricia Russo, William Shunn, Rachel Swirsky, and more. Lucius Shepard takes our Blindfold Taste Test this issue. The issue debuted at the 2008 World Fantasy Convention in Calgary, Oct 30 – Nov 2, 2008.
8. The Sense of Falling by Ezra Pines
This is our first chapbook. Readers of the zine should already be familiar with Ezra Pines, particularly his Mr. Brain stories. Ezra is a curmudgeonly sort, and it shows in his writing. He also has an amazing imagination that can literally stun a reader. The chapbook features 10 previously published stories and two brand-new stories: “Antevellum,” a response to Hal Duncan’s excellent novel, Vellum, and “Of Light and Snow.”
9. Life’s Simple Pleasures by John Klima
I don’t have a description for it, but the story inside can be found at Diet Soap.
10. Psychological Methods To Sell Should Be Destroyed Stoires by Robert Freeman Wexler
“Psychological Methods To Sell Should Be Destroyed: Stories” by Robert Freeman Wexler.
This is our third chapbook. Six stories in all, with a new novellette: “Sidewalk Factory: A Municipal Love Story.” Cover art by Tim Robinson. Introduction from Zoran Živković.
11. Gents by Warwick Collins (won)
Ezekiel Murphy takes up a job as an attendant in a London lavatory. The other two attendants explain that they are under pressure from the council to reduce the amount of casual sex that goes on in the cubicles, but in doing so, they risk putting themselves out of a job as turnstile takings fall.
12. Subtropics, Number 2, Spring/Summer 2006
Fiction
Rachel West Carpenter Travel Story
Tony D’Souza Magic Muffler
Willem Elsschott Will-o’-the-Wisp
Allan Gurganus “We, of Weedland”
Sheila Kohler The Golden Dove
Padgett Powell Did We Party Last Night?
Liz Prato Underneath the Magnolia Tree When Magnolias Were in Bloom
Jarret Rosenblatt RhythmicallyPoetry
Jennifer Atkinson The Black Fox of Salmon River and Rafting Lowe River
Geoffrey Brock Flesh of John Brown’s Flesh: Dec. 2, 1859 and Charles Graner Is Not America
Billy Collins No Things
Paola Corso Step by Step with the Laundress
Peggy Smith Duke Hen Party
Matthea Harvey Museum of the Middle
Brandon Kershner Liberation
Michael Loughran Incident Report and My Relationship with With
Jacques Prévert (translated by J.T. Barbarese) Le désespoir est assis sur un banc (Park Bench Sphinx),
Chanson des escargots qui vont a l’enterrement (Did You Hear the One About), and Riviera (Taking It In)
Vivian Laramore Rader Everglades, On Having and Hads, and HensNonfiction
James Lord Giacometti’s Goddess
Robert Schultz The Ephemera
Cynthia Zarin Real Estate
13. The Lost Sister by Megan Kelley Hall
Sisters are born, not chosen. . .
Maddie Crane is grappling with the disappearance of Cordelia LeClaire, and trying to escape the grasp of The Sisters of Misery–an insidious clique of the school’s most powerful girls, whose pranks have set off a chain of horrific events, and who have Maddie in their sights-
Beware the sister betrayed. . .
Now in a prestigious boarding school far away from her mysterious hometown of Hawthorne, Massachusetts, Maddie feels free from danger. But when an unmarked envelope arrives at her dorm containing a single ominous tarot card, Maddie realizes with terror that some secrets won’t stay buried. Knowing she must return to Hawthorne–a town still scarred by the evil of the Salem witch trials–Maddie prepares to face the fears of her past. . .and the wrath of the sister she wronged.
14. Glass Coffin Girls by Paul Jessup (won)
This is a crevice book . . . a shadow volume whose pages were written in the cracks of ancient cities and long since forgotten. Nine stories, nine shadows . . . words tattooed on skin, locked in towers, frozen under glass and sleeping with apple hearts, refusing to be defined. They are carved of light, and slither through your fingers like winter rain.
In these shadows you will find:
– resurrection, quantum vampires and magic tricks
– jealous mothers, dead birds, and a cannibal princess
– a high school trapped behind a wall of snow
– a man who makes art out of misery
– a surreal war and a chance for survival
– feral children, a dead mother and the bogeyman
– hypnotism, speaking to the dead, a girl in thorns and a haunting
– a drought, a story in reverse, and a man who makes a star out of a mermaidStep inside . . . but be careful. The path is uneven and will melt with every step, trapping you between worlds.
Paul Jessup is a critically acclaimed writer of weird, strange and slippery fiction. He’s been published in many magazines, both offline and on, and updates a blog on occasions at pauljessup.com.
15. An Alternate History of the 21st Century by William Shunn
“An Alternate History of the 21st Century” by William Shunn; illustrations by Mattias Adolfsson; introduction by Cory Doctorow.
This is our second chapbook. William Shunn has been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula awards. This collection contains two stories previously published in the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, two stories published on Salon.com, and two previously unpublished pieces.
And there you have it. Anything look of interest to you?
