Abyss and Apex, Coyote Wild, Baen and Spacesuits
Out doing some short story reading and found a couple of good ones. I posted this same info over at the FantasyBookSpot forums; there may be additional discussions over there.
Here’s a list of some stories I’ve reviewed in short story magazines:
In Abyss and Apex: Dimished Capacity by Andrew Zimmerman Jones is a very good read. It’s starts out pretty weird and I was thinking, “uh-oh, this could be horror.” But it was intriguing so I kept reading. The story isn’t light, but it isn’t really horror either. The thing I liked about it best was that it was long enough to build the characters–I wanted to know what was going to happen to them and how they got themselves into such a mess. There’s an underlying current of fear about the story–it’s just easier to kill those people that are scary or lock them up rather than get to the bottom of things. I thought it was very good.
In Coyote Wild (this is the first time I’ve read this online magazine. For some reason I thought their first issue wasn’t out until Jan 2008) there were some interesting stories. Anyway, it’s speculative and it’s free. There’s a weird short story–My Brother is a Scarecrow–someone will have to explain that one to me. 
I liked The Cat Lady by Jeremy Schneider (no relation to me) isn’t a deep read, but it’s fun. It’s one of those cute tales that has a good ending. It’s told well and has good characterization and you can just see Ms. Dempsey, because you’ve see little old ladies like this before and you hope they exist and are as interesting as the woman in this story.
The Rescue by C. Montgomery Stuart. It starts off with flowery language and it twists and turns, taking you along…it’s a weird one, but a very cleverly told story.
<a href=”http://www.spacesuitsandsixguns.com/”>www.spacesuitsandsixguns.com</a> This free to read e-zine has a lot of potential. The first issue was very good with an absolute stunner of a story by Lon Prater, Kids Cost More. The second issue was also decent with very readable stories.
Baen’s October 2007 Issue
Woohoo, this issue of Jim Baen’s Universe is a doozy and of course I’m not finished with it yet. There was one article in particular that was so good, I decided to post the partial review of stories now.
From the Badlands by Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlett — A very interesting adventure piece, my kind of story. It’s an “old west” type setting where everyone rides around on pigs instead of horses. There’s other little humorous things like this throughout the story; it’s main theme is reintroducing technology to people that have been without it for a while—the inevitable suspicions about “demons” and the various expected plays for power. One man has to make the decision about whether or not to share what he has learned with the rest of the world he inhabits. It’s a good story; there was one scene-shift where I had to backtrack because it jumped where I didn’t expect it to go. The authors cover a lot of ground in the story.
Tweak by Jack McDevitt is a fun little tale. It moves along, good characters, interesting stuff going on and then…it ends. I didn’t get it. I know there is a point, and I think it’s kind of a cosmic joke, an irony type of thing…but I just didn’t get it. Someone please read this story and tell me the answer. I have a guess, but even thinking about it and rereading—that’s all it is—a guess.
Soul Searching by Laird Long is a fantasy/detective story—but wait—it isn’t an elf. It’s a dead guy—but wait—it isn’t a vamp either. It’s just a ghost. He has to remain a ghost until he works off what he owes the IRS. The story is full of bad puns and silly clichés, but it’s a good story. The punch is okay, but I prefer stories where the clues are littered about and I actually have a chance of solving the crime. It’s not that the author is trying to be tricky—it’s just a linear story where you find out things at the same time as the detective so there are no real surprises or conclusions to be drawn. I liked the ghost angle a lot; he was a good, not-so-solid, character (See, I can do puns too…). The other characterizations were quite good. Quick, entertaining read.
Non-Fiction
Why Carol Won’t Sit Next To Me At Science Fiction Movies – Mike Resnick. A great little piece where Resnick tears into the flaws of various sci-fi movies (usually the logic). It’s quite funny. Worth reading even just the free part, which is about half the article.
*****Starred Review (I’m not sure exactly what a starred review is supposed to contain, but I always wanted to do one, and this article by Eric Flint is really good.)
Eric Flint continues his thesis on giving away work to make sales (The Economics of Writing). He gets pretty long-winded at the beginning of this article, digressing rather far using analogies, but his point is eventually as well-made as you would expect. He covers some absolutely fascinating info in this article—his own sales numbers for a couple of his books, as well as typical percentages that go to writers for hardback, trade, and mass market (these percentages are available other places, but this article lays it out quite nicely.) This is just an amazing article to read and should be mandatory for any writer-want-to be. Advice and real numbers such as this from an experienced author—all I can say is Thanks Eric. Worth the price of admission. Again.
For Elizabeth Bear fans, she has some short fiction in here too, which I’ll be getting to shortly. I’ve had mixed luck with her stuff; she’s a good writer, but sometimes I like the story and sometimes I’m ambivalent.