Magazines Review: Visions #2: Visions of Humanity

The second issue of Visions magazine landed on the doormat with a solid thud: a chunky, serious-looking magazine of 256 pages in red, black and white with monochrome illustrations, innovative fonts and unconventional layout. I had been very impressed with the first single-themed issue when it came out earlier in the year, so I was intrigued to see what this second volume would bring under the title Visions Of Humanity.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Observers

I'm rather pleased that my short story Observers has been accepted by UK-based webzine Emerging Worlds. This is my second story that was inspired by a dream, the other being Remember Yugoslavia? that was published in Nature a few years back. This one is less disjointedly dreamlike.

Magazine Review: Visions #1: Visions of Home

It’s been a long time since a new UK-based print genre magazine has appeared, so I was delighted to discover Visions, which has arrived to fill that void. When I started writing reviews years ago, I particularly concentrated on this type of publication, switching gradually to novel reviews as the magazines disappeared one by one.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Magazine Review: AltHist #2

The second issue of AltHist magazine builds on the solid basis of the first issue, bringing a collection of historical fiction and alternate histories from a broad cross-section of history.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

New UK-Based Genre YA PodCast

The title just about sums it up. Cast of Wonders is a new genre podcast for a YA audience. It accepts reprints, as most podcasts do, paying a token amount for the privelege.



Off to rummage through my hard drive now to see what I can submit...

Latest Magazines

I have a small collection of paper magazines to look forward to reading over the next couple of weeks:

Jupiter XXXII
Interzone 233
Murky Depths #16

All three generaly contain stories that I enjoy and I've been reading them for quite a few issues now.

Meanwhile, in other UK based genre 'zine news:

AltHist #2 is in the works, with stories also accepted for #3.
CossMass Infinities is up to podcast #11, but that was put on line in November.
Dark Fiction Magazine podcast #7 is available. I don't know if it's just my computer, but I can barely read the light blue font. :o(
Spectra magazine is on issue #2, but is now on hiatus due to some technicality that I don't understand.
Singularity will be available for download 'in the coming weeks'.
Midnight Street #14 has been available for a while, now in electronic format.
The Winter 2010 edition of Estronomicon is still available to download.
Hub magazine is up to issue #139, rather impressively.

That should be enough short fiction for anyone.

New UK Genre Mag - Singularity

Well, it's been surprisingly busy recently in the UK genre publishing world. Following on from the recent launches of Immersion Press, CossMass Infinities, AltHist, Dark Fiction and Spectra, there is a new quarterly print magazine forthcoming entitled Singularity.

Based in Scotland, Singularity is a mixed genre, token-paying magazine containing

a range of genre fiction that takes in the best that Horror, Fantasy and Science Fiction has to offer.

I'm looking forward to seeing the first issue.

Two New UK Genre Fiction Markets

At the weekend I met Del Lakin-Smith, co-founder of new genre podcasting site Dark Fiction. The first issue was launched at the end of October and I've seen it mentioned in numerous places since. Many well-known names in the world of UK genre fiction are lined up for the first few issues.





Passing me by completely was the launch of Spectra, a UK-based ezine available in several formats that seems to have appeared some time in recent months.





I shall put both on my list to get interviews and find out more information.

New British Genre Mag

I came across a new UK based genre magazine this week: Alt Hist. From their mission statement:

Alt Hist’s mission is to provide readers with entertaining and well-written short stories with a historical setting, whether portraying actual events or events that could have happened.

They plan to produce electronic and POD copies a and will pay royalties to authors. Looks like an interesting model they're attempting to work with. No confirmation of a date for the first issue yet, but they're open to submissions.

Magazine Review: Interzone #226

Issue #226 of Interzone presents the opportunity to vote for the favourite stories of last year. As if to remind you, three of last year’s well-know contributors are back for this issue.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Two More Magazines Are Lost

Sad news for the genre magazine world this week, though this is the first I've reported for quite some time.

Web-based fiction mag Pantechnicon is to cease publication. The final issue will be in December. The site has been experiencing technical difficulties, so the final issue will appear on the website of Theaker's Quarterly Fiction.

Also coming to an end after 21 issues is Death Ray, the news stand genre magazine, as reported at SF Crowsnest.

More Reading

The new issue of Concept SciFi has an interview with Michael Cobley, which I was interested to read having recently finished his new novel Seeds of Earth. My review of that will be in next month’s SF Crowsnest.

I’ve not read the rest of the magazine yet as Murky Depths #7 arrived first. I know I say this every time, but the cover art is fantastic. The cover of issue #4 has deservedly been shortlisted for the BSFA award this year.

I’m simultaneously reading Subtle Edens, the final anthology from Elastic Press and I’ll be reviewing that too.

Meanwhile the Powerful Tales anthology that includes The Ironic Man has been put back a month and will now be appearing in March.

Two New Issues

Two new webzines available to download this week:

Concept SciFi #2





Pantechnicon #8

Magazine Review: Concept SciFi #1

Concept SciFi is the first new UK SF magazine to be launched this year, creating an aura of excitement and anticipation. It’s in PDF format, with a simple text-based layout and other than the fabulous cover art has minimal illustrations – just a couple of author photos. This makes it quick to download and easy to print out in a readable format. It contains a couple of articles and interviews, but as usual I shall concentrate on the fiction.

Read the rest of my review at SF Crowsnest.

Latest 'Zines

Two new zines out this week, both with great cover art:




-Issue #1 of Concept Sci Fi, which I shall be reviewing in due course.




-Jupiter XXI, which contains Roadruler, the penultimate Roadmaker story.

New UK-Based Sf Webzine

Concept SciFi is a new UK based webzine due to launch in July. The slick-looking site is already in place and has a few articles and discussions ready to read. Editor Gary Reynolds has hinted that he may bring the launch of issue #1 forward from its proposed date of July 31st.

After the disappearance of Darker Matter last year, it’s encouraging to see some new blood entering the market.

Latest 'Zine News

There's now a new website for Neon magazine, which I shall update in my side bar.




Also today the new issue #7 of Pantechnicon is available to download.

Estronomicon #10

After a slight delay a 'Fiction Special' issue of Wales based ezine Estronomicon is now online for you to download, featuring 10 short stories.

There's also news that a new Rhys Hughes novel published by Screaming Dreams, the people behind Estronomicon, will be launched at the Welsh SF conference on June 21st. More details of the event can be found on the website.

Neon News

Issue #15 of Neon - the journal of brilliant things - is now out. There's also news that after #17 there will no longer be a print edition of the magazine. The editor explains:

Having a print component to the journal was great; it helped us raise our profile and gain new readers, and it was immensely satisfying in a way that online publishing previously wasn't. However, it has now become a limitation. A lot of paperwork and effort is invovled in creating anything in print, and as the number of copies we sold increased, so did the amount of work. This put a limit on the circulation we could achieve. Returning the journal to its online roots will help eliminate that, and allow us to grow Neon even further.

Roadrider

Jupiter #20: Taygete is now available and contains the third instalment of my Roadmaker Saga, entitled Roadrider.

Also in this issue is The Mine, a story by fellow Flash Fictioneer Neil Beynon.