I’m getting behind on BCS again (already??), so it’s time to play catch-up.

Issue #185 is the special Halloween issue, and contains new fiction from Ian McHugh and Cory Skerry, a podcast by Rebecca Campbell, and a reprint by Christopher Green. It is cover-dated October 29.

“Demons Enough,” by Ian McHugh
The leech crouched in the broken hole where the window had been. Its glamour made it hard to discern details. Thorfinn had seen leeches in daylight, knew the ragged, filthy reality. His gaze flickered involuntarily up to the dark hollows of its eyes. It was an effort to tear away again from the hypnotic stare.

“Bloodless,” by Cory Skerry
The strange moment broke, and suddenly the stranger in her circle was an enemy again, and Kamalija struck out with her knife. He had already ducked back, and the blade dragged then stopped at the line where they’d poured her blood, as if the air was made of clay. She couldn’t force it any further, and she watched his back as he bounded into the forest.

Audio Fiction Podcast:
“Unearthly Landscape by a Lady” by Rebecca Campbell (Duration: 28:02 — 19.26MB)
I could not imagine that my charge could conceive something so strange, so unpleasant.

From the Archives:
“Father’s Kill,” by Christopher Green (from BCS issue #24, August 27, 2009)
I lock both Father and the night away.

Ian McHugh has previously appeared in Asimov’s, Clockwork Phoenix, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. Cory Skerry’s last story for Beneath Ceaseless Skies was “Sinking Among Lilies” (Issue #92). Rebecca Campbell has appeared in Interfictions 6, and her first novel, The Paradise Engine, was published in 2013. Christopher Green has appeared in Nossa Morte, The Edge of Propinquity, and Dreaming Again.

Read issue 185 online completely free here.

The cover art this issue is “Sundown” by Feliks Grzesiczek.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies is edited by Scott H. Andrews and published twice a month by Firkin Press. Issues are available completely free online; you can also get a free e-mail or RSS subscription.

Firkin Press also sells a Kindle/e-Reader subscription, which includes automatic delivery to your Kindle or other device. A 12-month subscription comes with 26 issues and costs only $13.99. Single issues are available on Kindle and at Weightless Books for 99 cents. Subscribe here.

The magazine supports itself though subscriptions, and also by selling anthologies, including the annual Best of BCS volumes and occasional themed books such as the steampunk anthology Ceaseless West. The anthologies each contain 15-18 stories and cost only $2.99-$3.99.

We last covered Beneath Ceaseless Skies with issue #183 and 184.

See our November Fantasy Magazine Rack here, and all of our recent Magazine coverage here.