Black Gate

This is Part 3 of a Decadal Review of vintage science fiction magazines published in November 1969. The articles are:

Amazing Stories, November 1969
Galaxy Science Fiction, November 1969
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, November 1969
Worlds of If, November 1969
Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, November 1969

General feeling is that MoF&SF is a little flimsier than others, a bit more ‘pulpy’ (as in the paper itself, not the style) and not nearly as much artwork.

It jumps right into the fiction, “The Mouse,” by Howard Fast. Tiny aliens from a heavy gravity world come to explore Earth. Part of their exploration plan is that they find a local lifeform and augment it to be, roughly, human intelligence. In this case, the lifeform is a small mouse. It gets intelligence, and an ability to read minds. It does not take it long to figure out that the aliens don’t really have a post-exploration plan for the mouse — can’t come back to their homeworld due to the gravity, and they didn’t bother making any other intelligent mice, so they tearfully abandon it to commit suicide. A fairly gripping ending to a fairly poor set-up.

“A Feminine Jurisdiction” by Sterling E. Lanier. This is one of the continuing adventures of Brigadier Donald Ffellowes. The story unfolds at a leisurely pace — with the boys down at the pub taking about the dames and then D. Ffellowes discussing one of his wartime adventures, beginning with the set-up and intrigue around Greece, and leading to a shipwreck on a small uncharted island and being harassed by a downed German pilot. It isn’t a great story, but it isn’t bad, either. Lanier deserves a bit of credit for going past the obvious Medusa idea and going into the other gorgons. He also adds a bit of a Lovecraftian touch to things. I’m not super-familiar with the gorgons, so I have a feeling that I was missing some things.

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I know, I know. We’re in October already. But I’m still not finished with all of September’s great magazines yet. Here are the ones that grabbed my attention in the last half of the month (links will bring you to magazine websites).

Apex Magazine — Issue #100, with new fiction from Andrea Tang, plus reprints by Kameron Hurley & others
Back Issue #100 — our second issue #100 this month is a 100-page centennial featuring Bronze Age comic fanzines
Pulp Literature — with a story by Black Gate blogger Brandon Crilly!
Lightspeed — new fiction from Tony Ballantyne, Timothy Mudie, and others
Interzone — Aliya Whiteley, Paul Jessup, T.R. Napper, and Erica L. Satifka
Meeple Monthly — covering November board game releases
Space and Time — new fiction from Paul Michael Anderson, Gordon Linzner, and others
Uncanny — great new stuff from N. K. Jemisin, Fran Wilde, Catherynne M. Valente, Delia Sherman — and our very own C. S. E. Cooney!

That’s not all, of course. Earlier this month Fletcher Vredenburgh checked in with his September Short Story Roundup, featuring the latest issues of Cirsova and Swords & Sorcery magazine.

Click any of the thumbnail images above for bigger images. Our early September Fantasy Magazine Rack is here.

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Plenty of great fiction to distract us in September! Here are the magazines that grabbed my attention this month (links will bring you to magazine websites).

Beneath Ceaseless Skies — new fiction from Michael J. DeLuca and William Broom
Cirsova #6 — stories by Adrian Cole, Harold R. Thompson, and others
Knights of the Dinner Table 245 — with a great Jack Kirby tribute cover!
Clarkesworld — new fiction from Suzanne Palmer, A. Brym, and others
Galaxy’s Edge — John DeChancie, Barry N. Malzberg, Joan Slonczewski, and others
Locus — report on the Hugo Winners, an obit for Brian Aldiss, and forthcoming books for the US and UK
The Dark — new fiction from Erica L. Satifka and Lora Gray.
Nightmare — new stuff from Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Ashok K. Banker

That’s not all, of course. Earlier this month we reported on the latest issues of Asimov’s SF and Fantasy & Science Fiction; Adrian Simmons reviewed the July/August F&SF and Rich Horton covered the December 1964 Amazing Stories.

Click any of the thumbnail images above for bigger images. Our August Fantasy Magazine Rack is here.

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The September/October F&SF is the 68th Anniversary issue, and it contains some nice special atractions, including fiction by Robert Reed, Michael Swanwick, Tina Connolly — and, most surprising of all, a brand new novelette by the brilliant Samuel R. Delany, who hasn’t appeared in F&SF in 40 years. Here’s a snippet from Charles Finlay’s intro.

Throughout his career, Delany’s work has pushed the boundaries of sf to address more adult situations and issues, particularly at the intersections and language and memory, sexuality and society. He returns to these themes again in his first new science fiction story in a decade… this new story would get an NC-17 rating at the movies and is not appropriate for younger readers.

It’s tough to compete with the return of a Grand Master, but Michael Swanwick manages it with his cover story, “Starlight Express.” Here’s Jason McGregor’s review at Tangent Online.

Via Flaminio’s eyes we learn about Roma in the far, far future and the woman who seemed, not to go to the carrier beam of the transmission station relic as suicidal people often do, but to come from the carrier beam where, as far as most people know, people haven’t come from for millennia. How her universe has changed, and how she changes his, makes the bulk of the tale.

I could understand seeing this as a dull and underplotted story if the poetry of it all doesn’t speak to you but, if it does, it’s a really remarkable story (if more bitter than sweet) which strongly evokes deep time and vast space and an enduring humanity… beautiful. Recommended.

Read Jason’s complete review here.

I note that the cover price has increased a buck this issue, to $8.99 — still a bargain, if you ask me. Here’s the complete Table of Contents.

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Saturday I visited my local Barnes & Noble here in St. Charles, which has an excellent magazine rack, and spent too much money on a big stack of magazines: Retro Gamer, Rue Morgue Library #11: The Weird World of HP Lovecraft, Analog, F&SF, and Asimov’s Science Fiction. The first one I sat down with Asimov’s, and that’s chiefly because of Sam Tomaino enthusiastic review of the issue at SF Revu.

The September/October 2017 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction has a lot of very good stories including one Hugo-worthy. The fiction begins with the novelette “Wind Will Rove” by Sarah Pinsker. -+- Rosie Clay is of the third generation on a generational ship, her grandmother was one of the originals who started on the voyage. Rosie Clay is in her 50s, teaches history, and regularly plays her grandmother’s old fiddle with other traditionalists. One important song is from 1974, called “Wind Will Rise.” One of her students does not want to learn history and wants the past ignored. How can she best deal with this rebellion? A beautiful, poignant tale.

“Universe Box” by Michael Swanwick -+- Another story this month, from one of the best. Howard Pendleton is going to ask his girlfriend, Mimi, to marry him on Valentine’s Day in the most boring, conventional way possible. Mimi anticipates this and is going to dump him. But someone calling himself “Uncle Paulie” arrives at Howard’s door and turns his life inside out. He is a traveler from the stars and has pulled off a tremendous heist. This all starts a wild romp of a story which was loads of fun to read. Swanwick is a devotee of that most original writer R.A. Lafferty and R.A.L. would have got a kick out of this story! This will be on my Hugo Shortlist for Best Novelette next year!

“Dead Men in Central City” by Carrie Vaughan -+- Ricardo must shoot his horse when it breaks two legs and he winds up in the nearby boom mining town of Central City, Colorado. In a bar there, he meets a man who coughs a lot and is dealing faro — one Doctor John Holliday. Ricardo gets a room that shields him from the sun because he is actually a 350-year-old vampire but he only takes as much blood as he needs. Holliday knows what he is but they wind up with some mutual respect for each other. Great little tale!…

September/October, traditionally the “slightly spooky issue” of Asimov’s, contains tales of ghosts, vampires, mysterious spirits, spooky carnivals, and more. It includes fiction by Harry Turtledove, Allen M. Steele, Kit Reed, R. Garcia y Robertson, Sandra McDonald, Suzanne Palmer, Tim McDaniel, William Preston, Dennis E. Staples, and — just like last issue — two tales by James Gunn set in the world of his Transcendental Trilogy.

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Lots of great reading in August’s fiction magazines. In addition to those we’ve covered here during the month — including Analog, Black Static, F&SF, Graphic Classics, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly 33, and Interzone — there’s plenty more on the shelves to keep you busy in those idle hours, including all those above. Click on any of the thumbnail images to visit their respective websites.

Our additional magazine coverage in the past few weeks includes Steve Case’s interview with Scott H. Andrews, editor of Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Fletcher Vredenburgh’s August Short Story Roundup, and Apex Magazine‘s report on the Best Short Fiction Reviews. For our vintage magazine fans, we have Retro-Reviews of the November 1953 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction (by Matthew Wuertz), the November 1969 Galaxy (by Adrian Simmons), and the July 1964 Amazing Stories (Rich Horton).

Our July Fantasy Magazine Rack is here.

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