So, you’re feeling a bit down. Maybe things aren’t going the way you’d have imagined for yourself when, as a wee child, you had visions of your success as a star of stage and screen, or as an international playboy and jetsetter, celebrity look-a-like, ruthless cybernetic mankiller, or affable variety show host with secret knowledge [...]
For your delectation this Friday I have prepared two bloggish morsels on subjects various and writerly. First, over at Black Gate, I’ve posted a notice about a new award for adventure fantasy short fiction called . . . wait for it . . . The Ham-Sized Fist Award. Appetite whetted? For a bigger bite head [...]
by Bill Ward on August 19, 2009
in Zines
Readers of this blog know that I often decry the lack of publications that feature secondary world fantasy — especially of the action-packed, fun sort that is called variously Sword & Sorcery, Heroic or Epic Fantasy, or just plain old pulp. Recently, we’ve been lucky to get two new online venues that cater to just [...]
by Bill Ward on August 17, 2009
in Zines
If Teddy Bear gumshoes, wooden donkeys, trial-by-spider, and Scooby-Doo refracted through the pornographer’s lens sound like your idea of a good time — look no further that the debut issue of The Magazine of Bizarro Fiction. Editor-in-Chief Jeff Burk’s (author of Shatnerquake) opening rant decries the formulaic approach of so much genre fiction, and he’s [...]
Seems I’m still playing catch up, having just now gotten around to reading my contributor’s copy of issue 4 of UK horrorzine Morpheus Tales, published way back in April. I’ve talked about previous issues of MT on here, and they continue to deliver a wide variety of horror and dark fiction — including science fiction [...]
by Bill Ward on July 23, 2009
in Zines
For the curious and hungry among you, my review of Interzone #221 has just gone live over at Tangent Online. Tangent, as I’ve mentioned before, has recently come back after a lengthy hiatus, and it already has a lot of material that continues to grow. So don’t just go over for my review (and you [...]
Even though the UK’s Murky Depths #8 is out already, I’m just now getting caught up with #7. Everything I said about this magazine in my review of Murky Depths #5 applies in spades to this issue — edgy content, handy format, and super-slick presentation and design. If there were more magazines that looked like [...]
by Bill Ward on June 28, 2009
in Zines
Nice to have a good newsie sort of follow up to my sky-is-falling recent post on Vanishing Print Zines. Seems Jason Sizemore over at Apex just doesn’t want to let his monster die, so he’s pumping it full of electricity and letting it loose on the world once more. Apex Magazine, a pro-rate market, will [...]