Interfictions Online is
doing some crowdfunding so that they can continue to pay contributors and not charge readers. Not only am I in favor of paying contributors and keeping material free for readers, I'm also a fan of
Interfictions in all its various incarnations, since many of my friends and writers I admire have appeared there, are editors there, etc. And I'm not entirely selfless in passing on the appeal: I had
a story in the first
Interfictions anthology, and I've got a story coming out in a future issue of
Interfictions Online.
You don't have to be selfless, either, though, because there are various items offered to people who give money, including a great set of new e-book anthologies.
The latest issue of that venerable, mercurial, deeply occasional magazine THE REVELATOR is now available online for your perusal. It is filled with nothing but THE TRUTH AND ALL!
The contents of this issue are so vast, variable, and vivacious that I can't even begin to summarize them here. There are excursions into history, into imagery, and into liquor. We attend the tale of a young man reading science fiction in Kenya. We discover the secret life of Elodia Harwinton, about whom I am sure you have heard much (but never this much!). For those of you who do not like words, there are not only some videos, but a wordless book(let) by the great Frans Masereel. And do not forget the
Revelations, in which many secrets, some of them clearly obscene and pornographic, revealed!
Resist not, o mortal! Surrender yourself to the siren call of
The Revelator today!
I've been thinking about short fiction a lot recently. The truth is, after working on three Best American Fantasy anthologies, I was shellshocked from reading piles of short stories, and stayed away from them. I pretty much stopped writing them for a while, focusing instead on academic writing, film stuff, etc. Judging the Shirley Jackson Awards was fun and brought me back to short fiction, but again in such an overwhelming way that by the time it was done, I didn't want to read another short story for months. And I didn't.
I've gotten over that, finally. I've read a few short stories over the last month (and it's been a busy month, so reading a few of anything is an accomplishment!), and, just as importantly, for the first time in years I've gotten back to writing stories — two so far this year, one of which already sold (I'll reveal the details once I've signed the contract).
I've had plans to write more about short stories here, but the time for doing so has eluded me. But I've still been reading, and still want to share. I've decided to do so occasionally, probably on weekends. An offering of weekend reading. So here are 5 stories, all available online, that I think are worth at least the time it takes to read them:
"Heaven" by Alexander Chee (TriQuarterly) He wants to at least tell him, he understands what he wanted. He always had. He just hated that anyone could tell.
"Understanding Human Behavior" by Thomas M. Disch (originally F&SF; here, Strange Horizons)A lot of the time he couldn't suspend his disbelief in the real people around him, all their pushing and pulling, their weird fears and whopping lies, their endless urges to control other people's behavior, like the vegetarian cashier at the Stop-and-Shop or the manager at the convenience center. The lectures and demonstrations at the halfway house had laid out the basics, but without explaining any of it. Like harried parents, the Institute's staff had said, "Do this," and "Don't do that," and he'd not been in a position to argue. He did as he was bid, and his behavior fit as naturally as an old suit.
"Declaration by the Ghost of Emma Goldman" by Rick London (New American Writing)I see now that the mind is occupied territory. Most likely, as long as we’re thinking the mind is under occupation. Despite our high ideals and surging rhetoric, we go on as if we were alone and adrift, seeking some small moment of advantage. Indeed, amid so much of the usual sectarian bickering you’d think we couldn’t see past our noses or had to close one eye to see out of the other. Will we ever pull aside the curtain on this hapless drama?
I was an old hand at organizing workers, though girls who consumed electricity rather than bread were a bit beyond my remit.
*Although I might be introduced to you as such a person. There was probably a point when I should have mentioned that I wasn’t actually Burt Reynolds. Of course, I’m not sure why she thought that I was Burt Reynolds to begin with. I don’t resemble Burt. Burt was never a portly woman in a pug t-shirt and skinny jeans.
The
latest issue of The Revelator is now online. Eric Schaller and I put this one together with
love and craft. It includes new short stories by Meghan McCarron and Laird Barron, poems by Sonya Taaffe, comix by Chad Woody, a column on music by Brian Francis Slattery, art by Adam Blue, miniatures used in the movie
The Whisperer in Darkness, a previously-unpublished interview with H.P. Lovecraft that Nick Mamatas discovered, etc. Once again, we have, we believe, fully embodied our motto:
The Truth ... And All.
The easiest way to keep apprised of the always-unpredictable, regularly irregular schedule of
The Revelator is via
our Facebook page.
The Library of America has just posted a Fritz Leiber story, "Try and Change the Past", online. If you've never read any Leiber, now's as good a time as any to start.
I reviewed the first two issues of Trunk Stories for SF Site back in 2005, and so I am happy to see that William Smith is continuing with the venture -- not as a print zine, since costs have become prohibitive, but online. The first story, "Dame Morehead's Sea of Tranquility" by Tobias Seamon, is now available as a PDF download from Smith's Hang Fire Books blog.
Today we are proud (and a bit sad because it’s over) to present part 5 of Lynne Viola’s piece on her archival research for her book The Unknown Gulag: The Lost World of Stalin’s Special Settlements. Check out her previous posts here.
It would have been impossible to write this book without access to the archives. The archives, however, tell only a part of the story. (more…)
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I'm reading it,and liking it very much-I'm slow at it b/c now that I work long hours in front of the computer I've much less enthusiasm for e-books.
But...so far (chapter three) to me everything in this novel screams Thomas Pynchon -the names (Wendell Apogee?) the characters,the just-a bit-off-kilter realism,bits like the Party,The Church of Panic,Swami Horowitz and his House in the water,the Book Death in The Five Boroughs,musical groups like The Marsupials...
I know it's not just me,because I've looked at reviews and saw Pynchon namedropped often,but it seems more than an influence-almost like a deliberate attempt at recreating a style.
What do you think?
Ciao,
Marco