Fiction

Fantasy

Erm Kaslo always found that a strong drink or two helped clear his head of the after-effects of the sedative that cushioned the fragile human psyche from the irreality of passage through a whimsy. He was sipping from a glass of red abandon in the second-class lounge of the second-rate liner, Armitou, when harsh bells clanged throughout the ship. Immediately, the ever-present underhum of the vessel’s normal-space drive lowered its pitch then began to fade. In a few moments, Kaslo couldn’t hear the sound at all.

Illustrated by Hillary Pearlman

In Nov. 2013 (Issue 42)

Science Fiction

The Turing Test

by Beth Revis

Author spotlight

“My name is Elektra Shepherd,” I say. “I’m eighteen years old. A freshman in university, majoring in artificial intelligence. Today I am a participant in a Turing test.”

In Nov. 2013 (Issue 42)

Fantasy

Tonight We Fly

by Ian McDonald

It’s the particular metallic rattle of the football slamming the garage door that is like a nail driven into Chester Barnes forehead. Slap badoom, slap badoom: that he can cope with. His hearing has adjusted to that long habituation of the rhythm of wall-to-foot-to-ball-to-wall. Slap baclang. With a resonating twang of internal springs in the door mechanism. Slap baclang buzz. Behind his head where he can’t see it. But the biggest torment is that he never knows when it is going to happen. A rhythm, a regular beat, you can adjust to that: The random slam of ball kicked hard into garage door is always a surprise, a jolt you can never prepare for.

In Nov. 2013 (Issue 42)

Science Fiction

And I Awoke and Found Me Here on the Cold Hill’s Side

by James Tiptree, Jr.

Author spotlight

He was standing absolutely still by a service port, staring out at the belly of the Orion docking above us. He had on a gray uniform and his rusty hair was cut short. I took him for a station engineer.

In Nov. 2013 (Issue 42)

Fantasy

The Insect and the Astronomer: A Love Story

by Kelly Barnhill

Author spotlight

The Insect has never been in love. The Astronomer has never been alive. It is important that you understand this.

In Nov. 2013 (Issue 42)

Science Fiction

Death and the Hobbyist

by Sean Williams

Author spotlight

It wasn’t enough for my mother Juliet to be crazy. Of course not. She was always going to find a uniquely inconvenient way to drive us mad along with her.

Illustrated by Galen Dara

In Nov. 2013 (Issue 42)

Fantasy

Bit-U-Men

by Maria Dahvana Headley

Author spotlight

Made clean, kept clean, wrapped dust-proof. An Energy-Rich Candy Made in the Great City of Chicago! Don’t confuse us with the competition!

In Nov. 2013 (Issue 42)

Fantasy

An Invocation of Incuriosity

by Neil Gaiman

Author spotlight

There are flea markets all across Florida, and this was not the worst of them. It had once been an aircraft hangar, but the local airport had closed. There were a hundred traders there, behind their metal tables, most of them selling counterfeit merchandise: sunglasses or watches or bags or belts. There was an African family selling carved wooden animals, and behind them a loud, blowsy woman named (I cannot forget the name) Charity Parrot sold coverless paperback books, and old pulp magazines, the paper browned and crumbling, and beside her, in the corner, a Mexican woman whose name I never knew sold film posters and curling film stills.

Illustrated by Hillary Pearlman

In Oct. 2013 (Issue 41)

Science Fiction

Ghost Days

by Ken Liu

Author spotlight

Ona watched her Teacher turn around. The helmetless Ms. Coron wore a dress that exposed the skin of her arms and legs in a way that she had taught the children was beautiful and natural. Intellectually, Ona understood that the frigid air in the classroom, cold enough to give her and the other children hypothermia even with brief exposure, was perfectly suited to the Teachers. But she couldn’t help shivering at the sight. The airtight heat-suit scraped over Ona’s scales, and the rustling noise reverberated loudly in her helmet.

In Oct. 2013 (Issue 41)

Fantasy

The Master Conjurer

by Charlie Jane Anders

Author spotlight

Peter did a magic spell, and it worked fine. With no unintended consequences, and no weird side effects. Two days later, he was on the front page of the local newspaper: “The Miracle Conjurer.” Some blogs picked it up, and soon enough he was getting visits from CNN and MSNBC, and his local NPR station kept wanting to put him on. News crews were standing and talking in front of his house.

In Oct. 2013 (Issue 41)