What’s in Issue 103
| Novel | You knew all along that Tala Bar would not lose Dar in the storm. She moves from the turbulence of the lake surface to a very strange and yet lively peace beneath the waves. The action is full of color and calls for illustration! Gaia, chapter 4: “The Lake,” part III, installment 1. |
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| Novella | Euhal Allen reincarnates Katia and her family in a new place, but the authorities are malevolent, and Neils is their agent. The Bridge, part III, installment 1. |
| Serial | Gregory Hansen gets his hapless insurance salesman, Orin Bennett, into a heap of trouble: every deal he makes seems to backfire on him. But Orin is resourceful: he goes to a jail and gets into double trouble. Then he goes into space. Okay, multiply the trouble by two, Is that four times as much? Never mind, just hold on to your hat and his, too: he sees even more trouble looming over the horizon in Adverse Selection, part 2. |
| Short Stories |
Eins, zwei, drei, vier, raise your glass and... hop into Ásgrímur Hartmannsson’s time machine for a classic time-travel story. It shows that Si vis pacem..., you may get what you wish for, but it may not be exactly what you had in mind.
And you must remember this: a miss is hard to kiss, a smile is just a sigh. The world does not always welcome lovers in its smoothly-running nightmares. Stephen Heister, Bound in a Nutshell. Lovelorn are ye? Stay away from mythological characters out on a romp. Steven Utley’s advice column, Ask Athena makes "Dear Abby” look like a sweetee... switee.. sweeti... You’ll see. |
| Discussion | Ásgrímur knows not what he has wrought. He has turned Don Webb loose on literary criticism. Run for the jungles! No, on second thought, pray. No, on third thought... Wait, was there even a first thought? Metacommentary on “On an Archived Poet” explains that “switi” business, and it’s on a four-ply Bewildering roll with a short history of the origami approach to literature. |
Departments
| Challenge |
Greg Hansen responds to Challenge 102 with sensitive poetry in both prose and verse. Challenge 103 is in the swim of things and Going with the Flow of Traffic. |
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| Letters |
Kevin Ahearn writes about The Fahrenheit Debate. His letter puts a tempest back in its teapot, with a personal touch. Steven Utley has received some feedback on our interview with him and is thrilled to learn he actually has some Detractors! |
| The Reading Room |
Jerry Wright reviews Will McCarthy’s The Collapsium. |
| Editorial | Michael J A Tyzuk favours us with a guest editorial: Society for the P. of C. A. |
| News | In the regular news column, Don Webb examines The Bemusing Season. In a special current-events bulletin he sets about Short-Sheeting the Bedsheet Ballot for the benefit of those who suspect there may actually be something in that blank area above Minnesota on the weather map. And Jerry Wright has even more news about reviews, contests and prizes in The Other News. |
In Times to Come
Yes, folks, issue 104 is it, the much-heralded Second Anniversary issue! What, celebrate with business as usual? Sure, how much better can it get? Tala Bar will have a kind of “old home week” in Gaia; plots will thicken around euhal allen’s “Bridge,” and Greg Hansen will give his trepidatious salesman a chance to earn his spurs in the conclusion to “Adverse Selection.”
The issue will have a cosmic theme among others. Ian Donnell Arbuckle returns with a poignant short story; Deep Bora and Steven Utley contribute essays on the future and beyond; and Mark Koerner is back with an article on artificial languages. That and more in 104.
