What’s in Issue 75

Serials

Michael J A Tyzuk is going great guns; he has two serials: a two-parter starting in this issue and one coming down the pike. Mike Tyzuk fans will surely recall Moonshadow, an action thriller starring a pair of interstellar gold-heisters. It concluded with “Xanadu,” in issue 66. The action picks up again in the sequel “Going Straight.” In issue 77, Mike will start a sequel to “The Dilemma,” which concluded in issue 60.

Tala Bar’s Ya’el continues with chapter 2, “The Harvest Festival.” Ya’el returns home from the shrine of Oshrat and meets Yin’am, who is literally a Prince Charming. Is the story over almost before it starts? No, indeed, it’s just taking an apparently new direction. We have a lot to learn yet about Ya’el; it will be very interesting and right in character.

Short Stories

Norman A. Rubin is well known as a master of stories of skullduggery in sinister surroundings. “The Taste of Bitterness” has the surroundings but is no murder mystery; rather it’s a darkly ironic story.

Flash Fiction

Speaking of taste, Ásgrímur Hartmannsson depicts how a television series could move the entire cast from romance to the kitchen in just a few episodes. The title “Reality TV Bites” is to be taken literally.

Prose Poem

A new contributor, Durlabh Singh, has sent us something of a puzzle. We can’t classify it as a short story, and “short fiction” seems somehow inadequate. “Prose poem” seems most descriptive of the mystical underwater journey in “The Deep.”

Challenge

This issue’s official Challenge is short and... um... tasteful. I think.

Talking with Our Authors

In this issue we have the opportunity to meet three of our authors: two “old hands” and a newcomer.

We’ve published interviews and a round table discussion before in Bewildering Stories; in an interview, Thomas Lee Joseph Smith gives us fascinating background information on “White Kangaroo,” and much more as well.
Fans of Deep Bora will be pleased to meet the engaging personality behind the stories of an alternate Solar System. Deep is a man of the world as well as the worlds!
If you enjoyed “The Time Jungle” in issue 74, you’ll surely also enjoy meeting Cleveland W. Gibson, who shares his thoughts on writing the story.

Departments

The Reading Room has a double treat: Jerry Wright reviews Robert A. Heinlein’s For Us the Living and Jerry Oltion’s The Getaway Special. The editorial asks you, the readers, some pointed questions.

New Links

We recently arranged a link swap with two websites:: Center for the Study of Science Fiction. It’s a very pretty website at the University of Kansas. It specializes in the history of science fiction, literary criticism and current events.; Whispers of Wickedness features “dark atmospheric art and fiction”; it is regularly updated and has a “quarterly print ’zine and chapbook publication.”
Our links page has also been reformatted for easier reading.

In Times to Come

Christopher Fulbright’s story, promised for this issue, has been moved to issue 76; it seems more fitting in a Christmas issue. Issue 76 will also bring you some holiday cheer in a flash by a new contributor: Charles Richard Laing. Both authors have sent us some biographical information and will get an official welcome. Thomas R. returns with a poem containing a Christmas theme.

Readers’ reactions are always welcome. Please write!

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