Spring, 1879
Chester Tams paused to wipe the pastry crumbs from his bushy white moustache. “I was breakfasting at my hotel three weeks ago,” he said, “when Professor Rothschild Hines came [...]
Issue: December 2004
Ends and Means Aside
Achieving Freshness in Fantasy
In the crowded bookshelves of genre fantasy, originality sometimes feels utterly lost. Hordes of The Lord of the Rings clones march forward, orclike, overrunning bestseller lists with extruded fantasy series [...]
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, by Susanna Clarke
Romie Stott starts her monthly book reviews with a review of the much-publicized Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.
Magnetic Sheep
Carthiun rolled swiftly down the corridor—although “rolled” was a euphemism it had adopted to describe the way in which dozens of tiny electromagnets switched on and off to propel it [...]
In the Apple Tree
In the apple tree, in the dark, I am waiting for my moment.
I am spread on my stomach across the widest, flattest branch, telephoto lens at the ready. And I [...]
Serena
Serena didn’t just walk; she floated. It was a strange way to move for one so large; it would seem, at first, second, and even third glance, that the rolls [...]
Hearing the Thinking
Next time I’m going back as a man. I’ve already told the angel, I said: “You can forget it if you think I’m being a woman again. No way.” I’ve [...]
How to Edit a Story (In a Way that is Helpful to the Author)
Editors are, in essence, critics. People instinctively hate critics. After all, it’s our job to tell authors when they’re wrong, and nobody wants to be wrong. This is made especially [...]
Writer’s Block
It can be said there are two kinds of writers – those who have had writer’s block, and those who fear it. Is it a disease? Can it be “cured”? [...]
Possession
He lies swollen and still, his body curled beneath the sheets, breath hitching like there’s a roadblock somewhere in the back of his throat. She wants to turn the [...]
Saving Mary Sue
When writing fiction, one of the challenges is to create interesting characters whom readers want to read about. A well-written character is as important as any other element of [...]