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Issue 164 Volume 16 July 2012

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Archives Editorial Serials and Long Fiction Poetry and Filk Music Short Stories Features Series

Editorial

Dan L. Hollifield

The Senior Editor's usual rants about whatever…


Serials and Long Fiction

A Question of Remembrance
Kevin Gordon
Enforcement Officer Stewart suspects that there is something more than just the gangs behind the resurgence of the brain-damaging drugbeatin in the domes of the Titanus colony. But there is something else bothering him, something he has forgotten.
*** CONTAINS ADULT LANGUAGE AND SITUATIONS ***

The Happy Specter
Matt Spencer
On the eve of a massive campaign to crush the monstrous Gorlomongs (once created as a weapon, now a nuisance), magic-wielding prankster and swordsman Cassias Morningstar finds himself sleeping with the enemy — well, the Empire's enemy, not necessarily his. And not exactly sleeping…
*** CONTAINS ADULT LANGUAGE AND SITUATIONS ***

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Short Stories

Age of Reception
Zac Miller
Amanda's life was as complicated and messy as one might expect for a girl about to start college. Augmented Reality made things more interesting, but it didn't make them any easier.

Damned If You Do
Edward Ahern
Nadia thought of herself as free of any qualms about indulging her dangerous and hedonistic impulses. She thought David was just like her. She was wrong.

Firebug
E. S. Strout
They were tiny — literally the size of insects. But someone was using them to kill.

No Pension Plan for Ghosts
William Lowe
Abbas had been one of the best covert agents in the business, but at fifty-two, he was past his prime. And now it seemed that his superiors suspected him of treachery, and were willing to use extreme methods to find the truth.

Nooks and Crannies
Terry Gibbons
There was something odd about the man, in the way he moved, in his seeming ignorance of everyday life skills, in his fascination with all the nooks and crannies of the city.

Paying the Price
Damian Delao
He had hoped that he'd outgrown the dreams, but they had come back, and ignoring them was going to cost him…

Running with the Pack
Joseph E. Arechavala
Cassie and Craig were in love, but Craig had a habit of disappearing for a few days every month "on business". Then he decided it was time for the truth.

The Cistern
McCamy Taylor
Draco XXVII was king of the Faro worlds by default, after the former king and his heir died of plague, and the next four presumptive heirs perished in various mishaps. But now that he was king, he wanted to do the best job he could. What he found entombed in the cistern might help — if it didn't kill him.

The Covenant
Matthew Acheson
Dougal, thief turned friar, must lead his friends into the lair of the witch Kith-Anon in the hopes that they could strike a bargain for the life of a child.

The Horticulturalist
Pedro Blas González
Plants and landscaping were Steven's life, and the Blooms had the most elaborate gardens of any of his clients. They were also his strangest clients. Then Steven's own life took a turn for the weird.

July 2012 Forum Flash Challenge

Congratulations to I. Verse, author of the favorite entry in the July 2012 Forum Flash Fiction Challenge. Check out "Bastille" and six more tales of "murder most fowl" (a humorous reprise of last month's theme)

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Poetry and Filk Music

Diamonds
John M. Marshall

Life’s Great Eternal Internal Questions
Richard Tornello

Quantum Mechanics
Richard Tornello

Robotic Flowers
William Landis

Tree of Knowledge
Robin Lipinski

True Prophecy
Lee Morris

Zombie Rock
Mike Berger

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Articles and features

Thoughts on Writing #39: Getting Jealous
Seanan McGuire
Seanan McGuire takes apart the engine of writing to find out how it works, and offers her insights into how to put it back together again.

Magic Knight Rayearth vs. Tokyo Akazukin: A Magical Girls of Manga Review
McCamy Taylor
McCamy reviews two manga books featuring young, doe-eyed, microskirted female warriors… one of which will likely never appear in an American edition.

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