COSMIC PARADOX

Two story styles many SF readers feel are missing from short speculative fiction these days: adventure fantasy and hard science-fiction, aren't actually missing at all (though you may sometimes have to look past the 'Big Four' SF publications to find them!). As we demonstrated last month in our "Sultry Pulp" column, great adventure SF is ripe for the picking – and through the bounties of the World Wide Web – often free for the taking, as well.

This month, Lady E. and I have unearthed a cache of hard science fiction, and not merely a trickle, but a free pipeline to what promises to be a steady source. We've also taste-tested some delectable adventure and historical fantasy, and for dessert: a devil's cake with a nip of absinthe...

Ed McFadden, editor of Fantastic Stories of the Imagination recently launched a new, quarterly e-zine, Cosmic Speculative Fiction, which he's distributing to anyone who emails him to request a subscription at Edmcfadden6@yahoo.com. Whatever your first-impression may be when you hear there's a new, free-subscription e-zine, you've likely underestimated CSF. A subscription to CSF, the opening issue of which features a quartet of refreshingly imaginative stories, definitely appears to be worth an email of your time.

Track One, "The Man Who Walked to Procyon" by Don D'Ammassa, is an exceptionally strong lead-off piece, based on the premise of hyperspace as a good place for ambulatory adventures; in other words: a Sunday hike through deep spacetime. Futuristic multi-billionaire Scott Bushnell (read: 'Fossett/Branson') decides to become the first man to cross the 'hyperspatial plain' on foot, which results in – you guessed it – some unexpected consequences.

Despite the less-than-complex plot, D'Ammassa scribes a poignant story with socio-ironic overtones and contrives an amazing verisimilitude for Bushnell's walk through space. This latter, technical flourish is the outstanding quality of "The Man Who Walked to Procyon", an accomplishment that makes this story one any serious SF writer simply must read. Extra food for thought: the 'pedestrian' symbolism of a billionaire's walk through hyperspace is an ironic comment on how institutionalized 'celebrity' and 'greed' or CelebrityGreed attempts to trivialize even the most rare and astounding natural environments; how all experience is reduced to a publicity stunt. A splendid science-fiction story and a very strong debut for CSF.

Also highly enjoyable was Track Two, "The Deity Effect" by Steve Antczak. This is a baroque science-fantasy that siphons some originality out of ring-symbolism, utilizing the Niven-ish conceit of a concentric city; this one inhabited by cyberpunk anthro-felines with a dilettante instinct for Hinduism and Tarot cards. Though I've seen a lot of 'anthropomorphizing' in SF tales, especially along catlike permutations, this story purred its way into my favor, though I may still be somewhat dim on its deeper intricacies.

Denyse Loeb's "Into Stone" riffs into a pleasing variation of the 'gargoyle-as-guardian-angel' theme, sketching a melancholy and dystopian character study of a gifted bio-researcher, while Mark Fewell's "Maybe the Gnomes Are Real" tips a bow in the direction of Weird Tales and presents a space-gothic narrative-in-letters – that is, in emails: a fun tale of murder and madness. Good reading all around. So, get your free subscription to Cosmic Speculative Fiction today. If you're one of those who have been citing a lack of 'hard' science-fiction with good narrative backbone and SF-nal concepts, I challenge you to get a free sub and decide whether this kind of fare fits the bill; I certainly think it does.

On the print side of the world, Christopher Cevasco continues to blaze trails with his fine pub of historical and speculative fiction, Paradox. For those of you who've yet to read an issue, let me offer the following observation: magazines are usually only as successful as the editorial vision behind them. Let me also assure you that C. Cevasco brings plenty of vision to his pub, regarding both theme and layout – and his vision, as actualized through Paradox is both unusual and addictive.

Issue #5 – the one-year anniversary issue – is a narrative and visual delight, barring perhaps a few roadbumps on the more esoteric literary avenues. I do feel Paradox started strongly (as mentioned in my earlier Firebrand Fiction column, "Paradox and Paradise") and has grown stronger over the ensuing four issues.

The best story in this issue was certainly, "Servant of Iblis" by one of my favorite heroic fantasy authors, Howard Andrew Jones. Illustrated with a must-see reprint of Rudolf Ernst's By the Entrance, this Arabic whodunit set, as Cevasco mentions in his opening editorial, during the '792 caliphate of Harun al-Rashid', further entrenches Jones' growing reputation as a top-notch storyteller and fantasist of the first-order. Jones' eighth-century sleuths "Dabir and Asim" are among the most likeable and intriguing duos in contemporary adventure fantasy; any fan of Holmes and Watson, Fafhred and the Gray Mouser, or just of rollicking and mysterious fiction will be more-than-satisfied with this nail-biting tale of an efreet and an amulet, scribed by an emerging master in SF field. Those who've heard of "Dabir and Asim" but were unable to find a steady source for the serial stories should purchase a copy of this issue of Paradox and maybe leave a note in the new Paradox discussion forum to let Chris Cevasco know you'd like to see more "Dabir and Asim" stories in his pub.

Another winner was C. Kevin Barrett's "1923", a clever twist on Hitler and the early days of the Nazi party, pre-Chancellorship. If Rod Serling had a few unfinished tales left to tell when he departed this world, he may be using Mr. Barrett as a 'medium'. I found my very body reacting to "1923" with that delicious thrill of 'ironic displacement' (as I like to call it!) that I've always associated with The Twilight Zone. If you're a WW2 buff or just like watching the History channel – or even if you're functionally ignorant about world history – you probably have some idea about how cagey and ruthless was Adolf Hitler. Until you read this story, however, you won't have the full picture. While I would subtract a couple of points for some clumsy dialogue during the story's denouement, Barrett scores an overall 'A' for this clever and quickly-told spin on Nazi durability. Danke schon, Herr Barrett.

C. Mitchell O' Neal's, "The Moon Shone on My Slumbers" is a slightly-too-long piece set during Thomas Edison's heyday, involving the 'new' technology of the phonograph with an interesting spin on 'ghost recordings'. The first-person narrative POV (by one of Edison's overworked and ambitious 'flunkeys') did little to contribute to the overall impact of the story; if a correspondence with Poe's ubiquitous guilty 'I/Eye' subjective narrator was intended here, it was only partially successful. Still, if you like scientific vs. supernatural capers, particularly those set in the late nineteenth century, you won't mind the spare verbiage.

Many of the stories in Paradox feature 'period' dialogue; or more precisely, a facsimile of 'period' dialogue. I find this slightly to, in some cases, disturbingly distracting. The decision as to whether or not one should write in 'period' dialogue – or worse, 'period' dialect is an interesting one for writers to make. The best test to decide whether a writer has been successful in this decision is quite simple: you merely recognize whether you notice the dialogue in any obtrusive way.... If you have to stop and read twice, something's wrong. Note this instant-test should be used only in relation to contemporary works. I might also add 'commercial' to that caveat, but that is debatable.

Bits of dialogue like these from "The Ill-Fated Crusade" by Charles Coleman Finlay can be perturbing: "So let us do what we must and pray hasten the return of the Lord" or "Did thou not see the vision of hell that earth is to become?".

I'm not saying a writer shouldn't use a King James version of Biblical diction in a story about the Christian Crusades, mind you, just that one must have a feel for such things and in my opinion, a story like, "The Ill-Fated Crusade" represents an area not only in diction, but in thematic 'angle' where Paradox stands the best chance of losing, rather than gaining, a general audience base. This may be the weak-point in Cevasco's otherwise seamless thematic panoply – that some of the stories feature too much esoteric allusion and peculiar dialogue. Of course, the reaction among any assumed niche historical fiction audience base may entirely remedy this gamble, etc.

Where Paradox seems to most fully succeed (as with the Jones and Barrett stories) is where the two, supposedly distinct genres: historical and speculative fiction fruitfully conjoin.

Karen L. Kobylarz's spectacular lyrical-fantasy, "Cleopatra's Needle" is a highly memorable example of this powerful sub-genre fusion. All of the stories in Cevasco's well-ordered pub boast superb (mostly reprinted classical) artwork; for "Cleopatra's Needle", Victorian Neoclassicist John William Godward's "Sweet Dreams" provides a lovely companion to a lyrically rich and narratively dramatic tale. I found Kobylarz's expertly realized fusion of historical and fantasy elements, shaped of Shakespearian shades, to be one of the most hypnotic pieces of short SF I've recently encountered.

While I'm sure no single story in Paradox fully eluded my historical grasp, none of the seven succumbed to my full understanding. Kobylarz's dense, dramatic, must-read tale of Egyptian magic and Roman Autocracy is no exception. However, a precise understanding of all of the historical resonances, while helpful, is in no way mandatory for a solid reading of "Cleopatra's Needle". In fact, Kobylarz's skillful dialogue and inspired descriptive passages manage to tramsit an essentially epic story, spanning both history and the globe, in a matter of a few, easily read, though unforgettable, pages.

"Cleopatra's Needle", like the entirety of Paradox #5, is highly recommended. There's not a bad story in the issue. But forget sample issues; get your subscription. The new bi-annual publishing schedule will almost certainly ensure that the pub endures for quite some time.

Lady E.'s special mention this month goes to Flesh and Blood magazine, a well-regarded SF print quarterly edited by Jack Fischer. This ethereally violent, maudlin-mooded magazine recently made the transformation to a full-size, as opposed to digest-sized, pub. Greg Beatty reviewed the fiction side of the pre-transformed F&B in one of his guest columns; Lady E., however, was impressed with some of the poetry in the past two issues.

Speculative Poetry gets only a trickle of the attention it deserves. Last column, Daniel noted that www.astropoetica.com was a great place for SF poetry. Flesh and Blood earns this month's recommend – most especially for, "The Drowned Cathedral", Kendall Evans imaginative, submarine synthesis of Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Poe's "The City Under the Sea". This one gave me the shudders and painted an unforgettable picture in my mind. Also great was Christina Sng's "The Art of Weaving" a macabre sing-song rhyme, for wicked children! "Wasp Trap" by Ann K. Schwader was Daniel's favorite poem, seven couplets about the wasps of Le Brea. "Reign of Granite" by Jacie Ragan painted a lively graveyard nocturne, toasting the undead. All of the SF poetry in F&B is creepy and accomplished, so enjoy it along with all the rest of the stories about things that bump in the night.

Our Great Fiction Brand Award this month goes to Howard AndrewJones for his superb story, "Servant of Iblis". As surprising at is it is, this represents Howard's first G.F. Brand! Congratulations, Mr. Jones, and please feel free to let all your friends and fans know of the honor bestowed on you this day!

My apologies for the delay in posting reviews this month; Firebrand Fiction will remain on a monthly schedule despite any irregularities in exact timing. Please join us in the popular SFReader.com discussion forums to share your views!

Until Next Time,

Daniel E. Blackston

Firebrand Fiction Reviews: all content © 2004, Dan Blackston