My last entry in which my father discussed PTSD reminded me of an article I read that tackled this issue when it comes to writing fiction and using PTSD as a plot device. That first article in the series basically spells out what people get wrong when using PTSD as a way to move the plot in the direction they want.

Perhaps your protagonist suffers from PTSD. You can certainly use that as a reason for said character to go ballistic at the drop of a hat. The problem is, “losing it” is an extremely rare symptom of PTSD sufferers.  Most of the time they simply react differently when they have memory flashes, they may be harsher, more stubborn, whatever. The point is, they aren’t acting like themselves, but the change isn’t hugely dramatic in most cases. Yet authors will time and again use PTSD as a justification for a normally “good” character to do something totally out of character.

The other problem with using PTSD is that an author may use it to move a plot forward, but then once that part is over, the character suffering from PTSD will go back to normal.  PTSD is an on going condition. One does not simply have it some of the time. And truly this can be said of any plot device. You can just pick something up and then ignore it because it’s no longer needed. Your readers will know and they will call you on it.

The second post the author, Arachne Jericho, wrote on PTSD describes a few instances where she believes authors mostly got PTSD right. Mostly.

I’m unfamiliar with her first example, which is from Babalon 5. However, I am a Lord of the Rings lover from the word go, so I know exactly what she’s talking about when she mentions Frodo and his inability to return to his life after being the ring barer and returning from the Ring’s destruction.

Ms. Jericho writes:

The type of “fit” that Frodo has is more usual to PTSD sufferers; it’s outwardly quieter, but no less consuming than the Set Piece version that has people rampaging through corridors with weapons. Indeed, Frodo is so despairing and not at all psychotic that people who know only the stereotypes of PTSD would say that he’s more depressed than traumatized. Especially since everyone knows that he endured; these days it’s all too common for people to forget that those inflicted with PTSD have it because they endured in a situation others might have committed suicide over and did not, in fact, break entirely.

I think many of us forget that psychological disorders effect different people in different ways.  Frodo was not just depressed, he was distraught and unable to resume his life.  He was, when the Fellowship of the Ring began, a carefree and curious hobbit.  Not so when Return of the King comes to an end.

In the third installment of PTSD articles, the author tackles two more cases of PTSD in fiction that she believes are even more realistic.  The first being a book called World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks, which is a fictional documentation of what would happen if the world really were over run by zombies.  This book is on my to-be-read list because I’ve heard a great many good things about it.  And this is simply another push to get me to read it.

The author of the article writes, in regards to WWZ’s mention of PTSD:

A zombie invasion raises an interesting question: is such an event a force of nature, since zombies are without sentience (in most literature at least, including World War Z)? Or, because zombies used to be living people, still look like people, and in the worst cases are actually loved ones, is this perceived by the human mind as being violence with human intent, even betrayal? Whatever the answer, PTSD is as guaranteed to be involved with a not insignificant portion of the human population, just as hundreds of WWI veterans suffered from PTSD.

The book also tackles a new form of PTSD, Apocalyptic Demise (or Despair) Syndrome (ADS).  I can certainly see how this might be a possibility.  You aren’t directly involved yet the fear of the total annihilation of your species would be a huge shock to many.

The other piece of fiction she mentions is the West Wing. I’ve never seen an episode of this, but I’ve heard some good and bad reviews. It’s just not my cup of tea. However, if you’d like to read more on her evaluation of how the West Wing handles PTSD, her article does a wonderful summary.

The final article on PTSD by Ms. Jericho tackles a character she believes was well written and handled PTSD as an on going condition.  The character is Lord Peter Wimsey, written by Dorothy Sayers.

In the article, the author mentions that the first Lord Wimsey novel, a detective novel, is in the public domain. So I believe I’ll be reading Whose Body? within the next few months.

Obviously there is a great deal on PTSD and most psychological orders that I do not know.  However, it wouldn’t take much, especially in this day and age, for me to do a simple bit of research to find out exactly what the symptoms of PTSD are.  Articles like the ones Ms. Jericho has written are excellent in that they give us examples of what’s good and bad to reference.  If you’re like me, you require visual examples. Even if those examples are the written word and not tv or movies.  If I have something I can go over, something tangible to work with, then I can better understand a subject.  And Ms. Jericho’s articles do just that for me in regards to PTSD.

And, with that in mind, it’s not hard to see why my father’s friend took his own life ten years ago.  He struggled with it for many years, since the early 70s. And he was never properly treated for PTSD.  It’s a tragedy.  But it’s also a lesson we can learn from.  And one writers can apply when writing.  I know I’ll think twice before I give a character an affliction again.  I certainly don’t want to fall into the trap of using something as a plot device only to simply drop it later on with no thought.

(My apologies for the lateness of this article. I’d meant to write and publish this much sooner.  However, I still believe it needs to be shared, so here it is, late though it may be.  Enjoy.)

The story itself is full of intrigue, mental acrobatics (literal and figurative) and quit a bit of steamy byplay. Oh my.  These ladies certainly know how to write.  And they pull no punches when they do.  There’s swearing and crude behavior, but as I’ve told them more than once in comments on their posts, those things make it real without going overboard.

Last week I left a comment on Chapter 8:  The Devil You Know – Part 5. I was just being my normal, abnormal self and making a lame joke.  Surprisingly, Nancy didn’t find it so lame. In fact, she loved it.  The comment was this:

I think Triptych needs a new company motto. “Looking to the future of innovation — in bed.”

Ever play the fortune cookie game? Just put in bed at the end of all your fortunes.

Nancy Twittered it shortly after that–the motto, that is, not the fortune cookie bit.  And much to my surprise came back a bit later and asked if she could use the motto on a T-shirt coupled with the logo for Triptych, the mega-corp from the story.  I happily agreed after I got over my surprise.

Once Nancy had the shirts up on Zazzle, she offered to buy me one as a thank you.  This is the part that truly got me thinking.  At first I balked.  How could I accept a gift for simply spouting nonsense in a comment?  They were just words weren’t they?  As soon as I had that thought, however, I knew that wasn’t true.  Words are powerful.  Any writer worth their salt knows that just the right words are hard to come by.  If I took that stance, I would be diminishing her gratitude and my own worth as a writer. As well as Nancy’sworth as a writer and reader.

And it’d be just plain rude. (See Mom, I totally learned stuff from you!)

So I made a compromise.  I accepted Nancy’s gift and bought the other shirt on display as well.

Strange Little Band is going on hiatus until November 9th, 2009, so now is a great time to start reading the story from the beginning to catch up to where they are right now.

Once Nancy and Vanessa are back from hiatus I’m sure we’ll see the same quality, enjoyable writing as we did before.

Thank you, ladies, for putting out such wonderful work and sharing with us all.

The word Lollapalooza is an American idiom originally meaning “remarkable or wonderful person or thing.”  I think Cyberpunk is a remarkable thing.  It was just the beginning to a change in the way writers and readers viewed the science fiction genre.

In this post I’ll be discussing all the other “punk” derivatives and what I think is wonderful, or not so wonderful about them.

Postcyberpunk

Lawrence Person wrote in an essay he posted to the Internet forum Slashdot:

Postcyberpunk uses the same immersive world-building technique [as cyberpunk], but features different characters, settings, and, most importantly, makes fundamentally different assumptions about the future. Far from being alienated loners, postcyberpunk characters are frequently integral members of society (i.e., they have jobs). They live in futures that are not necessarily dystopic (indeed, they are often suffused with an optimism that ranges from cautious to exuberant), but their everyday lives are still impacted by rapid technological change and an omnipresent computerized infrastructure.

The idea that cyberpunk has changed because the authors that read the original cyberpunk novels, went on to use the genre and improve upon it is amazing to me.  I’m not sure how deeply I would go into researching such things, but it’s certainly enjoyable to read what others have come up with in regards to the changes in science fiction.  I’d say this sort of evolution is to be expected.  Much like technology itself is always advancing; we see a thing then we improve upon it.

To quote Wikipedia for examples:

Good examples are Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age and Bruce Sterling’s Holy Fire. In television, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex has been called “the most interesting, sustained postcyberpunk media work in existence.”^[4] In 2007, SF writers James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel published Rewired: the Post-Cyberpunk Anthology. Like all categories discerned within science fiction, the boundaries of postcyberpunk are likely to be fluid or ill defined.^[5]

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex has to be my all time favorite television show.  Hands down.  It explores so very many aspects of what could happen if technology were able to take over our lives and minds so easily. And it does it WELL.

Cyberprep

I mention Cyberprep only because any punk worth his salt would scoff at the use of the word “preppy”.  Cyberprep is the opposite of cyberpunk in terms of quality of life.  Instead of dark and dangerous, life is happy and bright.  Cyber technology is used to upload one’s awareness for leisure or recreation.  Most definitely not the gritty cyberpunk I know and love.  If anything gang wars in cyberprep would be like West Side Story with cybernetics.   That image alone is horrifying.  Moving on!

Biopunk

The name should say it all, but if not then I’ll add a bit of detail.  Biopunk focuses on the underground biotechnology revolution that was thought to be a major part of the 21st century.  Biopunk focuses on what would happen if synthetic biology was used to modify humans instead of straight technology.  Usually these worlds have totalitarian governments or mega-corporations involved to muck up the works.  Biopunk is admittedly less popular than cyberpunk, but is just as firmly planted in modern technology as its predecessor.

A series of books that can be describe as Biopunk are the Xenogenesis trilogy by Octavia E. Butler.  Movies of note for biopunk leanings are the Fly, Jurassic Park (huh!), and Gattaca (a personal favorite of mine).

Clockpunk

Clockpunk was a term coined by a role playing system named GURPS.  Much like Steampunk, Clockpunk shows advanced technology set in a post-modern world with the exception of using springs and cogs as opposed to steam.

This one doesn’t strike me as particularly more fascinating than Steampunk.  I suppose I just don’t have the appreciation of clocks that some people do.  I like my digital alarm, okay?

Dieselpunk

The absolute first thing that should come to everyone’s mind is Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, right?  Actually, not so much.  (Though anyone who doesn’t think of Mad Max is just out of touch.  Why haven’t you seen this movie!?)

Dieselpunk has some Steampunk elements in it, but has progressed past steam to using petroleum as its primary source of power.  Along with this there is a sort of modern noir setting to it that might remind you of Casablanca if they had laser beams.  A good example of this would be the movie Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.  Another movie I enjoyed though I don’t think it did well in the box office.

I’ve not yet read a book with this theme that I can remember, but I will likely seek a few out to see how the genre holds up on the page.

Cyberpunk Wannabe Derivatives

Apparently these last few are not officially recognized sub-genres; they’re just made up terms by readers or even by authors in a tongue in cheek reference to their own work.

Elfpunk was suggested as a subgenre of Urban Fantasy where elves and fairies are transplanted to modern day settings.  One example that I know of is Laura K. Hamilton’s Merry Gentry series.  Though if that series is like Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter, there are lots of blood, violence, violent sex and then some words of love tossed around as if they have any place in such a setting.

Er… what was I talking about?

Mythpunk takes myth and folklore, tosses it into a blender, then adds urban fantasy, a twist of some academic fantasy and pours it over the rocks of world building.  Truly I’m not sure I understand the reasoning behind this particular title, except that it’s not using mythology, but rather myths, like the Rougarou in Louisiana, as its basis.    Wikipedia lists Theodora Goss as a writer of Mythpunk.

Perhaps it’s time to expand my reading horizons and check this made up genre out.

Nowpunk is the most confusing of all the made up “punk” genres to me.  I’ll quote from Wikipedia because I just can’t seem to wrap my head around it.  It sounds like normal fiction to me.  Perhaps someone out there can set me straight.

Nowpunk is a term sometimes applied to contemporary historical fiction set in the time period in which the fiction is being published.^[21] The most noble example of the sub-genre in recent history is The Zenith Angle by notable cyberpunk author Bruce Sterling.^[21] The Zenith Angle follows the story of a hacker whose life is changed by the September 11th, 2001 attacks.^[22] What makes it nowpunk is that the story concerns the way the real world was actually being affected by a real event and that it was written as those changes were occurring, not afterwards, with the benefit of an historical perspective.

Like I said, sounds like… contemporary fiction to me.  I think someone is splitting hairs, but that’s just me.

Now then, there is one final entry mentioned on the Cyberpunk derivatives page in Wikipedia, but as I’m not a horror fan, I’ll only mention its name.  Splatterpunk.  I don’t even want to know because that name alone squicks me.

Punkapalooza Wrap Up

So, all in all, Cyberpunk was the granddaddy to all of these other “punk” movements and yet it’s still the most popular, even with the postcyberpunk movement coming in to clean up after it.

Cyberpunk will likely always be my favorite science fiction genre just because it fascinates me.  That humans can build things in order to interface with one another in a manner that we weren’t born with is fascinating and scary all in one.  That’s one reason why I love science fiction.  It’s not real, but you have to wonder if it couldn’t be possible sometime in the not to near future.

My next series of posts will deal with Fantasy, my all time favorite genre ever.  I’ll have many more reading selections to offer in those posts because I’ve read much more fantasy than science fiction.

Not to worry gentle readers, I’ll be hitting on romance too.  It’s one of my other favorite genres.

Author Notes

And finally, a note of apology.  This post was supposed to be out last Monday and I had someone attempt to break into my house that afternoon while I was cooking dinner.   I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to write anything that night, nor the next few nights.  Thank you for your patience and understanding as I move forward in my attempts to make regular postings on this blog.

And, as always, thank you for stopping by to read, whoever you are.

What a post-industrial dystopia just might look like. Only cleaner.

Cyberpunk seems, to me, to be one of the more widely used science fiction genres.  There are so many books, short stories, comic books and movies that use cyberpunk.  The general setting is usually a post-industrial dystopia.  Basically you have lots of cheap technology (cybernetic implants, etc.) that everyone has access to while the majority of the cities are slums and the majority of people struggle to eat on a regular basis.

So why is this such a popular genre?  Most likely because it’s a situation that so many people fear we’ll find ourselves in very soon.  If technology continues to develop as fast as it has in the last half century, we’ll have cybernetics within a century or less.  And if that happens, what will happen to humans and their happy, shiny lives?  Technology makes things easier, but that tends to go hand in hand with a relaxing of work-ethics and morality.

At least, that’s what many people fear.  It certainly seems to be the case if you compare a farm of today with a farm from fifty years ago.  Then again, farmers still work hard, they just have machines to make things easier and allow them to do 20 or even 50 times the production their forefathers did.

The first cyberpunk story I encountered was Bladerunner.  Yes it’s a movie, but movies still tell stories.  And this movie just happens to be based on a story named Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick.  I have yet to read the novel (I know, I’m terrible), but even reading the wiki entry of the novel tells me right away that there’s things lacking from the movie that are important in the novel and to what makes the story uniquely Cyberpunk.  I won’t give spoilers, because I hate spoilers myself.  But I will say that the movie shows a great deal about how humans may and likely will deal with androids if we get that far with technology.  Exploring the difference between a human and a robot who looks human can at times be both fascinating and depressing.  In the end, one has to wonder if we aren’t just squishy robots who learned empathy.

Cyberpunk has always struck me as uniquely depressing because of the dystopia element that is almost always present.  But people (I include myself among that catch all word), tend to enjoy depressing settings for the stories they read or the movies they watch, but only if the ending is satisfying.  Let’s take the Matrix as another example.  The reality of what humans had become was monstrous and shocking.  And yet, Neo, the protagonist, was still willing to fight and in the end he prevailed.  His reality outside of the Matrix wasn’t the best, but at least he was free.  So the end was satisfying in that there was hope things would improve for Neo and the other free humans.

Humans, while generally pessimistic, still have that sliver of hope inside that tells them to fight no matter how bad things seem.  And to read (or watch) such a struggle is fascinating to us.  Obviously we don’t want to experience such a thing first hand, but we certainly like the entertain the idea that if we were in that same position we’d do the same thing.  Or maybe that’s just me.

Psion - The first of Three Cat Stories

The first book I read in regards to cyberpunk was Psion (1985) by Joan D. Vinge.  That book was one I couldn’t put down, I was simply fascinated by it.  The story is about a vagrant boy who gets taken into an institution and shown how to use his telepathic powers.  Of course said institution wants him to do their dirty work and he does because of his affection for a particular woman who took him under wing.  I was in high school when I read that book.  It didn’t occur to me at the time that the story was cyberpunk because the main focus wasn’t on the technology, but on the extra abilities of “Cat” (the main protagonist) and the others at the institute.  And yet, it still had the same kinds of themes as the other cyberpunk movies and books.

While sci-fi isn’t my first love, I do have a “world” and a character who is uniquely cyberpunk.  The character is a genetic mutation with extra powers at her disposal, though she tends to rely more on guns and explosives to do her mercenary work.  I have to say that my attachment to her is in part because I created her first as a roleplaying character on a roleplaying forum and I have fond memories of the people I played her against.  The rest of my attachment simply stems from this cyberpunk character being such a unique character to me.  She’s my one indulgence in pure science fiction.

This entry was more rambling than I would have liked, but I thought I’d try a more stream of consciousness style for this entry.  Cyberpunk is one of the many reasons that I love science fiction.  And while I rarely delve into the deeper meanings, it’s still interesting to take a peek into them now and then.  Cyberpunk is one way for us to examine our humanity in a world grounded in reality.

My next entry will focus on the sprinkling of off-shoots the “punk” movement has caused.  Dieselpunk, biopunk, even elfpunk!

"Or my tigers will eat your brains!"

Oh and as a side note I received an e-mail confirmation of my registration with the 3-Day Novel Contest.  So it’s official, I’m dedicated to do this Labor Day Weekend.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.  I need to find someone around here who’d be willing to be my witness for the contest.  Perhaps I’ll ask one of my writer friends or a co-worker.

Along with the e-mail confirmation they sent this nifty little graphic.  I like the caption.  They should add “Or my tigers will eat your brains.”

Never mind, I added it for them.  Ha!

I’ve found in the past that I do oddly well when I’m under pressure.  It forces me to focus I suppose.  I can’t think of much more pressure than being charged with writing a 100 page novel in the span of 3 days.

That’s right ladies and gents, I am biting the bullet and entering the 3-Day Novel Contest.  And the story I’ll be writing is Little Washue’s adventure.  I’ll have to choose a new beginning because I can’t use something already started.  Luckily I can always use that opening for her next adventure.

So what should Washue’s adventure be?  I’m taking suggestions until the last day in August, so feel free to toss out as many as you like.  If I use yours I’ll be sure to make a note of it somewhere.  And, if by sheer, dumb luck, my story wins; I’ll see about putting your name on the dedications page.

For those of you who don’t know Washue as well as others might, see prior entries I have in regards to Washue and her faithful wolf, Squirrel.  Basically she’s a happy-go-lucky young girl who is a genius at taming animals and making mechanical creations.  Though the animals and machines occasionally explode for unknown reasons.

Wish me luck.

Oh, and if I don’t win, I’ll still repolish the novella and see about getting it published anyway.  Or maybe I’ll self-publish.  Who knows?

So what does this have to do with Steampunk?  Well, I’ll admit only a very little.  There are some who believe Steampunk has a philosphy that is an “aesthetic technological movement.”  Now I don’t disagree with their assessment.  The forum post I linked to was actually a very intriguing read.

However, I simply don’t care.  I love steampunk and the idea of steampunk because it’s a mixture of all things fantastic.  All the things that I love, fantasy, sci-fi, different eras of the past; they’re all rolled into one with steampunk and it tickles me to no end to see this in work and with such harmony.  Although Fantasy and Science Fiction are often lumped together, I also see the two genres claim sides and rarely do I find people who read both kinds of stories with equal fervor like I do.

The first encounter I had with Steampunk was through another medium that I adore for its ability to show me fantasy and make it amazingly beautiful:  anime.  The show, Robot Carnival, was recorded by my older brother at college and then brought home for us to ogle to our hearts content.  I probably would have worn that VHS tape out if he’d let me, I watched it so many times.  Robot Carnival was made up of nine different short segments done by different directors.

There were only a two shorts that reminded me the most of Steampunk. Presence, directed by Yasuomi Umetsu, about a man who creates a robot girl in order to gain affection he feels he is lacking from his wife and family, then destroys her, but is still haunted by memories of her forty years later. A Tale of Two Robots — Chapter 3: Foreign Invasion, Directed by Hiroyuki Kitakubo, which is set in the nineteenth century and is about two robots powered by humans inside of them. While each had robot elements in them, I still think they were steampunk in style and execution. They just had a feel to them.

Of course, at the time, I didn’t even know what steampunk was. Not until I came across Castle in the Sky a few years ago.  And after doing some reading, I came across that term.  And eventually remembered other things that I’d seen that had Steampunk elements to them.  A more recent movie is the Golden Compass, which I admittedly haven’t seen, but the books certainly have a steampunk feel to them.  Though obviously steampunk isn’t the main theme to the series.

I admit that most of my experience with Steampunk has been through movies.  However, I’m rectifying this currently.  I’ve read HIS DARK MATERIALS in its entirety and will soon be cracking open the shiny new copy of Steampunk I recently acquired from Barns & Noble.  I’m almost giddy with anticipation and even partly reluctant to start because I know it has an end and I truly have a love/hate relationship with endings.

And so why do I bring this all up?  Because I’m going to try my hand at creating a steampunk novel.  Like I said in my last post, I’ve got the beginnings of a story that I hope will develop into a novel that’s both fun and exciting to read.  And if there are humorous parts in it as well, that’s clearly by accident, because whenever I try to write comedy it falls flat, but if I let things flow, they tend to come out on top.

Though I’ll be writing steampunk, I’ll continue to cover some other subgeneres on this blog that I love,  including cyberpunk, dieselpunk and perhaps take a peek into what clockpunk is all about.  And then I’ll move on to other sci-fi and fantasy subgeneres. (Which apparently includes *gasp* elfpunk!)

So little time and so many books to read.

Washue and Squirrel

In a previous post I mentioned that when I converted a short story blurb to not reference WoW, that I ended up with a somewhat steampunk like story.  Well, the idea intrigued me so much that I just couldn’t resist.  I’m going to create a story with “Little” Washue and her wolf friend Squirrel.  I’m not sure where the story will take me, but it will most certainly have adventure, intrigue, explosions and at least one case where Washue gets to satisfy her urge to punch her nemisis, Elsie.  For this story, Washue will be a human girl.  I think, regardless of how I roleplay her in WoW, that I can take the essence of her, put it into the body of a gangly teenaged human and still come up with an adorably loveable character.

And just like with WoW Washue being based off of my daughter, “steampunk” Washue will be based off of her as well.  And I’ll even go one step further to dedicated the story to my daughter in hopes that she’ll continue to be bright and out going just like Washue, no matter what life throws at her.

In my next blog post I’ll be discussing all things Steampunk.  This post I’ll simply share a short blurb from my rough draft with the working title of The Adventures of Washue and Squirrel.  If you enjoyed it let me know.  And if you didn’t, most definitely let me know.  See story after the cut!

The Adventures of Washue and Squirrel

by Heidi Cautrell

“Little” Washue Raven was on a mission and not just any mission. She was on a secret mission. The kind that a young girl and her wolf companion might undertake when the lives of friends were on the line.

From the depths of an enormous metal box that had been repaired and demolished and remade dozens of times, Washue’s voice echoed. “I’m sure that Hoppity and Ribbit are just out visiting friends.”

Next to the box sat a brown wolf that was nearly half as large as the metal box. Head cocked to the side, the wolf stared with intent golden eyes at the flipped up lid of the box. The sounds of clanking metal and scraping rubber could be heard inside.

“But just in case they were captured by that nasty Elsie Von Strat, we’re going to go looking for them,” continued the voice. Then a teenaged girl’s face popped up from the box. Dirt smudges did nothing to hide the freckles on her cheeks and nose. She grinned widely at the wolf, who opened his mouth in a tongue lolling grin.

“Sound like fun to you, Squirrel?” The girl reached out to pat the monstrous wolf’s head. A happy bark and a wag of his tail was the beasts answer.

Washue giggles. “And if we just happen to leave a surprise with Elsie once we’re done searching her place… well… it is her birthday soon.”

The pair giggled, though Squirrel’s giggle was more like a barking howl. Washue climbed out of the box, her hands full of several metal tools. On her back was a small canvas backpack stuffed to bursting. Though it looked heavy, Washue carried it as if it weighed nothing.

When Washue shut the lid of the metal box, it made a faint booming noise. She slid a dial lock from her pocket and locked the box up with a small click. Several loud ticks sounded as the lock secured itself in place. A satisfied nod from Washue sent her long, black braids to swaying on either side of her head.

Flipping the offending hair out of her way, Washue tucked the metal tools she held into her leather belt. A wrench followed by a flint striker and finally a pair of screwdrivers, one flat-head and one hex-head. Then she tightened the laces on her calf length boots and made sure her gray pant legs were tucked inside them. When she straightened to her imposing height of five foot ten exactly, “Little” Washue nodded firmly at her wolf, who nodded in return.

Heading east, she walked down the muddy road that ran from her parent’s house, on the outskirts of the village, to the town center. The village had no name that Washue knew of. Everyone simply called it the Village. There weren’t any other villages close and since no one had the right fuel for travel to the city, and hadn’t gone for over fifty years anyway, it didn’t seem like anyone would encounter other villages to confuse it with. Attempting to question her parents and other adults about why the village had no name, got Washue nowhere.  Though that certainly didn’t stop her from wondering just what happened to the village’s name.

In her peripheral vision Washue glimpsed the end of the wire fence that kept the pastures secure. The sheep and other livestock weren’t milling about near the road, which meant they were still asleep in their barns and pens. It was still early morning in the Village and though the sun was hardly peaking over the horizon, the gray mist of spring dressed everything in a depressing fog, washing the colors out of the world.

My first impression was one of surprise when I pulled the issue from the manila envelope it was sent in. The magazine resembled a trade paperback book. I was delighted to see it resembled my favorite form of printed material. I must admit my dislike for reading actual stories done in the normal magazine format.

I delightedly dove into the magazine and was, once again, surprised by the magazine.  The stories were not what I was expecting. Obviously my exposure to sci-fi and fantasy has been limited some what by living in a small town when I was growing up and by the amount of money I had to spend as I grew older and got a “real” job.

I was not disappointed by the issue, despite my surprise in regards to its content. Each story and article was well written and intriguing in its own right.

My one complaint was with only one novelet and that was more in regards to the accent the author used when writing dialogue. The novelet THE PRIVATE EYE by Albert E. Cowdrey was set in Louisiana and while he tried to convey a Cajun accent, he merely succeeded in making it into yet another southern drawl. I say this only because I’ve been living in Louisiana for the past seven years and most cajuns do not sound like they’re from South Carollina. Though perhaps it’s just me and how I interpreted the speech patterns.

Despite that minor complaint, I still enjoyed the story. I enjoyed all of them from YOU ARE SUCH A ONE by Nancy Springer, which was written in second person about a middle aged woman who becomes a ghost in her dreams, to A TOKEN OF A BETTER AGE by Melinda M. Snodgrass, which was about a Patrician sent to the gladiatorial ring because he defended his Christian mother. Oh and he killed a dragon who is actually a creature from another world pretending to be a god.

I’d be hard pressed to pick a favorite story, but two of the novelets truly stood out to me as unique and enjoyable.

The first story is THE GODDAMNED TOOTH FAIRY by Tina Kuzminski, which just happens to be a reprint from a previous issue. It’s a curious trip through a night at the dog races with a man and his date that ends with the protagonist discovering his date once tried to commit suicide and the goddamned tooth fairy telling him that if he gives up on his date because of that, he’ll miss his best chance at being happy. The mixture of surrealness, humor and solemnity makes it an amazing read and one I’m sure to visit again.

The second story is THE BONES OF GIANTS by Yoon Ha Lee, a dark fantasy that struck me from the very first page. It’s about a man who is about to commit suicide because he’s run out of jade ammo to kill ghouls. He’s saved by a necromancer who requires his help to destroy the sorcerer who is ruining the valley they are in. The tale is haunting, yet fascinating as the necromancer teaches the man to control the giant bones she’s raised as their mounts. The ending is a lovely surprise twist that I enjoyed as much as the entire story.

All in all, this issue was enjoyable from cover to cover and I’d recommend it to any of my friends or family whom I know would enjoy these kinds of stories.

The best part of this magazine issue was the surprises, both big and small. They renewed my faith in the fantasy and science fiction genres. And they renewed my faith in myself as a writer.

I suggest anyone who enjoys amazing writing to take a look at Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine. They’ve been around for 60 years now. I have a feeling they’ll be around for 60 more. At least I hope they are because I’m about to purchase a subscription.