(Articles)

ARTICLE: Nice Makes Write: An Interview with Casey Wolf, by Robert Runté

Not all of my characters do the right thing. But when they don’t, there are repercussions—not in terms of divine (or authorial) retribution, but in the same terms as life. I don’t see this as being about niceness, or characters putting others ahead of themselves. It’s more about integrity, something some of my characters summon up with ease where others struggle with it. When we live without integrity, we suffer the consequences: greater isolation, with all the lack of resource—emotional and psychological, at least—that that implies; lower self-regard (on whatever level we are honest with ourselves); an extinguishment of a sense of belonging and all-for-oneness that gets human communities through long periods of difficulty and want. In other words, supposedly selfish behaviour actually drags the individual down. We don’t like ourselves as much, and no one else holds us in such high regard, either. And we don’t heal from our wounds, but carry them around sequestered behind our defenses.

FICTION: After We Got Back the Lights, by Eric Del Carlo

It was always a small town. Not insular, and not poor--not by a long shot--back when money was a measurement. Those who stayed and those who survived turned out to be decent people. Maybe I was surprised at just how decent, or how capable, or how willing to dig in and do what work needed doing.

POETRY: Little Ghosts, by Duane Ackerson

This is no joke — / ghosts are real — / as real as economics.

REVIEW: This Week's Reviews, posted three times a week

Monday: A Book of Endings by Deborah Biancotti, reviewed by Dan Hartland
Wednesday: Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb, reviewed by Lisa Goldstein
Friday: Eclipse Three, edited by Jonathan Strahan, reviewed by T. S. Miller

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(Reviews)

COLUMN: The Villain with the Heart of Flamboyant Evil, by James Schellenberg

A look at the non-subtle antagonist in James Cameron's movies

FICTION: Cory's Father, by Francesca Forrest

Cory was the other one who never got a dad story. "Your dad was just a twinkle in my eye," was all Mom would say. Cory would smile and go running off with Vessy, and Mom's eyes would follow Vessy, but Cory she had to follow with her ears only, because of the deal she made with Cory's dad.

POETRY: How to Bake a Cake From Scratch, by Lisa Nohealani Morton

Once you've got evolution started, / don't worry about the mess

REVIEW: This Week's Reviews, posted three times a week

Monday: Tales from the Mabinogion: The Ninth Wave by Russell Celyn Jones and White Ravens by Owen Sheers, reviewed by Paul Kincaid
Wednesday: The Day of the Triffids, reviewed by C. B. Harvey
Friday: The Beast with Nine Billion Feet by Anil Menon, reviewed by L. Timmel Duchamp

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(Articles)

ARTICLE: 2009: A Year of Giving, Part 3: Child's Play, by Pamela Manasco

To be sitting there with your child who can barely move for all the tubes and wires connected to him, who hasn't been able to eat for days and hasn't been home in weeks, who can't remember the last time he didn't feel awful and wonders if he'll ever feel good again, and have him laugh out loud when he crashes his go-kart in a video game... well, there aren't words so I won't try.

FICTION: The Mad Scientist's Daughter (part 2 of 2), by Theodora Goss

"There, you see? I'm not saying we should spend all of our time planning to take over the world. I have other commitments myself. But I do think we should start giving it some serious consideration."

POETRY: On Keeping Pluto a Planet, by Greg Beatty

Uneven, unbalanced, elliptical,/not even the farthest out,

REVIEW: This Week's Reviews, posted three times a week

Monday: The 2009 David Gemmell Legend Award Shortlist, Part One, reviewed by Nic Clarke
Wednesday: The 2009 David Gemmell Legend Award Shortlist, Part Two, reviewed by Nic Clarke
Friday: Love Puppets and other webcomics by Jessica McLeod and Edward J. Grug III, reviewed by Michael H. Payne

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(Columns)

ARTICLE: 2009: A Year of Giving, Part 2: Madras Press, by Pamela Manasco

It�s unfortunate when writers view the thoughtless turns of commercial publishing as indicative of an inherent quality to something so basic as page length. Our job, as publishers, is to figure out suitable methods for making great literature available to large groups of people, regardless of what we're used to reading or to seeing on bookshelves.

COLUMN: Scores, by John Clute

Every telling exposes (or tries to hide) a teller responsible for the tale.

FICTION: The Mad Scientist's Daughter (part 1 of 2), by Theodora Goss

We don't judge. Who, indeed, are we to do so? We have all done things of which we are not proud. The club is a haven for us, a port in a particularly stormy world.

POETRY: Struldbrug Variations, by Robert Borski

Then in twice that amount of years/it appears blue,/a sky-colored or oceanic hole/that threatens to drink up time

REVIEW: This Week's Reviews, posted three times a week

Monday: The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood and The Rapture by Liz Jenzen, reviewed by Martin Lewis
Wednesday: Cast a Deadly Spell, reviewed by Raz Greenberg
Friday: Wild Hunt by Margaret Ronald, reviewed by Hannah Strom-Martin

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