Welcome to Issue #5 of Fantasy Scroll Magazine.
Here we are—Year Two! The first year flew by incredibly fast, it feels surreal. We've had the opportunity to read so many wonderful stories and meet many incredible writers. Thank you to all the writers out there who've submitted your work. Keep them coming; we promise to give as many as we can a good home!
I also want to thank all subscribers and Kickstarter supporters once again. You've helped us get this project off the ground, and we are very grateful to all of you!
With 2015 upon us, we are bringing you three new and exciting features:
First, we are changing our publishing schedule from quarterly to bi-monthly. We are receiving so many amazing stories, it would be a crime not to share them with you more often. We will publish one issue every other month, starting this February, with new issues likely to be released around the first or second week of the month. We'll keep the same general format, aiming for about sixty stories in the year.
The second big announcement is our fiction podcast. Starting with this issue, we are producing a weekly podcast featuring the stories published in our issues. We'd love it if you would give it a listen and give us your feedback so we can make it better.
Lastly, this year we will publish our very first anthology, in both print and e-book formats. The details and timeframes are still being worked on, but stay tuned and we will have an announcement very soon.
Now back to Issue #5.
We begin with Emily Cataneo's "The City Dreams of Bird-Men," a story of struggle and love, set in an alternate world where danger looms over the city.
"Moksha," by Andrew Kaye follows, and features a mixture of science fiction and fantasy elements inspired by Indian culture and myths.
Next we have "The White Snake," a flash story reprint by Laurie Tom, and "Tempest Fugit," the first published story by Christine Borne, a tale filled with sailors, ghosts, and gin.
"Sticks and Stones," by Jarod Anderson is a flash story that will make you think twice before giving nicknames to baristas at your favorite coffee shop.
Charles Payseur envisions a future where actors could be machines in his story, "The Thousand Year Tart," complete with a very unexpected twist at the end.
Next is a wonderful story by Sarah Avery. She captures her emotions in a tale born from personal pain and the loss of a friend in “How The Grail Came to the Fisher King.”
John Giezentanner discusses the issues of artificial body parts in his fast-paced sci-fi tale "Human Bones."
We close our fiction section with "Bandit," by John Stevens, a light horror story that will elicit a smile.
Before moving to the non-fiction section, let me mention that we are experimenting with something else new:
In this issue we are including a graphic story: Sharmrock, written by Josh Brown with art by John Fortune. If our readers approve, this may become a permanent feature.
In the non-fiction section we have interviews with writers Jim Hines, Christine Borne, and Sarah Avery, and with award-winning editor John Joseph Adams, editor and publisher of Lightspeed Magazine and Nightmare Magazine.
We close with the artist spotlight on Todor Hristov, a book review for Peter Watts' Echopraxia, and a review for Rigor Mortis, a horror movie directed by Juno Mak.
I hope you enjoy this issue. Please add your comments to the stories you read—our writers love to read them!
I also want to take a moment to remind everyone that our magazine lives through your subscriptions.
Please subscribe and help us spread the word!
Thank you and see you in a couple months!
Find us on the web:
Magazine site: http://www.fantasyscrollmag.com
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