In the first issue of Baffling, I wrote: “The Queer Weird aesthetic exists in the fiction of Samuel R Delany and the late Randal Kenan, the works of Jeanette Winterson and the British playwright Joe Orton...The work in Baffling Magazine is very much in the same vein with these master practitioners of interstitial fiction.”
Now, a year later, I think we’ve amassed a group of stories and writers that not only fit that aesthetic, they refine it. You’ll find stories that bite, stories that sparkle. Stories that disturb, and stories that make you laugh. The palette ranges from straight up horror (Nino Cipri’s “Velvet’”, to hopepunk (Jewelle Gomez’s “Merida, Yucatan”); from humorous vignettes (Rem Wigmore’s “Why We Make Monsters”) to work that’s experimental and challenges the narrative form (A.B. Young’s “Peat Moss and Oil for Burning”).
Baffling Magazine is a mad laboratory of queer speculative fiction. It is also very much a labor of love. Both from the authors, who place their words with jewel-like precision to the editors who carefully collect the stories, to the artists who create such beautiful covers. I’d like to think we are community, bolstered by the Patreon supporters of this tiny operation.
Year One is an archive of where we’ve been. Please join us as we fill the archive for Year Two! There’s an explosion of queer speculative fiction coming out from both the small and major presses. I’d like to think that Baffling is on the vanguard.
Craig L. Gidney, Co-Editor
November 2021
Readers, I fell in love with the short story my sophomore year of college and flash fiction shortly thereafter, amazed by writers’ ability to be so poignant and provocative within such small spaces. I greatly appreciate the way in which flash fiction is able to unravel slowly and intensely all at once, the ways in which I’m thrown headfirst into brand new worlds and brought out moments later. I spend much longer mulling over a genius short story than I do reading it, and I firmly believe this power of the short story is what keeps me coming back.
As a nonfiction writer, I don’t often get to explore the speculative or fantastical even though the genre is perhaps my favorite to read. And as a Queer writer, I am so often operating as an other voice in the spaces I function. I am the Black Queer voice rather than one of many. Working with Baffling this past year has been such an immense pleasure. I cannot overstate how fortunate I am to work alongside such talented editors—dave and Craig—and be privy to the riveting, heartfelt, and wonderfully queer writing from our authors. I appreciate the intentionality of the team and the magazine’s culture to highlight the most marginalized voices among us, and uplifting the wonderful and whimsical tales that inevitably arise from this structure
With that said, I am so pleased to bring to you the Baffling Year One anthology. When I joined the team last December, I had no idea I’d be lucky enough to bring this collection forth to you, to be perpetually blown away by the stories we’ve highlighted between these pages and others that continue to vie for my attention. I am so proud of what we have put together and privileged to sign my name to part of it. Thank you for joining us in this journey. Happy Reading!
Gabriella “G” Etoniru, Assistant Editor
September 2021
When I asked my colleagues to send in their editor’s notes, I expected that we’d be a month or two from publication, but time has a fickle quality to it, so here we are nearly a year later. Flash fiction has been a balm to me in this moment. When a novel or even a short story feels impossible to tackle, flash fiction can offer up a tiny world, trapped in amber.
Editing a magazine is a great privilege; nothing has improved my own writing so much as reading our submissions and working with the authors we have the great fortune to publish. Publishing a magazine is also entering into a conversation—sharing the words that have sparked feeling, provoked imagination. We’re so grateful that these words have found their way to us and that we’ve been able to bring them into the discussion.
Creative endeavors are always the sweeter with fine co-conspirators; Craig and Gabriella have been the finest of such. We’ve also been graced with art (covers and logos alike) from some incredible artists: Robin Ha, Mod Darkmoon, Matthew Spencer, Sajan Rai, Savanna Meyer, Nate Tazewell and Molk Tae. Baffling has been a strange creature to emerge during a dark time, and I couldn’t have done it without all of you.
I’m also endlessly grateful to our supporters on Patreon. Baffling has been able to grow solely due to the generosity of these patrons. Every dollar goes directly to publishing more queer speculative fiction. Find us at patreon.com/neonhemlock if you’d like to become part of that.
Whether you are already a Baffling stalwart or a reader finding us for the first time in this anthology, welcome to these pages. I hope you find something strange and wonderful inside.
dave ring, Co-Editor
May 2022