Bewildering Stories’
Fourth Quarterly Review, 2013

The Editors’ Choices: issues 543-554

“The place to be at Bewildering Stories”

Everything in green is a link.
Pages other than those of the QR open in a new window, so you won’t lose your place.

Bewildering Stories ends the season — fall or spring, depending on your hemisphere — with the Review Editors’ selection of favorites from the Fourth Quarter of 2013. New readers will have easy access to the recent best of Bewildering Stories, and veteran readers will have a chance to catch up on anything they may have missed.

The Quarterly Reviews are not a contest, competition or poll. And there are no quotas: anything — from everything to nothing — may qualify in any genre. Rather, they answer a practical question: “If a friend asked you to recommend something special from the past quarter of Bewildering Stories, what would you choose?”

As always, the Review Board’s discussions have been extensive and lively. A big Thank You to Bill Bowler, Marian Brooks, Charles C. Cole, Bertil Falk, Gary Inbinder, Michael E. Lloyd, Marina J. Neary, Carmen Ruggero, Clarise Samuels, John Stocks and Lewayne L. White.

At Bewildering Stories, no one is the proverbial tree falling unheard in a forest. All contributors know that real people have given their works a thoughtful reading, regardless whether we send regrets or they quaify for the Mariner Awards. For that reason we also express special gratitude to our Coordinating Editor Bill Bowler and the Associate Editors. Their insightful and detailed critiques of submissions help us set what we like to think is an Internet standard for editorial practice and for service to our contributors and readers.

The Quarterly News

In the past 12 weeks, the Review Editors cast 787 votes on 87 titles, 43 of which have qualified as Editors’ Choices. We congratulate the authors represented here. We hope they will inspire all our contributors.

We think our Review Editors reflect the range of opinion to be found among our readers. The Order of the Hot Potato remains lively with 10 titles.

The Order of Merit is continued for reader interest and as a special acknowledgment to our contributors. It links to the most highly rated works in genres represented by more than one title in this Quarterly Review.

The Annual Review will appear on December 30, 2013.
Regular publication resumes with issue 555 on January 6, 2014.

Reminder: everything in green is a link.
The following table also serves as a linked index to all the genres and sections in the Review.

Titles selected of titles eligible					Special listings
Novels Novellas Serials Short Stories Flash Fiction	1 of 1 0 of 1 20 of 37 5 of 12	Poetry Short Poetry Drama Essays & Memoirs	10 of 18 4 of 13 3 of 3		Departments The Quarter’s Best Issues The Order of the Hot Potato The Quarter’s Most Bewildering Issues The Order of Merit

All selections are listed in alphabetical order by author unless noted otherwise.
Multiple titles are listed in chronological order.
Italicized titles indicate collections or the presence of chapter, episode or poem subtitles.
All serialized works must have concluded in or before the last issue of the quarter in order to be eligible.

Novellas	Mark Bonica, Spiraling In
Essays & Memoirs	Channie Greenberg, The Need for Staid Midlifers to Write Bizarro Texts Robert J. Meindl, Reading Devastation: The Message of the Ruins Garin G. Webb, The Devil in Blues, Ragtime and Jazz

Departments

Selections are listed in chronological order. Titles in The Reading Room are listed on our Reviews page; interviews, in our Interviews index. The Art Gallery and Photo Album are not included.

Challenges	Editorials, Discussions
Class Undismissed Play It Again, Earl Beyond and Back Again Coronaroogeddon Spiral’s Center Both Here and There	Embedded Quotes and New Frontiers Shorthand: Classic and Predictable “Living in the Singularity” discussion Spiraling In Spiraling In discussion