What? Lost manuscripts discovered at the bottom of a trunk in an attic of the City? Hold the presses: Julian Lawler’s The Prophet of Dreams has not quite finished. That’s good, since the misadventure in the forest of shadows has left Addigo in a bad way, and he is very conflicted about the mysterious person who nurses him in chapter 11, “Healing and Dread.”
Tala Bar begins a novel, Gaia. In a future world that bears many resemblances to our own, a group of scientists and artists enter a kind of biosphere for a five-year sojourn. As events unfold in the Prologue we have the initial impression that the project may have been a good idea.
In our short stories, we welcome two new contributors: Jason Earls and David Holub.
Jason Earls weaves a story of magic, mystery and mathematics. In “Hand of Something,” a hand has five digits but needs only one to tell the secrets of the universe.
After reading David J. Holub’s “Beef Stew and Self-Loathing,” you will be careful around sharp objects and in the kitchen. Very careful.
Charles Richard Laing rounds out our “physiology” issue with “Legs.” A bad pick-up line at a bar opens a story that is, upon reflection, unsettlingly realistic in its implications.
Mark Koerner has reviewed two of Robert A. Heinlein’s novels for us before; now he considers the author’s last manuscript, For Us the Living in the light of his life and work.
Welcome: Bewildering Stories is pleased to extend an official welcome to Jason Earls, David Holub and Mark Koerner.
Challenge: The official Challenge asks “What is a novel?” It gives a practical and even useful definition. And it poses a couple of questions on which we’re sure Julian Lawler would like your feedback.
Discussion: Mark Koerner asks, innocently, “What good is the near side of the Moon?” The question has far-reaching implications...
The Reading Room: Jerry Wright reviews Harry Turtledove’s Gunpowder Empire.
Editorial: The title of Jerry’s editorial, So What? is intended not as a dismissal but as a challenge.
Issue 89 will bring back Ian Donnell Arbuckle, Tala Bar, Ásgrímur Hartmannsson with his story about a disappearance, Mark Koerner and John Thiel. Julian Lawler’s The Prophet of Dreams continues with chapter 13. Our news bulletin explains the non-sequential numbering.
Readers’ reactions are always welcome. Please write!
Copyright © 2004 by Bewildering Stories
