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Bewildering Stories

Bewildering Stories’
First Quarterly Review, 2025

Year 23 of Bewildering Stories

The Editors’ Choices in issues 1074-1085

Lighthouse
by Richard Ong

The Quarterly and Annual Reviews and Bewildering Stories itself
are like lighthouses on the chaotic sea of the Internet.
They signal not danger but “Good landfall” and “Safe harbor.”
Welcome ashore!


Bewildering Stories ends the astronomical season — northern winter or southern summer, according to your hemisphere — with the Review Editors’ selection of their favorites from the First Quarter of 2025. 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 or competition; they are a special poll. And there are no quotas: anything — from everything to nothing — may qualify in any genre. They answer a practical question: If a friend asked you to recommend something outstanding from the past quarter of Bewildering Stories, what are your favorites? What would you choose? The Quarterly and Annual Reviews bring you the editors’ answers.

The Reviews also make a public statement: Bewildering Stories takes itself very seriously. And they answer a general question: What is a “truly Bewildering story”? Our webzine’s semi-humorous title refers to writing that provokes thought and raises questions; in that sense, the title is an example of itself. Stories that merely raise questions about their coherence are more properly known as “befuddling stories.”

As always, the Review Board’s discussions have been extensive and lively. A big Thank You to Edward Ahern, Bill Bowler, Gary Clifton, Charles C. Cole, Jeffrey Greene, Gary Inbinder, Bill Kowaleski, Marina J. Neary, John Stocks and Lewayne L. White.

At Bewildering Stories, nothing is the proverbial tree falling unheard in a forest. Every week, we receive thank-you notes from contributors who are grateful that real people have given their works a thoughtful reading, regardless whether the authors agreed with the readers. Those notes are appreciated all the more because they tell us we’re fulfilling our mission.

The Review Editors and Associate Editors — our review readers — have functions that are entirely different but equally important. The Review Editors determine how Bewildering Stories shall carry its flag; the Associate Editors determine what Bewildering Stories shall be. Their insightful 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.

Our special editors also deserve a vote of thanks: Coordinating Editors Ed Ahern and Jeff Greene; Flash Fiction Editor Charlie Cole; Poetry Editor John Stocks. They provide the kind of personal touch Bewildering Stories takes pride in, and they make the administrative work not only easier but possible. Our special gratitude goes to Michael E. Lloyd, the designer and manager of the indispensable Titles, Authors, Genres Index master index of all of Bewildering Stories. As an index, it’s a work of art, and the Managing Editor, who consults it every day, recommends it to everyone.

The Quarterly News

We think our Review Editors reflect the range of opinion to be found among our readers. In the past 12 weeks, the Review Editors cast 785 votes on 84 titles, 41 of which have qualified as Editors’ Choices. We congratulate the authors and hope they will inspire all our contributors.

The Order of the Hot Potato is very hot this quarter, with 16 titles.
The Order of Merit is a special acknowledgment to our contributors. It’s a kind of “surprise package” that links to the most highly rated works in this Quarterly Review.

We expect to resume regular publication with issue 1086 on April 7, 2025.

Titles selected of titles eligible
Novels
Novellas
Serials

1 of 1
2 of 2
Short Stories
Flash Fiction
Drama
10 of 37
12 of 20
Poetry
Short Poetry
Essays
7 of 10
8 of 13
1 of 1

Serialized works are eligible only in the quarter in which they conclude.
• All selections are listed in alphabetical order by author unless noted otherwise.
• Authors’ multiple titles are listed in chronological order.

Novellas

Jeffrey Greene, The Naked Face

Serials

Gary Clifton, All the Fine Tombstones
Marina J. Neary, The Most Promising Cases

Short Stories

Brian Brestovac, Isolation for One
Shauna Checkley, Finding a Home
Gary Clifton, Tom Durwood, Jayani’s Big Gamble
Marco Etheridge, To the Lifeboat
Jeffrey Greene, The Summons
Harrison Kim, When I Lay My Goodness Down
Doug Stoiber, Sustenance and Verse
E-M. de Vogüé, The Portrait in the Louvre

Flash Fiction

Shauna Checkley, Booty Call
Gary Clifton, Charles C. Cole, David Whippman, The Best Day of Your Life
Huina Zheng, The Price of Words

Poetry

Bill Bowler, Oonah V Joslin, Sssmaug About Ssscarves
Tom Lagasse, The All-You-Can-Eat Buffet is Closing
Sina Chau-Pech, Seven Old Cambodian Ladies...
Jonathan Chibuike Ukah, The Valley

Short Poetry

Edward Ahern, The Dog Whistle
Bill Bowler, In the Middle of the Night
Richard Fleming, The Rapture
Oonah V. Joslin, Liu, Hongping, Wintertime
Robert Witmer, The Rattle of Bones...

Essays

David Margolin, The Toys of My Youth

Links to the issues in the First Quarter

Departments

Link to: Index of Books and Other Reviews

Excerpts

Edward Ahern, As Noir As It Gets
Gary Beck, Molecular Distortion
Channie Greenberg, Miscellaneous Parlor Tricks: an Omnibus
LindaAnn LoSchiavo, Apprenticed to the Night
L. L. Richardson, David and Victoria
Rachel Rodman, Mutants and Hybrids
David Rudd, Blood Will Out & Other Strange Tales
Eric Webb,
Home to Fork: Victory Gardens in the Valley of Eden,
in Sacramento in World War II
Prairie City, in Lost Gold Rush Towns of Sacramento

Selected Challenges

Anybody You Know?
Pointing Our View
Auguring Time
Reasonable Choices
Confirmation
Rapt Up
Drawing a Gun
Water Over a Troubled Bridge
Salvage Season
The Odds and the Evens

Challenge Responses

Intuitive Analysis
with L. L. Richardson
Swain and Althea
with Patricia Worth

Discussions

Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé’s Le Portrait du Louvre
with Patricia Worth

Memoirs

Barbara Krasner, At the Edge of the World
Leonard Henry Scott, The Ice Cream Lady

The Order of the Hot Potato

Here are the most controversial works of the quarter, the ones on which the Review Editors’ opinions diverged significantly for one or more reasons. The titles are listed with the most controversial first. Seven of the titles appear among the Editors’ Choices. Challenge to the readers: why might any of these titles be on the list? Discussions are welcome and may appear in a future regular issue.

  1. Robert Witmer, The Rattle of Bones...
  2. Charles C. Cole, The Day a Rabbit Crossed the Road
  3. James Hanna, The Land Fish
  4. Alessandro Cusimano, Sheen
  5. Harrison Kim, When I Lay My Goodness Down
  6. Patricia Ann Bowen, This Just In...
  7. Tom Durwood, Jayani’s Big Gamble
  8. David Barber, Greatness, and How I Achieved It
  9. Oonah V. Joslin, Portrait of a Poet
  10. Matthew Hughes, Bearing Up
  11. Brian Brestovac, Isolation for One
  12. Robert B.. Marcus, Jr. The Secret of the Ultimate Truth
  13. David Brookes, The Vapours of Caldera
  14. Marco Etheridge, To the Lifeboat
  15. Brenda Mox, Absurd Devices
  16. E-M. de Vogüé, The Portrait in the Louvre

 

The Order of Merit

Here are links to the most highly rated works in each genre represented by more than one title in this Quarterly Review. In keeping with Bewildering Stories’ astronomical motif, the winners are indicated by the names of space telescopes. Multiple listings are ties. The most highly rated works in the quarter are designated by the names of arms of the Galaxy.

Serials
Short Stories
Flash Fiction
Poetry
Short Poetry
The Sagittarius Arm
The Perseus Arm

Featured at Bewildering Press

Bewildering Press
Jack Alcott, Grim Legion
Sam Ivey, Gilboy’s Quest
Martin Kerharo, The Dohani War
Harry Lang, The Mountains of the Eldritch Sea
Danielle L. Parker, In a Pig’s Eye
Slawomir Rapala, Aezubah, the Crimson General
Bertrand Cayzac, Floozman in Space
Michael E. Lloyd, Donna’s Men
Michael E. Lloyd, Missing Emilie
Michael E. Lloyd, Observation One
Michael E. Lloyd, Observation Two
Michael E. Lloyd, Observation Three
Bewildering Press

Grim Legion   Gilboy's Quest   The Dohani War   Mountains of the Eldritch Sea

Donna's Men Missing Emilie   Observation One   Observation Two   Observation Three

In a Pig's Eye   The Crimson General   Floozman in Space   Floozman dans l'espace

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