Scratch the surface of North Texas and the stereotypes of wide-open Western spaces with lots of football disappear, replaced by an endless series of contrasting images. Gleaming glass towers rise over stockyards redolent with the smell of livestock. Suburbs full of families sit just a few blocks from neon-lit nightlife districts. In any given neighborhood, you might hear conjunto music competing with country and western tunes. There are grimy bars and gleaming churches, funky stores and ne...

"For Ella and all the innocents slain by soulless men."It's the dedication of the book on the Salvadoran civil war retired reporter Carlton Marsh was writing before he committed suicide.A shocking death. Marsh had asked Declan Shaw to come to Old Mapleton, Connecticut to help him with research. He looked forward to Declan's visit: "See you at cocktail time, a fine whiskey's waiting." They talked on the phone a few hours before the man blew his head off.Now Declan st...

NOVELSHunter at Large, by Thomas B. DeweyDetective Mickey Phillips seeks revenge after a deadly attack leaves his world in ruins. A classic noir crime novel. That Worlds May Live, by Nelson S. BondScientists race to save Earth from mysterious cosmic rays. An interplanetary adventure filled with bold heroes, alien civilizations, and stunning revelations.SERIAL NOVEL

NOVELSHunter at Large, by Thomas B. DeweyDetective Mickey Phillips seeks revenge after a deadly attack leaves his world in ruins. A classic noir crime novel.That Worlds May Live, by Nelson S. BondScientists race to save Earth from mysterious cosmic rays. An interplanetary adventure filled with bold heroes, alien civilizations, and stunning revelations.SERIAL ...

This issue we are headlining the appearance of Norman Spinrad’s masterful short novel, Riding the Torch—one of my favorites of his, and a work that surely deserved more attention than it’s received. (But in a career that has produced such classics as Bug Jack Baron, The Iron Dream, and The Void Captain’s Tale, perhaps it’s understandable that one of Spinrad’s short novels hasn’t received the attention it deserved.) We also have a trio of original mysteries, four Golden Age science fiction ...

We have three original stories this issue—mysteries by Charlie Kondek (thanks to Acquiring Editor Michael Bracken) and M. E. Proctor, plus a science fiction tale by Glenn Dungan.Other mysteries include a great modern tale by Michael Mallory (thanks to Acquiring Editor Barb Goffman) and our mystery novel is a classic by Isabel Ostrander. Of course, there’s also a solve-it-yourself puzzler from Hal Charles. On the science fiction front, we have another supernatural tale by John S. Gl...

Our 85th issue is quite the treat—three original tales by three top authors, a time-travel story, a fantasy bar story, two novels, and more! I leave it to you to explore this issue and find out what’s what, which is whose, and whodunit. (Or did they?) It’s a fun issue and one of our best.Acquiring Editor Barb Goffman is still on leave (she’ll be back in May), so again Michael Bracken is filling in for her. And we hope to have a new selection from Acquiring Editor Cynthia Ward short...

A HIDDEN SIDE OF THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONIn an age lit by fire, only the most curious and driven souls turned a flame to the unknown. From university professors to women forced to remain in shadow to heretic monks to mad wanderers, all explored realms beyond the senses. All challenged authority. The most fortunate found acclaim in the New Science, their names recorded in immortal stone. The least fortunate peered beyond the veil, discovering the dark nerve fibers that underpin thi...

What connects these twenty-four stories is an exploration of place. It can be a location nearby like in Boardwalk Oracle where a clanging candy dispensing machine plays matchmaker in a story that flirts with magical realism. Or the depth of a glacier on a faraway planet in Icebound, where science fiction turns into crime fiction. Or a tourist destination with dark ancient roots in Where the Gods Live.The collection opens with A Book to Live By, a...

Blood ties. The family we've been given, the friends we make, the loves we keep, and those we lost. The twenty-six stories in Family and Other Ailments teeter on the brink, hover at the periphery or even the possibility of crime. Under a soft light and at an angle, they're all love stories.The collection opens with "Spy Head," a tale of friendship after a crushing trauma. In "Texas Two-Step," brotherhood leads to a wicked double-cross. "Razorbills" shows a young woman seeking freed...