Fantasy Magazine, Issue 89 (March 2023): Fantasy Magazine, #89

By Arley Sorg and Christie Yant

FANTASY MAGAZINE is a digital magazine focusing exclusively on the fantasy genre. In its pages, you will find all types of fantasy-dark fantasy, contemporary urban tales, surrealism, magical realism, science fantasy, high fantasy, folktales, and anything and everything in between. FANTASY is entertainment for the intelligent genre reader-we publish stories of the fantastic that make us think, and tell us what it is to be human. 

 

In this issue's short fiction, P.H. Low takes craft to the extreme in "The Will of the God of Music," and Effie Sieberg's "There's Magic in Bread" connects lessons of the past to the problems of the present; in flash fiction, Mari Ness takes a hard-hitting look at current magical trends in "Enchanted Mirrors Are Making a Comeback. That's Not Necessarily a Good Thing," and in Aimee Ogden's "Moments of Doubt" an absence of evidence leaves us guessing about the fate of the evidently absent; in poetry, we have "The Distance Between Us" by Rati Mehrotra and "Possession" by Tonya Liburd. Plus an interview with the author of The Changeling, The Ballad of Black Tom, and Lone Women, Victor LaValle.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Adamant Press
• Release date: Mar 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215765630

Book preview

Fantasy MagazineFantasy Magazine

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Issue 89, March 2023

FROM THE EDITORS

Editorial: March 2023

Arley Sorg and Christie Yant

FICTION

Enchanted Mirrors Are Making a Comeback. That's Not Necessarily a Good Thing.

Mari Ness

The Will of the God of Music

P.H. Low

Moments of Doubt

Aimee Ogden

There's Magic in Bread

Effie Seiberg

POETRY

Possession

Tonya Liburd

The Distance Between Us

Rati Mehrotra

NONFICTION

Interview: Victor LaValle

Arley Sorg

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHTS

Author Spotlight: P.H. Low

Author Spotlight: Effie Seiberg

MISCELLANY

Coming Attractions: April 2023

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About the Fantasy Team

© 2023 Fantasy Magazine

Cover by Yukari MISHIMA / Adobe Stock

www.fantasy-magazine.com

Published by Adamant Press

From the Editors

Editorial: March 2023

Arley Sorg and Christie Yant | 642 words

CY: It’s that time of year again, when we all realize how far behind we are in our reading! (Just kidding . . . kind of.) People are eager to catch up on what they missed last year as we head into awards season, but it’s not always easy to know where to start.

AS: There are a number of Recommended Reading Lists coming out. The Locus list just came out, and we have THREE stories on the list! Our sibling mags, Nightmare and Lightspeed, have three and four stories respectively. Over at Nerds of a Feather we have THREE stories on their list! And they see us as good candidates for a Hugo in the Best Editor category, which is . . . well. It’s awesome! These lists can be great ways to find new reads. Christie, how do you find reads?

CY: I pointed those lists out to my book club and got a lot of That’s too much to sort through! (Ha! And that’s already been curated for them . . . ) But I did get them to pick a book off of the Locus list anyway—I just had to do the sorting-through myself.

As far as short fiction goes, apart from reading lists like these, year’s best anthologies usually have a list of the stories the editor loved but didn’t quite make the cut. It’s always interesting to see how much the lists overlap, and how much they don’t!

AS: For short fic in magazines beyond our own submissions, I have a few reviewers whose taste often lines up with my own. I sometimes start with the Locus Rec List or another respected list, pick a story with an interesting title or author, then cross check to see if some of the reviewers I like have said anything about it. I read a lot of anthologies for reviews, and so much depends on just hearing about something in the first place. Occasionally I find out about a book that looks intriguing but it’s too late to review at that point. Locus magazine can be a great tool for finding books, and just browsing through Netgalley can sometimes turn up cool finds. Also, to a degree—and more randomly—Twitter.

AS: The great thing about finding a magazine you really like is that you know there will be some fantastic new reads for you on a fairly regular basis. I don’t think most readers will like every piece in every issue of any given magazine—there are bound to be occasional entries that don’t land for you – but I do think magazines can be where some of the most interesting and powerful writing happens. It’s really wonderful to see so many people love the work we’ve published, and I’m seriously glad for the authors. Keep reading! We’ve got more on the way!

• • • •

In this issue’s short fiction, P.H. Low takes craft to the extreme in The Will of the God of Music, and Effie Sieberg’s There’s Magic in Bread connects lessons of the past to the problems of the present; in flash fiction, Mari Ness takes a hard-hitting look at current magical trends in Enchanted Mirrors Are Making a Comeback. That’s Not Necessarily a Good Thing, and in Aimee Ogden’s Moments of Doubt an absence of evidence leaves us guessing about the fate of the evidently absent; in poetry, we have The Distance Between Us by Rati Mehrotra and Possession by Tonya Liburd. Plus an interview with the author of The Changeling, The Ballad of Black Tom, and Lone Women, Victor LaValle. Enjoy!

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Arley Sorg is a 2021 and a 2022 World Fantasy Award Finalist as well as a 2022 Locus Award Finalist for his work as co-Editor-in-Chief at Fantasy Magazine. Arley is a 2022 recipient of SFWA’s Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award. He is also a finalist for two 2022 Ignyte Awards: for his work as a critic as well as for his creative nonfiction. Arley is a senior editor at Locus Magazine, associate editor at both Lightspeed & Nightmare, and a columnist for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. He takes on multiple roles, including slush reader, movie reviewer, and book reviewer, and conducts interviews for multiple venues, including Clarkesworld Magazine and his own site: arleysorg.com. He has taught classes, run workshops, and been a guest for Clarion West, the Odyssey Writing Workshop, Cascade Writers, Augur Magazine, and more. Arley grew up in England, Hawaii, and Colorado, and studied Asian Religions at Pitzer College. He lives in the SF Bay Area and writes in local coffee shops when he can. Find him on Twitter @arleysorg. Arley is a 2014 Odyssey Writing Workshop graduate.

Christie Yant writes and edits science fiction and fantasy in the American mid-west. She is a World Fantasy Award and Locus Award finalist as co-editor of Fantasy Magazine; a consulting editor for Tordotcom’s acclaimed line of novellas; co-editor of four anthologies; editor of Women Destroy Science Fiction!, winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Anthology; and the author of just enough published short stories that if you counted them up on your digits you’d probably have a toe left over. She has a website here: inkhaven.net. She presently attempts to balance her dayjob, writing life,