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The Art Issue – Pre Order

Coming February 20th.

You can pre-order your copy today. Click here to view the table of contents.

For this issue, the art comes first. We selected art, and then invited some Shimmery favorites to write stories inspired by the images. Our cover image is Penny’s Grave, by award-winning artist John Picacio; we used it as the trigger for a contest at the Liberty Hall Writer’s Workshop. The winning story is Penny Wise, by Kurt Kirchmeier.

New Themed Issue!

The Clockwork Jungle Book

Shimmer is pleased to announce The Clockwork Jungle Book. Think steampunk animal parables! It’s a special double-length issue, guest-edited by George Mann of Solaris Books, scheduled for Autumn 2008. Now accepting submissions. Read the guidelines for more details.

Now GET WRITING!

Pirate Review and Interview With JJA

Grasping for the Wind had this to say:

These ten stories and 1 interview are well written, and were good choices for a speculative fiction magazine’s issue on pirates. The fantasy, horror and/or sci-fi elements were neatly incorporated into the pirate stories.

Check out the full review here.

They also have an interview with John Joseph Adams (of Fantasy and Science Fiction), who guest edited the pirate issue.

GFTW: You were recently invited to be a guest editor for the Pirate Issue of Shimmer Magazine. What was your approach to choosing stories for this issue?

JJA: One of the things I wanted to do with the Pirate Issue is have a broad range of pirate stories, which took some liberties interpreting the term “pirate.” Of course, there are some stories in the issue that are your typical iconic Caribbean-style pirate, but it was important to me to have a certain diversity represented. So that was one factor.

You can read the rest of the interview here.
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Another Review

This time from a reader, who writes to John Joseph Adams of the pirate issue, and has many nice things to say.

I liked how there was a wide range of stories, touching on different aspects of the appeal of the pirate and the various forms of piracy.

I think it’s a great idea for a little magazine to do a special issue like this. I would like to see more small press magazines doing it. The focus on one theme/topic seems much more interesting than a magazine of general spec fic stories. It felt more like an anthology, but at an affordable price.

Check out the whole post at J.J.A.’s blog.
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SFRevu Reviews The Pirate Issue

Sam Tomino of SFRevu says:

I’m sick of pirates. I was never a big fan of them and this wave of pirate stuff in pop culture has not endeared them to me. When I saw that the Shimmer Vol. 2, Issue 3 was “The Pirate Issue”, I groaned. What would I encounter here? I needn’t have worried. I enjoyed all the stories.

Head on over to SFRevu to check out the rest of the review!
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Review, Shimmer Winter 2007 issue

Chris Gerrib gave the Winter Shimmer issue quite a nice review

Second, I finally got around to reading the Winter 2007 issue of Shimmer Magazine. If you’re not subscribing to this magazine, you’re missing a real gem. This edition seemed to be heavy on fantasy stories, but still well worth the price of admission. Highlights include:
* Juana and the Dancing Bear by n. a. bourke (spelling his), a lovely fantasy story about a Spanish princess and a talking, dancing bear. It’s quite nice.
* Duets, by Philip J. Lees, is a story about a harpist whose got a way with the ladies. He gets a pleasant surprise from his latest conquest, a fellow musician.
* Michael Livingston’s Catch of the Day was an unusual first contact story, but quite interesting.
* Sparrow and Egg, by Amal El-Mohtar, was a very short but surprisingly touching story. It’s really a parable for parent-child relationships, and quite memorable.

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Winter 2007 Shimmer is released into the world.

Winter 2007We are proud to announce the contents of our Winter 2007 issue. Please click on any of the thumbnails below for a quick peek at a select choice of first pages.
Juana and the Dancing BearJuana and the Dancing Bear by n. a. bourke

We were at the court of Queen Isabella in Castile, Just-Simon and I. He played the part of a jester and I the dancing bear. Each evening, while dinner was still being cleared from the lower tables, he led me into the hall. There, on a floor littered with food scraps, I danced for the ladies and lords while Just-Simon played the wild music the Cossacks had taught him. It pleased the queen to listen to the music of snow and ice while the court swooned in the heat of a thousand candles. I danced in my blue silk harness with its hundred bells as if my blood were beating to the remembrance of starless nights on the open steppes.

DuetsDuets, by Philip J. Lees

I heard her before I saw her. Her voice, raised in anger, bounced off the wall of the saddler’s across the street and down the alley where I was walking, having just left the apothecary’s shop by the rear entrance. I hitched the guitar strap higher on my shoulder and quickened my pace, certain that adventure was at hand.

Tom Cofferwillow Comes UndoneTom Cofferwillow Comes Undone by Stephen L. Moss

‘Twas half-past Criventide and getting toward dark on the road to Torkson’s Manor where I kept my crackling hearth. I glanced up from my studies and reached for a nail, but my hand found the scutter empty.

Who’s been smoking in my drawers? I wondered. And with the shops closed for the night? Ah, well. Perhaps a cranny-search on hand and knee would yield a prize or two.

Catch of the DayCatch of the Day by Michael Livingston

“We have some questions to ask you, Mister Harris,” the man in the black suit said.

“Doctor,” Will said, trying to play it confident even as he squinted into the light, trying to separate the other people in the room from the shadows. There were three or four of them, he figured. And all of them, aside from the man in black, probably as nervous as he was.

“Pardon?” The man in the black suit spoke deep and smooth, like how Will imagined an old poolhall hustler would talk. A veteran of many a summer blockbuster, Will wondered for a moment if the man was an alien disguising himself as a human. Then again, Will of all people knew what aliens looked like now, didn’t he?

Eagle-haunted Lake SammamishEagle-haunted Lake Sammamish by Cat Rambo

“You’re nuts,” my husband told me.

“Land is always a good investment,” I said. “Here, I’ll send you the link.”

I mailed it to him and there was silence while he clicked through the pages on his laptop.

“This is in Utah,” he finally said. “It’ll be swarming with Mormons. Or there’ll be some sort of religious cult just down the road.”

“By purchasing this land for a mere 350 dollars,” I said, “I have doubled our property in the world. We are landed gentry now. I think that means we can be knighted.”

Interview with Cherie Priest

Lucy, by Chrissy Ellsworth

Night Milling, by Mike Driver

Lights out. Night milling.

Empty console room, bathed in flickering blue light from the VDU’s. Last delivery came in at 11pm, full load; lifters took the contents from the lorry bearing the blue Adams Grain logo into silo forty-three. Driver signed himself in, signed himself out. Security man checked the manifest and waved him through. Now the load makes its way from the silo into the tubes that lead to the grinding floor. Twenty-two grinders, some single, some double, speed into life; no one is there and the bright yellow ear defenders hang unused on their hook on the wall. Grind wheels grind, air pumps cycle silently to increase the flow, the mill wheels sift the finer grains, the remainder is recycled; more grist to get those sharp serrated teeth chattering excitedly. More to tonight’s delivery than usual.

Dwell on Her Graciousness, by Dario Ciriello

Yvène felt the pressure against her soul the moment she woke. She barely made it to the tiny cabin sink before she threw up. Gasping, she released the cabin’s foldout seat and settled before the little shrine she’d arranged in the study nook. She closed her eyes and breathed.

It normally took her less than a minute to uplink via her Dea implant, but she felt instead as if she were trying to work free of a wet blanket tied around her.

She ran a diagnostic on her uplink soulware. Nothing. She tried a second time. Still nothing.

Sparrow and Egg, by Amal El-Mohtar

A sparrow lies within an egg that lies beneath a sparrow.

“Egg,” says the hidden sparrow, dreamily, “I love you.”

“I love you too, sparrow,” says the egg.

“But egg, I love you more.”

“That may be, though I doubt it,” says the egg, “but I will love you longer.”

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