Magazines ~ Stupefying Stories Magazine

STUPEFYING STORIES 1.14

Winter is almost over, and that means it's time for STUPEFYING STORIES to emerge from hibernation with a terrific new lineup of stories! Featuring:

50 FOOT ROMANCE, by Eric J. Juneau
CITY OF OPPORTUNITY, by Jānis Zelčāns
THE ALIENS WENT DOWN TO GEORGIA, by Peter Wood
THIRTY NINE, by Shedrick Pittman-Hassett
RIGEL’S MISSING TAIL, by Antha Ann Adkins
THE BONE POINTER, by Chuck Robertson
GODS ON A HILL, by G. J. Brown
THE ANNIVERSARY GIFT, by Gary Cuba
MASTERS, by Jason Lairamore
WATER PRESSURE, by Anna Yeatts
EMISSARY, by Matthew Lavin
THE GHOSTLESS MACHINE, by Austin Hackney

Always fun and exciting, never predictable, STUPEFYING STORIES is the great new reading you've been looking for!

ISBN: 978-1-938834-32-5 (ebook)
ISBN: 978-1-938834-34-9 (print)

Print edition*:
Amazon.com - http://www.amazon.com/Stupefying-Stories-March-2015-14/dp/1938834348
Amazon.co.uk - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stupefying-Stories-March-2015-14/dp/1938834348
CreateSpace eStore - https://www.createspace.com/5369969

Ebook editions:
For Kindle and Kindle Reader apps:
US - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UCFKA1C
UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00UCFKA1C
Australia - https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B00UCFKA1C
Brazil - https://www.amazon.com.br/dp/B00UCFKA1C
Canada - https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00UCFKA1C
France - https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B00UCFKA1C
Germany - https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00UCFKA1C
India - https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00UCFKA1C
Italy - https://www.amazon.it/dp/B00UCFKA1C
Japan - https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00UCFKA1C
Netherlands - https://www.amazon.nl/dp/B00UCFKA1C
Spain - https://www.amazon.es/dp/B00UCFKA1C

For other epub readers and reader apps:
More links coming soon.

STUPEFYING STORIES 1.13

And we're back!

Again.

If you've been following us on Facebook, you know that for the crew here at STUPEFYING STORIES, this past year has been one filled with challenges and changes. If you haven't been following us, never mind: what matters now is that with this issue, we begin our fifth year of publication, with new tools, new technologies, some new people in certain key positions, but with the same dedication to bringing you the best stories we can find, delivered directly to your e-book reader, phone, tablet, mobile device—or rolling out very shortly, to your mailbox, in the form of printed, bound, assemblages of paper!

(We've been told they're called "books." How quaint.)

To those of you who have stuck with us through the "interesting" times, we say: thanks for your patience, understanding, and support. And to both longtime fans and those who are just discovering us for the first time, we say: welcome aboard and buckle up! We have insanely ambitious plans for Year Five, and it's going to be an exciting ride.

Per ardua ad astra!
Featuring:

"Personal Space," by Alison Pentecost
"The Great Work of Meister VanHocht," by Auston Habershaw
"Rainbow Spores," by Jamie Lackey
"End Times," by S. R. Algernon
"Her Symphony and Song," by Sarah Frost
"Happy Valley," by Garth Upshaw
"Memory Makes Liars of Us All," by Eric Dontigney
"Meat 2.0," by William Ledbetter

STUPEFYING STORIES 1.12

In the ancient Norse myths it’s called Fimbulvetr: the Mighty Winter, the winter that never ends, the winter at the end of the world. Now I’m not saying anyone needs to keep an eye out for Fenrisúlfr, learn how to pronounce Vafþrúðnir, or otherwise begin to prepare for Ragnarök, but in more than 40 years of living up here in the Great White North this is the longest, coldest, and most consistently miserable winter I can remember. As I write this, it is twenty degrees below zero outside.

Therefore, in celebration—no, in *defiance* of The Winter That Would Not End, Stupefying Stories returns to regular production with nine wonderful winter’s tales. From a story of slightly mad science and a man who will stop at nothing to get fresh blueberries in December to the tales of things that wash up on winter beaches that the summer vacation people never see; from a very different take on a very different Russian revolution to a steel mill in the depths of the Great Depression to a sleeping bag on a sidewalk in New York City, here are nine tales celebrating the idea that no matter how tough winter can be, we are tougher.

Featuring:

	CHRISTOPHER LEE KNERAM		“Anachronic Order”
	JULIE DAY		“Dried Skins Unshed”
	PETE MCARDLE		“A Nun’s Tale”
	CAROL HOLLAND MARCH		“They Followed Me”
	JOHN J. BRADY		“Interregnum”
	JUDITH FIELD		“Full Fathom Five”
	TORAH COTTRILL		“Bone Mother”
	BRANDON NOLTA		“Aleph”
	RANDAL DOERING		“Alien Treaties”

STUPEFYING STORIES 2.1
(experimental double issue)

STUPEFYING STORIES Mk.II in its fully developed form. More stories; bigger stories; another awesome cover by Aaron Bradford Starr that deserves to be a poster, to go with an equally awesome old-school alien world sci-fi pulp adventure, “For the Love of a Grenitschee,” by Mark Wolf, that deserves to be the first story in a series. (Oh wait, it is!)
Two complete novelettes, more content than we’ve ever published before (or maybe it’s a close tie with the November 2012 book; I’ve never actually compared the word-count of the two), and all the way around, a big, beautiful, promising new start. Buy it. Read it. Enjoy it. I can’t tell you how pleased I am that some reviewers have compared it to Charlie Ryan’s old Aboriginal SF, because Mr. Ryan is one of my heroes.

Contents:

ALL THE BEAUTIFUL LIGHTS OF HEAVEN, by Russ Colson
SHOWING FAERIES FOR FUN AND PROFIT, by Julie Frost
INDIGENE, by Lawrence Buentello
FOR THE LOVE OF A GRENITSCHEE, by Mark Wolf
COTTAGE INDUSTRY, by Evan Dicken
THE ROBOT AGENDA, by Samantha Boyette
THE WRONG DOG, by Kyle Aisteach
THE MUSIC TEACHER,by Mark Niemann-Ross
THE LAST UNIT, by Judith Field

STUPEFYING STORIES 1.11

By the end of 2012, STUPEFYING STORIES had finished evolving from our initial vision of a publication that didn’t recognize genre labels to being a straight-up SF/F publication, and this book is the apotheosis of that development. It had also evolved from being an “anthology series” to being something that clearly walked, talked, quacked, and otherwise behaved like a monthly magazine, so we gave up trying to resist that label as well, and decided to let it become the monthly SF/F magazine it clearly wanted to be.

I am proud of every single story in this book, but especially so of “Moonbubble,” by Eric Cline.

Then again, if we were ever to adopt a story as a manifesto, it would be “We Talk Like Gods,” by Jon David.

Contents:

WE TALK LIKE GODS, by Jon David
TINY, TINY HUNGERS, by Mark Wolf
MOONBUBBLE, by Eric Cline
THE RELIC, by Lou Antonelli
MR. NON-EXISTENT, by Paul Malone
BLUE STRIPPED, by Gerry Huntman
HoPE, by A. A. Leil
AVOCADO RUTABAGA AUBERGINE, by M. Bennardo
IN THE SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE OF COAL, by Shaun Duke
MEASURE OF INTELLIGENCE, by Torah Cottrill
THE GODS OF SAND AND STONE, by Joel V. Kela

Available for the Amazon Kindle at these links: United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, India, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, and Australia.

Also available for the Barnes & Noble Nook.

STUPEFYING STORIES 1.10

For this one I turned the Editor-in-Chief’s chair over to M. David Blake, who has been with us since the old Friday Challenge days and has served as Technical Director and Associate Editor of STUPEFYING STORIES from the very start. I gave him a budget and free rein to select the stories, as well as permission to experiment with the design, and I’m pleased to see that he picked some stories I would have picked—some I would not have picked—actually pinched a few from my production queue—and in the end, produced a book that is bigger, in some ways better, and definitely recognizable as a STUPEFYING STORIES book and yet distinctively different.

Good stuff. I liked it so much, I gave Mr. Blake the budget and permission to go ahead with STRAEON. This book should not be taken as a precise blueprint for STRAEON, but if you want some sense of how my editorial judgment and his editorial judgment differ—and we do differ; our tastes are at best similar, not congruent—then buy and read this book.

P.S. And if you’re wondering about the odd volume numbering: it’s an Amazon thing. We wanted to call this one 2.1 but ended up having to call it 1.10 for Amazon’s sake.

Contents:

QUEEN OF SHEBA, by Samuel M. Johnston
WEDNESDAY'S CHILD, by Damien Walters Grintalis
SNATCHING BABY DELILAH, by Travis Daniel Bow
NONSENSE 101, by Gary Cuba
LUCKY, by Bill Ferris
THE ANTS GO MARCHING, by Sarah Pinsker
LOVER'S KNOT, by Ada Milenkovic Brown
GIRL WITHOUT A NAME, by Courtney Valdes
TOILET GNOMES AT WAR, by Beth Cato
MOONDUST, by Elizabeth Berger
CITIZEN ASTRONAUTS, by Holliann R. Kim
HEARTBREATH, by E. Catherine Tobler
REVOLVER, by Clarence Young
OFFICE DEMONS, by Christie Yant
NUMBER STATION, by Alex Shvartsman

STUPEFYING STORIES 1.9

Stupefying Stories 1.8 went over length and over budget, and thus was born the Mid-October issue, or as we now call it, The First Annual Horror Special. (See, we had to get to TWO before we could start referring to this one as the first. It would have been silly to call it ONE: The First Annual Horror Special. That would be like a band calling its first album “The Best of [band_name]’s Greatest Hits.”

(Which has been done, by the way.)

If STUPEFYING STORIES 1.8 was full of “safe” monster stories, for 1.9 we pulled out all the stops and turned the creepiness factor up to 11. Carrying another awesome Aaron Bradford Starr cover that deserves to be a poster, this one starts with the beautiful and elegiac “Between Life and Oblivion,” ends with “Going Out With a Bang”—a story that, as one reviewer put it, “puts the black in black humor”—followed by Thomas Pluck’s clever little exit sting, “The Old-Fashioned Way,” but in-between it’s full of spooks and specters, ghosts and ghoulies, and things that go bump! in the night. (Or sometimes not: check Robert W. Hobson’s story.) In particular, if “The Florence” or “The Jade Box” don’t give you the shivers, you’d better check your pulse, because you might be dead.

Contents:

BETWEEN LIFE AND OBLIVION, by Samuel R. George
THE FLORENCE, by Chuck Bordell
DOOR IN THE DARKNESS, by David Steffen
STREAMING, by Sharon Irwin
THE FLINT INDENTURE, by Tim W. Burke
NOT EVERYTHING GOES BUMP, by Robert W. Hobson
ASHES TO DIAMONDS, by Jamie Lackey
BLOOD AND SALTWATER, by Cassandra Rose Clarke
A HOMEOWNER’S DILEMMA, by Mark Hill
THE GHOST TRAIN, by Fox McGeever
THE JADE BOX, by Stephen G. McDonald
GOING OUT WITH A BANG, by Gary Cuba
THE OLD-FASHIONED WAY, by Thomas Pluck

STUPEFYING STORIES 1.8

This is the book that gave us our first “embarrassment of riches” moment. We’d been planning all year long to do a Halloween book chock-full of nothing but vampires, werewolves, mummies, zombies, invading aliens, missing links, ghosties, ghoulies, more vampires, giant city-stomping reptiles, Frankensteinian creations rising to destroy their creators, and “What the hell is that?” stories, and had been accepting submissions accordingly. But when we got to the point of actually starting to put the issue together—

Uh-oh. We have at least twice as many stories as we need.

What to do? Put out a double-length book at double the price? (We weren’t confident enough that it would sell at that price.) Put out a normal length book and try to squeeze the rest of the stories into our regular flow? Launch yet another spinoff series, like Putrefying Stories?

Wait. There’s a better idea.

...to be continued...

Contents:

FATHER PACE, by Samuel Marzioli
A WOLF LIKE LEROY, by Gef Fox
KING OF THE GIANT MONSTERS, by Michael D. Turner
DARCY AND THE GILL-MAN, by David C. Pinnt
DARK ILLUSIONS, by Evan Dicken
LEGACY OF AN UNWANTED TITAN, by Ryan Creel
THE WRONG SIDE OF THE RAINBOW, by Bill Bibo Jr.
ON MAIN STREET AFTER CLOSING TIME, by S. R. Algernon
NIGHT SHIFT OF THE LIVING DEAD, by Tyler Tork
OUR NEW BENEVOLENT OVERLORDS, by Andrew Kozma

STUPEFYING STORIES 1.7

Another terrific book that just hangs together well from beginning to end, this one introduces our readers to Thoraiya Dyer, Michael Matheson (you’ll be hearing more from him), Auston Habershaw (ditto), and Alison Pentecost (her too). From the awesome cover art by Aaron Bradford Starr that had me wishing I had the budget to print posters; to Richard Zwicker’s devilishly clever opening story, to Phil Temple’s exit piece that will leave you singing, there is not a false note in this one. If you haven’t yet read this one do so, if only to be ready for Matheson’s next story.

Contents:

RIDDLE ME, by Richard Zwicker
CORSAIRS OF THE CONCRETE SEA, by Thoraiya Dyer
THE THUNDERING DRAGON OF HEAVEN, by Michael Matheson
GOD MIC, by B. Sanford
THE THIRTY-NINTH PRESIDENT AND THE FOURTEENTH TENTACLE, by Theodore Carter
THIEF OF HEARTS, by Auston Habershaw
IN THE CASTLE OF THE ASSASSINS, by Melissa Embry
THE LORD OF FLOCKS, by Alison Pentecost
THE LITTLE THIEF, by Phil Temples

STUPEFYING STORIES 1.6

I’m really proud of this one. Our “Weirder Homes and Gardens” issue was the first book that really felt like it held together from beginning to end, and formed a whole greater than the sum of its parts. This was the first book to emerge from our newly redesigned processes, and it marks the first appearance of in our pages of M. Bennardo, Peter Wood, Judith Field, Erin Entrada Kelly, and Michael Heneghan, as well as our first full-length novelette, “Family Magic,” by Michele Winkler.

Contents:

NO ONIONS, by M. Bennardo
THE GROWING, by Sylvia Hiven
FAMILY MAGIC, by Michele Winkler
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED, by Peter Wood
HELEN WENT BEEP, by Erin Entrada Kelly
THE PROTOTYPE, by Judith Field
COLORFUL CAPS, by JC Hemphill
LIFESOURCE, by Barbara V. Evers
THE CENTAUR BRIDE, by Eric J. Juneau
ROOTING FOR YOU, by Michael Heneghan
SECURITY, by Chris Bailey Pearce
THE GARDEN, by R. L. Bowden

STUPEFYING STORIES 1.5

We didn’t plan to skip February, but the challenge of dealing with the enormous flow of new submissions, while still sticking to my (in hindsight, painfully naïve) ideal of making sure that every submission got at least two reads before receiving a personal rejection, kept us bogged down. Thus what began as a simple Valentine’s Day issue became a Love and Presidents issue, then a Sex and Presidents issue, and then a Sex and Dead Presidents issue (the less said about which, the better), until finally, we produced this book.

I still can’t talk about this book without raving about “Red Dust and Dancing Horses” by Beth Cato or cackling over Aaron Bradford Starr’s brilliantly daft steampunk vision, “Cog Noscenti.” I’m also pleased to note that this book marks the first appearance in our pages of Alex Shvartsman, Richard Zwicker, and Chuck Bordell, and that both “Perchance to Wake” by Paul Dixon and “Greater Love” by Kersley Fitzgerald deserve your attention.

But seriously: if you read anything we’ve published, read “Red Dust and Dancing Horses.”

Contents:

RED DUST AND DANCING HORSES, by Beth Cato
EMISSARIES FROM VENUS, by Jason Wittman
LINCOLN’S REVENANT, by Chuck Bordell
INDUCTION DAY, by J. R. Johnson
PERCHANCE TO WAKE, by Paul Dixon
COG NOSCENTI, by Aaron Bradford Starr
GREATER LOVE, by Kersley Fitzgerald
STELLAR DUST AND MIRRORS, by Richard Zwicker
THE LAST TESTAMENT OF HENRY HALLECK, by Vox Day
A BRIEF RESPITE FROM ETERNITY, by Alex Shvartsman

STUPEFYING STORIES 1.4

This book marks the first appearance in our pages of L. Joseoph Shosty, Jamie Lackey, Ada Milenkovic Brown, and fan favorite Rose Blackthorn, and contains what was probably our strongest SF/F lineup thus far. I can’t call out any particular stories for special attention because they’re all terrific, but on a purely personal level, “Palmerino’s Dream” still makes me smile every time I re-read it.

Behind the scenes, though, our submissions and editorial processes had finished breaking down under the weight of The Great Submissions Blizzard of 2011, aided and abetted by the flow of new submissions that were continuing to come in at steady a rate of 300-plus monthly.

Contents:

MORALITY FOR ALCHEMISTS AND THIEVES, by L. Joseph Shosty
SEEKING KAILASH, by DJ Cockburn
MUSIC FROM THE AIR, by Jamie Lackey
SPIRIT BAGS, by T. D. Edge
DON’T EAT THE PIANO PLAYER, by M. David Blake
ABADDON, FOUL ANGEL OF THE ABYSS, by Ada Milenkovic Brown
UNTETHER’D, by Rose Blackthorn
THE SEEDING, by Jay Caselberg
PALMERINO’S DREAM, by Joanna Galbraith

OUT OF PRINT

STUPEFYING STORIES 1.3

This book marks the first appearance in our pages of Gary Cuba, Tyler Tork, David Landrum, Bill Ferris, and the author of our cover story, Trent Zelazny. By this point our vision of a publication that transcended genre boundaries was in full swing, with stories such as “The Cowrie” and “Snow Blind” that left SF/F fans scratching their heads and asking, “Where are the rockets, robots, and ray-guns?”

This book also contains the last Christmas-themed stories we’ll ever run. That’s a promise. I like “Secret Santa,” “Seven Minutes to Bangor,” and “The Consolidated Brotherhood of Truly Bearded Santas,” but these stories opened the floodgates to a flow of truly awful “Christmas horror” submissions.

Unfortunately, this book also marks the beginning of the breakdown of our behind-the-scenes editorial processes. In three months we’d gone from a steady but manageable stream of new submissions to what we came to call The Great Submissions Blizzard of 2011. By the time it was all over on New Year’s Day we’d received more than 500 new submissions, and our slow-but-thoughtful collective decision-making system was buckling under the strain.

Contents:

OOGIE TUCKER’S MISSION, by Gary Cuba
HIGHLY UNLIKELY, by Ron Lunde
THE COWRIE, by Tyler Tork
SNOW BLIND, by Trent Zelazny
SENNACHERIB, by David Landrum
THE STRANGE MACHINERY OF DESIRE, by Justin A. Williams
SECRET SANTA, by Kersley Fitzgerald
SEVEN MINUTES TO BANGOR, by Aaron Bradford Starr
THE CONSOLIDATED BROTHERHOOD OF TRULY BEARDED SANTAS, by Bill Ferris

OUT OF PRINT

STUPEFYING STORIES 1.2

No sooner was 1.1 released than STUPEFYING STORIES began growing very rapidly. This book contains more and longer stories than 1.1 and marks the first appearance in our pages of Aaron Bradford Starr, Clare Deming, Sarah Frost, and fan favorite Rebecca Roland, as well as another story from Anatoly Belilovsky and one of the most disturbing horror stories we’ve ever published, “The Oily,” by E. A. Black.

Which has led to considerable confusion ever since. Is STUPEFYING STORIES a science fiction or a horror magazine? Somehow people fixated on “The Oily” and didn’t notice that this book also contains two of the funniest stories we’ve ever published, “First Impressions” and “Watch This!”

Contents:

FIRST IMPRESSIONS, by Aaron Bradford Starr
THE BAMBOO GARDEN, by Clare L. Deming
HOME SECURITY, by Gary McKenzie
BORROWED FEATHERS, by Sarah Frost
IF THIS BE MAGIC, by Anatoly Belilovsky
THE OILY, by E. A. Black
IN FALL, AFTER THE HARVEST, by S. Travis Brown
THE KING OF ASH AND BONES, by Rebecca Roland
WATCH THIS!, by Henry Vogel

OUT OF PRINT

STUPEFYING STORIES 1.1

In 2011 we relaunched STUPEFYING STORIES as a direct-to-ebook-only anthology series. We decided on direct-to-ebook-only because we felt the market for e-readers was beginning to approach critical mass, and we decided to call it an anthology rather than a magazine in order to give the book a longer shelf-life and ourselves more flexibility with scheduling.
We issued the first call for submissions in July and by September were ready to begin rolling out books. STUPEFYING STORIES 1.1 is our thinnest volume ever, because we were still learning and developing our format. It’s notable for being the last time we published poetry, but also marks the first appearance of Anatoly Belilovsky in our virtual pages, and contains the outstanding hard SF story, “Return to Earth” by Ryan M. Jones, which has since been picked up for podcasts and other anthologies.

Contents:

ODE, by Amy Helfritz
THE WINDOW, by David Yener Goodman
THE DEPORTED, by Vox Day
PICKY, by Anatoly Belilovsky
THE CURSED WAIL, by Caileigh Marshall
S&M VAMPIRE GRRLZ: THE MOVIE, by Chris Bailey Pearce
QUILL, by Allan Davis Jr.
REVIVAL, by Daniel Eness
DAVE’S FRIGHT, by Kersley Fitzgerald
OTHER SISTER, by Rich Matrunick
RETURN TO EARTH, by Ryan M. Jones

OUT OF PRINT

STUPEFYING STORIES: It Came From The Slushpile

Released August 2010

Yes, it’s our very first print-only edition, done as a prototype to see just how closely we could emulate the look and feel of a vintage digest-sized pulp in what was initially envisioned as a quarterly magazine. We spent a small fortune on this one, and aside from my never being really happy with the way the cover turned out, it worked...but also convinced me our money was far better spent on paying writers and artists more, rather than on keeping paper mills and print shops in business.

Contents:

TECH SUPPORT, by John Oglesby
LIFELINE, by Kersley Fitzgerald
IT CAME FROM THE SLUSHPILE, by Bruce Bethke
CATACHRONISM, by Jakeb Lliesl Ladrey
ICEHAWK'S ILL OMEN, by Martin Davidson
ARMSTRONG, by James Rye
WE DON'T PLUMMET OUT OF THE SKY ANYMORE, by M. David Blake
ASSAULT AND BUTTERY, by Anton,Gully
TEACHING WOMEN TO FLY, by Guy Stewart
FIRST RULE, by Allan Davis Jr.
THEN THE END COMETH, by David Yener Goodman
HEART OF DORKNESS, by Henry Vogel

OUT OF PRINT

Stupefying Stories 26

Stupefying Stories 25

Stupefying Stories 24

Popular Posts

Followers

Stupefying Stories 23

Magazines

STUPEFYING STORIES 1.14

STUPEFYING STORIES 1.13

STUPEFYING STORIES 1.12

0 comments:

Labels

Blog Archive