NEWS

BLOODSONGS #10, A4, 60pp, $4:95 (4/$14) from Implosion Publishing, 777 28th Street, Orlando, FL 32805, USA (e-mail: bloodsongs@implosion-mag.com; http://www.implosion-mag.com/bloodsongs.htm). Fiction, art, culture and music of the macabre, with stories by Gary Bowen, David Kendall, Chad Peery, John Everson, Kaaron Warren, and Nurmi Husa, interviews/features with special effects artist Screaming Mad George, 'murder metal' band Macabre, death metal band Deceased, and previews of upcoming big-screen horror movie sequels.

DRAGON'S BREATH #51 and #52, A4, 2pp each, available for one SAE per issue (12/£2:50; EC 12/£3:50; rest of Europe 12/£4; r.o.w. 12/£5:50) from Tony Lee, Pigasus Press, 13 Hazely Combe, Arreton, Isle of Wight PO30 3AJ. Capsule reviews of SF/F/H small press and media-related publications from all over the world.

ENIGMATIC TALES #1, A5, 84pp p/b, £2:50 (4/£8; Europe 4/£9; USA/Canada 4/$20) from M. Sims, 1 Gibbs Field, Bishops Stortford, Herts CM23 4EY (http://www.magician.force9.co.uk/EnigmaPress/). A new magazine of supernatural ghost and horror stories, launching with fiction by Bernard Capes, Howard Pease, Allison Cologna, Paul Bradshaw, Simon Bestwick, Nigel Brown, John B. Ford, Paul Finch, David Price, and L.H. Maynard & M.P.N. Sims.

FANTASY COMMENTATOR Vol.9 #2 (#50), A4, 80pp, $5 (8/$35; outside USA 8/$41) from A. Langley Searles, 48 Highland Circle, Bronxville, NY 10708-5909, USA. An irregular journal devoted to articles, reviews, checklists and verse in the areas of SF and fantasy. This issue reveals an emphasis on the 'golden age' of SF, with a memorial to veteran fan Sam Moskowitz, and features on Leslie Stone (one of the first women SF writers), and authors Nictzin Dyalhis and Stanley G. Weinbaum. Of more immediate relevance is a long and significant interview with premier SF poet and historian Steve Sneyd, conducted by H.R. Felgenhauer.

FLICKERS'N'FRAMES #28, A5, 76pp, £3 from John M. Peters, 299 Southway Drive, Southway, Plymouth, Devon PL6 6QN. After ten years consistent output John Peters is calling it a day for Flickers'n'Frames, at least as far as printed editions are concerned. Until such time as he relaunches the magazine on the internet, you'll have to make do with this bumper final issue of fiction by Brian Maycock, Richard Bressey, Rhys H. Hughes, Anthony Barker, Alan Smith, Martin Sketchley, Philip A. Todd, Trevor Mendham, D.F. Lewis, Alan Jones, David Vickery, Paul Finch, Albert J. Manachino, Raymond Hunter, John Travis, Keith Grimes, and David McVey, plus the usual lively coverage of cinema, books, small press and music.

HANDSHAKE #30, A4, 2pp, free for SAE from J.F. Haines, 5 Cross Farm, Station Road, Padgate, Warrington WA2 0QG. Market information and news of SF-poetry-related events, plus poetry from Richard Lung, Giovanni Malito, Sean Russell Friend, Peter Day, and D.S. Holme.

JUGGERNAUT #1, A4, 64pp, $3:95 (4/$10) from Implosion Publishing, 777 28th Street, Orlando, FL 32805, USA (e-mail: juggernaut@implosion-mag.com; http://www.implosion-mag.com/juggernaut.html). New magazine covering the full range of extreme music, including death metal, hardcore, industrial, noise, and free jazz. This issue features Karyn Crisis's knack for psychological warfare, Sepultura frontman Max Cavalera on his new band Soulfly, Atlanta metal band Stuck Mojo, Megadeth's Dave Mustaine, Deicide's Glen Benton, Hypocrisy's Peter Tagtgren, and Morbid Angel's Trey Azagthoth, plus news, reviews and gig reports.

NEW YORK REVIEW OF SCIENCE FICTION #117 and #118, A4, 24pp, $3:50 each (12/$31; Canada 12/$36; r.o.w. 12/$44) from Dragon Press, P.O. Box 78, Pleasantville, NY 10570, USA (http://ebbs.english.vt.edu/olp/nyrsf/nyrsf.html). Essays, reviews and topical comment for the SF field from a nine-time Hugo award nominee. Issue #117 looks in depth at Fritz Leiber's early reading habits, Kim Stanley Robinson's music while he writes, and Paul Park's The Gospel of Corax, while in #118 David Langford explores Diana Wynne-Jones's Deep Secret, Brian Stableford looks at the relative hardness of Benford's Cosm and Flynn's Rogue Star, and Arthur D. Hlavaty sees Dean Koontz as hometown boy made good.

ON SPEC #32: Spring 1998, A5, 116pp p/b, Can$4:95 (4/Can$19:95; USA 4/US$18; r.o.w. 4/US$25) from On Spec, Box 4727, Edmonton, AB T6E 5G6, Canada (e-mail: onspec@earthling.net; http://www.icomm.ca/onspec). Award-winning SF and fantasy magazine with fiction by Gerald L. Truscott, Edo van Belkom, Michael Vance, Bonnie Blake, Susan MacGregor, David Chato, Marcie Lynn Tentchoff, Kate Riedel, and Apollonia Leaf.

PEEPING TOM #30, A5, 52pp, £2:25 (4/£8) from Peeping Tom, 15 Nottingham Road, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leics LE65 1DJ. Horror fiction by Steve Harris, Pamela Stuart, M.M. O'Driscoll, Alan Hann, and Anthony Cawood.

PSYCHOTROPE #6, A5, 56pp, £2:10 (4/£7:50; USA 4/$20) from Psychotrope, Mark Beech, Flat 6, 10 Ombersley Road, Worcester WR3 7ET. Further tales of mad love, surrealism and psychological horror from Mark McLaughlin, Mark Astley, Paul Pinn, Nigel Quinlan, J.C. Hartley, Robert Caldwell, Gwyneth Jones, Rhys H. Hughes, D.F. Lewis, Mark Asheton, and Uncle River.

ROADWORKS #1, A4, 48pp, £2:50 (4/£9:50; USA 4/$18) from Trevor Denyer, 7 Mountview, Church Lane West, Aldershot, Hampshire GU11 3LN (e-mail: tdenyer@aol.com). This new horror, dark fantasy and slipstream magazine opens its account with Gary Couzens as featured writer, plus stories from Anthea Holland & D.F. Lewis, Michael O'Connor, Christine Goody, Allen Ashley, L.H. Maynard & M.P.N. Sims, Mark Leon Collins, Val Waters, Trevor Denyer, Paul Pinn, and Anthony Lewing.

SCAVENGER'S NEWSLETTER #172, A5, 28pp, $2:50 (12/$17; Canada 12/$20; r.o.w. air 12/$26; r.o.w. surface 12/$17) from Janet Fox, 519 Ellinwood, Osage City, KS 66523-1329, USA (e-mail: foxscav1@jc.net; http://www.cza.com/scav/index.htm). Monthly newsletter for SF/F/H/mystery writers and artists with an interest in the small press. Market news, letters and reviews from USA, UK and elsewhere, plus fiction by Dan Crawford.

SCHEHERAZADE #16, A5, 40pp, £2:50 (4/£8:50; outside UK 4/£10:50) from Scheherazade, 14 Queens Park Rise, Brighton BN2 2ZF. A magazine of fantasy and science fiction incorporating the gothic, the magical and the mythological, with fiction this time from Cherith Baldry, Anna Kemble, Martin Owton, Guy Russell, Julia Hawkes-Moore, and Alison Brookes.

SCIENCE FICTION LAW JOURNAL Vol.3 #4, A4, 48pp, 4/$20 from John E. Rogers Jr., c/o Los Angeles Daily Journal, 915 E. First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012, USA. A classic SF trope is extrapolation, and so for SF fans with an interest in law there's nothing quite so satisfying as sitting round a coffee table and speculating on the future disposition of jurisprudence. For example, consider the impact of alien contact, and its subsequent commercial, industrial and political interaction, on the laws of both species, or the myriad possibilities concerning race, gender and human/non-human rights. With fictionalised trial reports, or stories using legal battles as key plot devices, the SFLJ provides that forum for discussion and, although at first glance this seems a highly specialised topic, it's actually a cornerstone of SF as we know it.

THE THIRD ALTERNATIVE #16, A4, 60pp, £3 (4/£11; Europe 4/£13; USA 4/$22; r.o.w. 4/£15) from TTA Press, 5 Martins Lane, Witcham, Ely, Cambs CB6 2LB (e-mail: ttapress@aol.com). "Extraordinary new fiction" from Christopher Priest, Tamar Yellin, Paul Finch, Terence Greenhough, and James Lovegrove, plus interviews with Graham Joyce and Jonathan Coe and a feature on Nicolas Roeg.

ZENE #15, A5, 36pp, 6/£12 (Europe 6/£15; USA 6/$24; r.o.w. 6/£18) from TTA Press, 5 Martins Lane, Witcham, Ely, Cambs CB6 2LB (e-mail: ttapress@aol.com). Now bimonthly, this small press writers' magazine includes guidelines from the UK, Canada, and the USA, plus poetry, book and small press news and reviews, and articles on organising poetry readings and how writers can make the most of the WWW.

THE SOMNAMBULISTS by Julian Leonard Bourne, ISBN 1-86106-451-9, A5, 260pp p/b, £6.99 from Minerva Press, 195 Knightbridge, London SW7 1RE. In 22nd-century São Paulo, now capital of the world, scientist Milton Mazzei catches two soldiers from the Somme out of fragments moving at the speed of light. Without realising the consequences of his research, his study of these creatures becomes surrounded with intrigue and danger.

NIGHT'S VOICE by Scott Urban, A5 48pp, $3 from Hatchett-Job Press, P.O. Box 92, Brooklyn, CT 06234-0092, USA. Collection of dark and unnerving poetry from a writer whose work has appeared in Cyber-Psycho's A.O.D., Thin Ice and elsewhere, illustrated by Mark McLaughlin and with an introduction by Kurt Newton.

ROBOTOMY by Andres Vaccari, ISBN 0-646-32003-3, A5, 125pp p/b, Aus$12:95 from Saturn Press, P.O. Box 419, Church Point, NSW 2105, Australia (e-mail: jvaccari@mypostbox.com). When Drake Ulhman escapes the world of flesh into a virtual world, he finds it's gradually disintegrating inside its virtual storage. His disembodied and forever-mutating memories chase him through the burnt and shadowy landscapes of his brave new mind as he searches for the truth about Fabiana's death and the Ghost taking her place. This existential cyberpunk thriller combines text and electronic images to create a multilayered story presented with a refreshing and appropriately adventurous layout.

THE EXPLANATION AND OTHER GOOD ADVICE by Don Webb, ISBN 1-877655-25-2, A5, 123pp p/b, $9:95 (r.o.w. $11:95) from Wordcraft of Oregon, P.O. Box 3235, La Grande, OR 97850, USA (e-mail: wordcraft@oregontrail.net). Twenty-five short fictions by the mad shaman genius of Austin, with nine new pieces and the rest reprinted from various small press magazines of the 80s (including five from early issues of Back Brain Recluse).

THE FIFTH DI... (June 1998) edited by James B. Baker, A4, 170pp spiral-bound, $12 from Promart Publishing, P.O. Box 1094, Carmichael, CA 95609, USA (e-mail: promarty@juno.com; http://www.arrowweb.com/promimart). This SF anthology is packed with content (including material by many familiar contributors such as Marge Simon, Ken Rand, Cathy Buburuz, and Don D'Ammassa), but is let down by its cheap and cheerful production quality.

LEVIATHAN 2: NOVELLAS edited by Jeff VanderMeer and Rose Secrest, ISBN 1-890464-03-1, A5, 183pp p/b, $10:99 from The Ministry of Whimsy, P.O. Box 4248, Tallahassee, FL 32315, USA (http://www.mindspring.com/~toones/ministry.htm). Following up the acclaimed cross-genre short fiction anthology Leviathan: Into the Gray, Ministry of Whimsy have issued this new collection featuring novellas by Richard Calder, Rhys Hughes, L. Timmel Duchamp, and Stepan Chapman, together with interviews with each of the authors and an introductory essay by Interzone editor David Pringle.