As I write this entry to the new edition, I sit listening to the beautiful sounds of White Vinyl Design’s music of the solar system. It’s so fitting to the time of year in Canada, where I am currently, full of soft and lullaby-like tunes. You can find the link on any of our social media sites, posted on the 30^th of August. Astounding the way the creativity the galaxy inspires.

We’re gathering our energies together again after the publication of Star Quake 2, our Best of 2013 edition. There’s been so much wonderful feedback from our contributors who have received the books, and for a limited time, you can get Star Quake 1 and 2 in a special two-for-one deal. Awesome! Please help support us by getting the word out.

It’s that time of year where we also start talking about our special edition for May 2015. This year we’re looking for new spins on fables and fairytales; legends of a new age. What will catch our eye are stories that haven’t been told, or fables that aren’t Eurocentric, like Grimm or Christian-Anderson. Details will be forthcoming soon after the publication of this issue.

Don’t forget as well that the Story Quest competition for 2014, Punkin’ the Train, closes October 31, so not too long left now to get those entries in!

Coming to Edition 16, which I think has a strong science fiction flavour, we’ve had a lovely time with each of the stories. But it was the poignant story of sweet Giang in Ken Liu’s feature, Running Shoes, which broke our hearts a little. Ken is the only person to have won Nebula, Hugo and World Fantasy awards for a single story of any length, so he’s well recognised for his speculative fiction work, and his first novel is due for release in 2015.

Book II of The Morland Basking Plain by Arthur Davis returns to this edition, where we follow Logan Drewry and his pursuers deeper into the desert. A little more of the political landscape and the motivations of those involved emerge.

We also have a collection of great stories from newer and emerging talent for you. Jim Lee returns to SQ Mag with the political science fiction short, Internal Exile, exploring the idea of political punishments and the way ideas can be dangerous to the powers-to-be. We accepted another story from Jim in 2013 that made it into Star Quake 2. Travis Burnham brings us a spooky supernatural tale, Librum de Atrum Divum, which demonstrates the power knowledge brings. The Nanofabricated Truth by David Conyers delves into what happens when anyone can create their own technology, so long as they have the right schematic. Filipino Recle Etino Vibal has a story quite different to many we’ve published here at SQ; The Butterfly Knife has a quest for a hidden spring, with the dangers of a secret that intends to be kept. It’s the style of the story that’s different: a fable-like fantasy with a voice from Southeast Asia, a different voice to those told by Western authors.

Mysti Parker, Damien Smith and I have new reviews for you. Mysti reviews the last of the All Souls trilogy by Deborah Harkness, The Book of Life, which she’s been following from the very beginning. Damien’s picked up Patty Jansen’s political science fiction thriller Ambassador (Ambassador 1: Seeing Red), the first in the series, with the continuation Ambassador 2: Raising Hell published earlier this year. I review Winter, the final in the Hyddenworld series by William Horwood, whose classic fantasy of moles set in Duncton Wood was one of my earliest forays into adult fantasy literature.

We welcome you to our latest edition, and hope you’ll blog, tweet and post about it, to help introduce us to more readers and writers. After all, we love spreading this great fiction to all the corners of the globe, and with your help, we can boost the signal.

Thanks for reading and letting us take you to new worlds.

Sophie
Editor, SQ Mag