The year seems to be racing away fast, in 2015. Perhaps it’s a function of getting older, or with how busy you get with life and work. Knowing this, it’s great to see how many people drop by to get their reading fix in little short moments.

If you’re pressed for time and not always able to access the internet, you can do this by subscribing to the ezine here, and have a format of your choice delivered free to your inbox.

I am very proud to announce another of last year’s stories is being honoured by being selected for Ticonderoga Publishing’s The Year’s Best Australian Fantasy and Horror, edited by the dedicated Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene. Congratulations to Jason Franks on the inclusion of Metempsychosis. The story was originally submitted for our Australiana edition, but wasn’t quite right in the feel of the rest of the edition, so we found a place for it elsewhere (as we try to do with great fiction). Find the original in Edition 15 or take a look at Jason’s blog talking about not giving up until you find that right home for your story.

We’re working through the last of our outstanding fiction submissions. By the 2nd of September, I will have a more detailed update for any writers still waiting. To better our process, we are changing our submission process, to better screen and serve our submitters. It will involve several submission sections, and an update of our guidelines. Details will be confirmed, as well as a guide to our reopening, in the following week.

Also, we’re gearing up for the Story Quest competition for 2015. The theme is being finalised as we speak, and that will also be released later today. There will be at least two months for you to find a suitable piece to submit to us.

Back to Edition 22! How wonderful is that exquisite cover from graphic artist Kura Carpenter. Very easy to work with and what a quality cover she’s put together for us. She also does book covers. Learn more about her over at her bio.

We’re featuring US dark speculative fiction writer and teacher, Eric J. Guignard, who will take you on a weird and wonderful journey in Car Trip Bingo.

Our serial is back with a two-part mythic high fantasy from Lindsey Duncan. Stolen Moments follows the life of a preternaturally-aging young woman who cannot let a friend go to his end without trying to help.

We welcome back Jason Lairamore with a captivating robotic science fiction short, Civility and the Shark, the interaction of one little engine, machine kind and biologicals. Jason has previously published My Trip to the Circus and Trophy with us in past editions.

Two of our stories came to us from our special edition process earlier in the year. We welcome Deborah Walker with her space exploration, Eve of the White Moon, taking us on a family journey to a new world, and the adaptions we make. Suzanne J Willis brings us Husk and Sheaf, a fantastical tale of the moments we capture and the snippets of life those recollections can contain.

Our only horror for the edition comes from Irish writer, Michael McGlade, in his first publication with us. Bring It All Back Home shows us that not every childhood home is a dream.

Three reviews for some brand new books are also in this edition. I’m reviewing She Walks in Shadows, the successful Kickstarter-backed, Lovecraftian anthology of women, by women, from Canadian Innsmouth Press. Damien Smith reviews the new cyberpunk novel from Chuck Wendig, Zer0es. Rounding out, we have Mysti Parker’s review of the first in the From the Peculiar Adventures of John Lovehart, Esq. series, The Singular & Extraordinary Tale of Mirror & Goliath.

That’s a sum up of the great edition we have for you. So enjoy, and please help us by reviewing or help by sharing with friends online and off. A larger audience helps us create a better product for you, and at the end of the day, that’s why we’re in the business.

Thanks again for stopping by and we will see you again, no later than November 1 for another edition packed full of speculative fiction wonder.

Sophie
Editor, SQ Mag