The New York Review of Science Fiction

NYRSF 345 Editorial: Ouch, Vile Jelly

I had hoped that this issue would be out the last week in January, but my plans got tossed into a cocked hat around the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday weekend when I noticed that my right eye had developed some large amentlike floaters and flashes of bright light at the edge. My ophthalmologist referred me to a specialist who spotted three small tears in the retina. This is a common condition in middle-aged nearsighted people, but it can get much worse very quickly, so she indicated that it would be the course of prudence to immediately submit to tender loving laser repair.

NYRSF 344 Editorial: Years End

So another year ends. We only brought out six issues over the last 12 months, but I’m happy with how they came out, and our platters are full to overflowing with material for the next few months so I have some hope that we will start to stagger back toward monthly.

Issue 344 (December 2017) Table of Contents

• Sandra J. Lindow: Black to Okorafor: Entering an Intersection of Afrofuturism, Comics, and the Women’s Movement
• Henry Wessells: Two Pieces from A Conversation larger than the Universe
• The Ghost in the Corner and Other Stories by Lord Dunsany, edited by S.T. Joshi and Martin Andersson, reviewed by Darrell Schweitzer
• Brian Stableford: Locating the Future in the Past 2: X.B. Saintine’s Account of an Antediluvian Civilization
• Firewalk by Chris Roberson, reviewed by Dan’l Danehy-Oakes
• Dave Drake: Soldiers and the Civil Government
• Donald M. Hassler: Fantasy on Stalking the Brook
• Michael Swanwick: A Few Words with Sergei Lukyanenko
• Photo
• Editorial: Years End

NYRSF 343 Editorial: Plex: A Parable

I have a hobby—well, not so much a hobby as a habit. When I meet people, I punch them in the solar plexus. Well, again, “punch” isn’t the right word. Most times, it’s a just a light tap, a brush that passes quickly. Other times, if circumstances permit and the mood of the moment seems just right, I really haul off and punch. It’s my way of getting to know people, a little signature touch to assure that both I and my newfound acquaintance remember the moment.

Issue 343 (October 2017) Table of Contents

• Victor Grech: Crime and Punishment in Star Trek: Genocide and War Crimes
• Paul Voermans: Technique of Awful: When Extremity Takes Us Past the Real
• Reality by Other Means: The Best Short Fiction of James Morrow, reviewed by Joe Sanders
• Judith Collins: This Traveler
• Donald M. Hassler: Old Man Musing after Nova TV, August 2017
• Brian Stableford: The Fantastic Fiction of Maurice Magre III: The Quest for the Ideal
• Mike Barrett: In Search of Earth: E.C. Tubb’s Dumarest Saga
• Screed
• Photos
• Editorial: Plex: A Parable

NYRSF 342 Editorial: Best Laid

This did not end up being the July issue, as I had hoped it would be; life continues, in its various ways, to confound our plans. Our next issue should be out at the beginning of September, though, and I hope that we can return to something like our previous Rube Goldberg clockwork precision.

Issue 342 (August 2017) Table of Contents

David Swanger: “Here Are Dragons”: Charting the Depths and Borders of Fantasy

Takayuki Tatsumi: Apocrypha Now!Welcome to the Quintessence of Japanese Speculative Fiction

Terry Thompson: “In Rama”: A Slaughter of the Innocents Allusion in Frankenstein

Joe Sanders: Taking Another Look at Michael Bishop: Two Early Stories

Read This: recently read and recommended by Fran Wilde

Bernadette L. Bosky: On Rereading Stephen King’s Rose Madder

David Langford: Random Reading 18

Brian Stableford: The Fantastic Fiction of Maurice Magre, Part II: Reconstructing History

Michael Andre-Driussi: Notes for Survivors (1975)

Gustavo Bondoni: Snapshots of the Brazilian Scene: Thoughts on Four Brazilian SF/F Books

Photos

Screed

Editorial: Best Laid

NYRSF 341 Editorial: The Time Warp

The eagle-eyed among you may well have noticed that we have skipped the cover date of this issue several months forward from the previous issue—this is June 2017, reflecting the actual publication date, as opposed to #340’s December 2016, which came out in mid-April.

Issue 341 (June 2017) Table of Contents

• Steve Carper: Beyond “Deadline”: Three Additional WWII Atomic War Stories and the Office of Censorship
• Brian Stableford: The Fantastic Fiction of Maurice Magre, Part I: Claire d’Amour
• Read This: recently read and recommended by Anne Zanoni
• Ron Drummond: Days of Rising Salt: Artistic Choice and Critical Distinction
• Mike Barrett: Tales of a Ghostly Design: The Fiction of T.G. Jackson
• The Terrorists of Irustan by Louise Marley, reviewed by Anne Leonard
• Victor Grech: Doctor by Doctor: Dr. Leonard Horatio McCoy
• Read This: recently read and recommended by Darrell Schweitzer
• Michael Andre-Driussi: Notes on “The Prophets’ Paradise” of The King in Yellow
• David Drake: Paths Through Dark Woods
• Photos
• Editorial: The Time Warp

NYRSF 340 Editorial: The Cruelest Month

The last time I heard from Michael Levy was in mid-March. I’d sent out a round of jog letters to reviewers, and I was surprised that list included Mike, usually our fastest and most reliable reviewer. I soon got back a very short reply, apologizing and saying that things had been “horrible” for him of late and that he hadn’t had time.

I don’t know if he knew how little time he had left. Despite our amiable relationship, I wasn’t the type of friend to whom he would confide if he suspected that things were going to end very soon.