We want stories about men and women who understand the nuts and bolts, the atmosphere and the water and the soil. You know – the things that keep us alive. We want characters who get their hands dirty every day; people who aren’t too proud to work their bodies at least as hard as their minds.

We welcome and strongly encourage submissions with underrepresented main characters: characters of color, LGBTQ characters, women characters, etc.!

Submissions to the anthology will be open through May 31. Go here to Read the guidelines and submit.

Crossed Genres Quarterly 4 contains issues 34 (Monsters), 35 (Dark Comedy) and 36 (Different). It also has exclusive new fiction, plus original cover art “The Very Ugly Duckling” by Minna Sundberg.

CG-Q4 is available in print and ebook. Please visit the website to find out where/how to get it, and please consider purchasing a copy!

‘Traitor’ or ‘revolutionary.’ These labels are two sides of the same coin, just as ‘hero’ or ‘villain’ depends on the point of view of the person telling the story. These are obvious concepts when spelled out in clear cut settings. Because of this, how one goes about subverting the norm (as a traitor or revolutionary) is based on what the norm is. What is normal in one society can be, and often is, taboo in another society. This allows tales of subversion to be subtle, blatant, personal, communal, and endless in variation.
- from the Foreword by Jennifer Brozek

Subversion: Science Fiction & Fantasy tales of challenging the norm is an anthology of stories about striking back at the status quo – whatever that might be. The Authority can be real or perceived; the act of subversion subtle or overt; and the consequences minute yet significant, or immense and world-shaking.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Jennifer Brozek – Foreword
Jessica Reisman – “A Thousand Wings of Luck”
Camille Alexa – “And All Its Truths”
Melissa S. Green – “Pushaway”
Daniel José Older – “Phantom Overload”
Kelly Jennings – “Cold Against the Bone”
Barbara Krasnoff – “The Red Dybbuk”
Natania Barron – “Pushing Paper in Hartleigh”
Kay T. Holt – “Parent Hack”
Jean Johnson – “The Hero Industry”
Cat Rambo – “Flicka”
Shanna Germain – “Seed”
RJ Astruc & Deirdre M. Murphy – “Scrapheap Angel”
C.A. Young – “The Dragon’s Bargain”
Wendy N. Wagner – “A Tiny Grayness in the Dark”
Timothy T. Murphy – “Received Without Content”
Caleb Jordan Schulz – “To Sleep With Pachamama”
Cover art: “New Generation of Leaders” by Brittany Jackson

ISBN 978-0615533292

Get your copy now! Print ($11.95): Amazon / Ebook ($4.99): Amazon Kindle or B&N Nook

FICTION
Black Betty by Nisi Shawl
Portrait of a Courtesan by Megan Arkenberg
The Last Recall by Mason Ian Bundschuh
Second Place by Sarah A. Drew
Zeppelin Follies by Cat Rambo
The Remote-Controlled Doggirl by Lara Ek
Beaumains by Jo Thomas
Young Lions by Zachary Jernigan
My Other Half by Maria Stanislav

POETRY
Stuck On a Boat With a Soccer Mom by Helen Estrada

As always, the stories and poem are free to read on the website. Please read, enjoy, and let the authors know what you think with a comment!

“BROKEN SLATE is unexpectedly engrossing, with enough strength of character at its core to drag one along its richly carved path of violence, sex, submission, and rebellion. Martin is a compelling character, whose palpable determination not to be crushed by systemic cruelty and harsh circumstance leaves one looking forward to more of his story.”
– Camille Alexa, Endeavor Award-nominated author of Push of the Sky

Jezebel’s Blouse by Timothy T. Murphy

Jason’s Shoes by Richard Bist

The Execution of Zacharius Grubb by Bethan Claire Price

Chasing Persephone by Natalie Stachowski

Worse Than a Devil by Sarina Dorie

Please read, enjoy, and let the authors know what you think with a comment!

Sabrina Vourvoulias is a Latina newspaper editor, blogger and writer. She grew up in Guatemala, moved to the United States when she was 15, and studied writing at Sarah Lawrence College with Allan Gurganus.

In addition to numerous articles and editorial columns in newspapers in Pennsylvania and New York state, her work has been published in Dappled Things, Graham House Review, La Bloga’s Floricanto, Poets Responding to SB 1070, Scheherezade’s Bequest at Cabinet des Fees, We’Moon, Crossed Genres #24, the anthology Crossed Genres Year Two, and is slated to appear in upcoming issues of Bull Spec and GUD magazine, as well as Crossed Genres’ Fat Girl in a Strange Land anthology.

Her blog Following the Lede is nominated for a Latinos in Social Media (LATISM) award for “Best Inspirational Latin@ Blogger”.

She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and daughter. Follow her antics on Twitter @followthelede.

INK will be published in print and ebook formats in the third quarter of 2012.

“La Gorda and the City of Silver” by Sabrina Vourvoulias
“The Tradeoff” by Lauren Teffeau
“Cartography, and the Death of Shoes” by Amanda Fitzwater
“Survivor” by Josh Roseman
“The Right Stuffed” by Brian Jungwiwattanaporn
“Tangwystl the Unwanted” by Katharine Elmer
“Flesh of My Flesh” by Bonnie Ferrante
“How Do You Want To Die?” by Rick Silva
“Nemesis” by Nicole Prestin
“Davy” by Anna Dickinson
“Sharks & Seals” by Jennifer Brozek
“Marilee and the SOB” by Barbara Krasnoff
“Blueprints” by Anna Caro
“Lift” by Pete ‘Patch’ Alberti

Cover art by Lili Ibrahim.

Fat Girl in a Strange Land will be released on Friday, February 17, 2012 at Boskone.

Hi to all CGP fans!

In September, we passed the three year mark since Crossed Genres was formed. Back then it was only a magazine, with few resources and almost no visibility. But since then, that little zine has grown into Crossed Genres Publications, a small press publishing not just the zine, but also anthologies, collections and novels. We also spun off the Science in My Fiction blog, ran a big SiMF short story contest, ran two successful Kickstarter campaigns, and consistently reach thousands of people each month.

As we approached our three-year mark, we talked a lot in Crossed Genres HQ about CG’s future, our successes and failures, and the direction we want to take. Ultimately we concluded that our focus was shifting pretty clearly towards our novel and anthology publications: With two novels and an anthology published in the past 10 months, two more anthologies arriving by February, and more books in the works, it’s fairly obvious to us. Even the zine was moved from monthly print/ebook/online publications to only being online monthly, with the print and ebook editions collected into Quarterlies (each easily the length of a full anthology).

We also talked about how our attention always seemed to be spread thin across many different projects and responsibilities. While we delegated some of our tasks to our wonderful volunteer staff, we felt that we weren’t able to give each project all the attention it deserved.

After a much consideration, a lot of analysis and a fair bit of hemming and hawing, we’ve decided that we need to make some changes to Crossed Genres Publications. We want to narrow CGP’s focus and dedicate ourselves wholly to the areas we maintain and promote.

Because of that decision, it’s with a great deal of sadness that we announce that Crossed Genres Magazine will be closing after the conclusion of its third year. Issue 36 (Submissions in October, publication in December) will be the final issue; Quarterly 4 (Publication in January 2012) will be the final quarterly.

We’ve been thinking about the potential of closing the magazine for a long time (over a year). Interest in the zine has declined some, and while there’s still a core of followers, readership has been shrinking, not growing. That, combined with the time and resources necessary to keep it running, means that it simply doesn’t make sense to keep the zine any longer.

It makes us sad – the zine is what started CG and we still love it. But just so we’re clear: We do NOT see the closure of the zine as a bad thing. We’re not doing it because of financial problems, or the lack of desire to run another fundraiser, or because we’ve grown sick of it. We’re doing it because we truly believe that CG magazine has run its course and has reached the point where it’s ready to be retired. We don’t believe it should go out on a sour note, but with a round of cheers for the unquestionable success it had. The zine put us in the position where we can make this transition and keep our publishing company going, albeit in a new direction.

With this in mind, we want the zine’s send-off to be exceptional. We’re currently accepting submissions for the final issue (submissions close on October 31). As with previous years, the final issue of the year will be an extra-large issue. The theme for the issue is DIFFERENT – what it means to be different; who and what decides or defines our differences, and why; what sets us apart and how can differences bring us together?

For this issue, we are open to all types of media. Previously we haven’t accepted poetry, or podcasts, or photography; now we are. We’ll even consider longer or shorter pieces of writing. (maximum 10,000 words though!) This will make the final issue – well, different from anything we’ve published before.

And we’re looking for as diverse a body of submissions as possible to choose from! We want submissions with characters of color, quiltbag characters, disabled characters, elderly or child M/C’s. We want underrepresented perspectives!

If you’re a writer, an artist, a photographer – if you have something you think will help us portray Different – please consider sending it in. Help us to make the final issue of Crossed Genres Magazine something truly special – help us close it out with a BANG!

Thank you so much to everyone who’s supported Crossed Genres with such dedication over the past three years. We hope that you’ll stick with us as we publish new things, and we promise to put all our energy and passion into making those new publications as exciting and impressive as you’ve come to expect from us.

Best,

Bart & Kay
Publishers, Crossed Genres Publications

The Fire by Timothy T. Murphy

Inhuman Resources by William Gerke

Waiting in the Light in the Hungry Months by Megan Engelhardt

Skin and Scales by Rachel Bender

Monsters Monsters Everywhere by Carrie Cuinn

Please read, enjoy, and let the authors know what you think with a comment!

Goodreads Giveaway for ARC copies of SUBVERSION ends!
Our upcoming anthology Subversion: Science Fiction & Fantasy tales of challenging the norm will be released on Monday, December 5, but you could get an advance reading copy almost 2 months early! 3 copies are available – sign up on Goodreads for your chance to win. The Giveaway ends Friday!

Last day to submit to Fat Girl in a Strange Land!
We’re seeking science fiction and fantasy short stories with positive fat female protagonists going places they’ve never been before, for our upcoming anthology Fat Girl in a Strange Land! 2000-6000 words. More details on the submission page. (Expected publication February 2012.) Submissions CLOSE on Friday!

Last day to submit to CG Magazine issue 35: Dark Comedy!
We’re also taking submissions for issue 35 of Crossed Genres Magazine: DARK COMEDY. Give your sense of humor teeth – and let them bite something in the ass. More on the Current Genre page. Submissions CLOSE on Friday!

Crossed Genres Quarterly 3 release!
Saturday is the release of CG Magazine’s Quarterly 3! Each month of Crossed Genres Magazine combines Science Fiction & Fantasy with a new theme. Quarterly 2 contains Issues 31 (Heroes & Heroines), 32 (Sidekicks & Minions) and 33 (Villains), plus exclusive new content! Q3 will be available in print and various ebook formats.

Crossed Genres Issue 34: Monsters release!
Also releasing on Saturday the 1st is the latest issue of Crossed Genres: the MONSTERS issue! Featuring 5 creepy, disturbing and touching stories from authors Timothy T. Murphy (“The Fire”), William Gerke (“Inhuman Resources”), Megan Engelhardt (“Waiting in the Light in the Hungry Months”), Rachel Bender (“Skin and Scales”) and Carrie Cuinn (“Monsters, Monsters, Everywhere”).

Crossed Genres Magazine double-sized issue 36: DIFFERENT open to submissions!
Saturday marks the opening of our submissions period for our oversized 36th issue to end the 3rd year of Crossed Genres Magazine. This month, we want stories about people, places & things that are DIFFERENT. Show us how being different makes a difference. Explore what it means to be different: who and what decides or defines our differences, and why? What sets us apart and how can differences bring us together? This is a big, exciting issue and we want it to be our most special ever. Please flood us with submissions! Subs close on Halloween! (10/31)

Phew! So many new things to read, and to write for! Please help us spread the word about these Giveaways, Deadlines & Releases – they’re almost here!

To enter, visit the GoodReads page and click Enter to Win! The Giveaway is open through Friday the 30th, so don’t wait!

Q3 will be released on October 1, but here is a quick peek at the Q3 cover:

Cover art: “The End of a Legend” by J. Edwin Stevens

More about Quarterly 3 here!

The Fire in Your Sky by Ibi Zoboi

Baba Yaga Knows All, Sees All by Sarah A. Drew

Just Lucky, I Guess by Tom Dillon

Sing For Me by Ben O’Neill

Just Passing Through by Stoney M. Setzer

Please read, enjoy, and let the authors know what you think with a comment!

Subversion: Science Fiction & Fantasy tales of challenging the norm is an anthology of stories about striking back at the status quo – whatever that might be. The Authority can be real or perceived; the act of subversion subtle or overt; and the consequences minute yet significant, or immense and world-shaking.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Jennifer Brozek – Foreword
Jessica Reisman – “A Thousand Wings of Luck”
Camille Alexa – “And All Its Truths”
Melissa S. Green – “Pushaway”
Daniel José Older – “Phantom Overload”
Kelly Jennings – “Cold Against the Bone”
Barbara Krasnoff – “The Red Dybbuk”
Natania Barron – “Pushing Paper in Hartleigh”
Kay T. Holt – “Parent Hack”
Jean Johnson – “The Hero Industry”
Cat Rambo – “Flicka”
Shanna Germain – “Seed”
RJ Astruc & Deirdre M. Murphy – “Scrapheap Angel”
C.A. Young – “The Dragon’s Bargain”
Wendy N. Wagner – “A Tiny Grayness in the Dark”
Timothy T. Murphy – “Received Without Content”
Caleb Jordan Schulz – “To Sleep With Pachamama”

Cover art: “New Generation of Leaders” by Brittany Jackson

Subversion: Science Fiction & Fantasy tales of challenging the norm will be published on Monday, December 5, 2011. More publication information is available on the Subversion title page.

Review copies of Subversion are now available. To request a review copy or for more information, please contact Bart R. Leib at publicity@crossedgenres.com.

La Rosa Still in Bloom by Beth Cato

The Only Friend You Ever Need by M. Shaw

Sidewinder by H. J. Hill

The Arrangement by Ross Willard

Fealty by Stoney M. Setzer

Please read, enjoy, and let the authors know what you think with a comment!

Taken from his family’s merchant ship at the age of fourteen, Martin Eduardo endured years in the brutal contract labor system on the planet Julian. Now a contract rebellion brews.

The precarious – and emotionally costly – safety Martin had found with his seventh contract holder is put at risk by another holder, Jeno Lord Harper, who seeks to use Martin for his own aims. Years in the system have demonstrated what happens to contracts who fight back; Martin knows resistance will prove dangerous.

As the contract labor uprising gains momentum, and as he grows more acquainted with those involved in the rebellion, Martin begins to suspect that, although the consequences of disobedience are grim – even fatal – the consequences of obedience might be worse.

Endeavor Award-nominated author Cat Rambo calls Broken Slate “…tense and compelling. I couldn’t put it down till I hit the last page.”

BROKEN SLATE releases on Friday, July 15 in print and ebook. CGP is hosting a release party at ReaderCon in Burlington, MA from 7pm to 9:30pm in the Boston Marriott Burlington. There will be food and drink, and authors published by Crossed Genres will have readings of their works. All are welcome!

For Release Day, Crossed Genres Publications is making a big push to get Broken Slate improved visibility on Amazon & other online sites. Please consider helping CGP bring this incredible novel to a wider audience, and purchase a copy on release day!

FOR MORE INFO OR TO MAKE A PURCHASE PLEASE VISIT THE BROKEN SLATE WEBSITE.

The party will now also feature readings! CGP alums Camille Alexa, Barbara Krasnoff and Don Pizarro will all read from stories CGP has published. There may be more writers depending on timing and availability.

The price of admission is still the low low cost of a tweet (or blog post, or Facebook update) about Broken Slate. All are welcome!

And in honor of the release, we’re having a release party! Two very generous ReaderCon attendees have agreed to let us use their hotel room at the Marriott to host the party. (HUGE thanks to John Stevens & roommate!)

The party will be from 7pm to 9:30pm on Friday night. Come for part or all, mooch the free food, meet us and hear more about Broken Slate & CGP. There may also be a reading, & more fun stuff. Price of admission: a tweet (or blog post, or Facebook update) about Broken Slate. Simple!

All are welcome!

Life Line by Sandra M. Odell

Trapped Inside of Good by Adam King

Kinetica by Rachel Bender

Yerushalom by S. Ali

The Foolish Samurai by M. Shaw

Please read, enjoy, and let the authors know what you think with a comment!

In addition to finishing his Ph.D. in toxicology, Casey is the editor of Port Iris Magazine. He is also an amateur web developer and operates multiple websites, including ISFPA.com and his department’s website at his university.

Casey will be handling ebook creation for the various titles produced by CGP and Science in My Fiction. Welcome aboard, Casey!

To take advantage of this deal, go to Createspace and add Quarterly 1 and Quarterly 2 to your cart. Then enter the code 48XQ2TCF in the Discount Code field. As simple as that! Save almost $10 off the regular price!

This deal is only good through the end of Friday June 3, so act now!

Crossed Genres Quarterly 2 contains issues 28 (Superhero), 29 (Mystery) and 30 (Luck). It also has exclusive new fiction:

“Return to Impact” by Billy Wong
“The Tower” by Gray Rinehart
“Fluke” by Paul Dixon

…plus original cover art, “Cat on the Road” by Rodolfo Reyes.

CG-Q2 is available in print and ebook. Please visit the website to find out where/how to get it, and please consider purchasing a copy!

~ Fat Girl in a Strange Land ~

In line with our mission to publish progressive speculative fiction, we’re opening for submissions to our Fat Girl in a Strange Land anthology. For it, we’re seeking science fiction and fantasy short stories with fat female protagonists going places they’ve never been before.

Fat can’t just be a passing detail of the main character’s physical description. It should have an impact on the plot and character development. Just like in real life, fat should be an asset or a liability, or even more realistically, both over time.

Fat shouldn’t be the only thing the main character has going on. She has a life, responsibilities, and plans. Strange Land could be part of that, or it could interfere with that (or both), but either way, the consequences will affect her life globally.

Because Strange Land stories are adventures, there should be risk involved. The stakes should be high for her, just like they are for all adventurers. Also, the Strange Land may or may not be a physical location. It could take the form of a major shift in perspective, or some other dramatic alteration of her existing landscape.

Although speculative fiction is all about navigating uncharted territory, fat remains a relatively unexplored frontier. With Fat Girl in a Strange Land, we’re taking fat places it’s never been before.

DEADLINE

The deadline for submissions is Friday, September 30, 2011.

GUIDELINES

• 2,000-6,000 words
• Science fiction and/or fantasy
• The main character must be an overweight (by the standards of the story’s world) girl or woman (any age).
• The main character must encounter or in some way experience a realm that’s unfamiliar to her.
• Single-spaced, extra line between paragraphs. Use italics for italics, bold for bold, etc. Please use a standard font like Times New Roman or Arial. (no Courier please!)
• No simultaneous submissions. No reprints. Multiple submissions are okay.
• Submit stories via the submission form.

COMPENSATION & RIGHTS

Accepted stories will receive a flat $10 payment via Paypal. We take exclusive world ebook and print rights for 1 year, then non-exclusive rights for 1 additional year.

1. CROSSED GENRES #30: LUCK RELEASED
2. CG MAGAZINE RE-OPEN TO SUBMISSIONS
3. CGP TITLES NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH EBOOK RETAILERS
4. SCIENCE IN MY FICTION CONTEST 2011: OFFWORLD
5. READERCON

CROSSED GENRES #30: LUCK RELEASED

CG Magazine’s 30th issue is out! There are 5 remarkable stories of LUCK to read for free on the website:

How the Goddess Came to Spring Flowering Valley by Andrew Penn Romine
Little Magic by Tom Howard
Luck Be a Lady by Amy Sundberg
Paid by DeAnna Knippling
I Can’t Imagine by Sandra Wickham

Please read, enjoy, and let the authors know what you think with a comment!

CG MAGAZINE RE-OPEN TO SUBMISSIONS

We are once again open to submissions to the monthly magazine!

The May theme is Heroes & Heroines! Please read the submission guidelines here.

CGP TITLES NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH EBOOK RETAILERS

Titles from Crossed Genres Publications from now on will be available via all the major online ebook retailers!

Our 4 current major titles:

• A Festival of Skeletons by RJ Astruc
• Crossed Genres Quarterly 1
• Crossed Genres Year One
• Crossed Genres Year Two

…are now all available from Smashwords, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble PubIt and Apple iBookstore, and will soon be available from Sony, Kobo and more!

All future titles, including Crossed Genres Quarterly 2 (Release: 6/1/11) and Kelly Jennings’ Broken Slate (Release: 7/15/11), will be available through the same channels.

For more information about our titles & distribution please visit our catalog.

SCIENCE IN MY FICTION CONTEST 2011: OFFWORLD

The Science in My Fiction blog has officially announced the 2nd annual short story contest! Short stories between 2,000-6,000 words will be considered by our judges panel:

• Tobias Buckell – Author (NYT Bestselling novel Halo: The Cole Protocol)
• Liz Gorinsky – Hugo-nominated editor, Tor Books & Tor.com
• Cameron McClure – Agent, Donald Maass Literary Agency
• Joan Slonczewski – Campbell Award-winning author; Professor of Biology
• Lavie Tidhar – Author (The Bookman, Camera Obscura)

The winning story will be paid professional rates (5 cents per word) for the story to be published in the 2011 Science in My Fiction anthology! Prizes for 2nd and 3rd places too!

This year there’s an additional twist: All stories must be set off Earth! Please read the submission guidelines for more details. Submissions will be accepted from June 1 through August 31.

READERCON

Speaking of Crossed Genres Quarterly 2 and Broken Slate: Both will be available at ReaderCon, where CGP will have a table in the Bookshop! ReaderCon will see the official release of Broken Slate in print and ebook!

We have so much more coming over the next several months, but we’re not quite ready to announce any of it! Expect more excitement in the near future!

How the Goddess Came to Spring Flowering Valley by Andrew Penn Romine

Little Magic by Tom Howard

Luck Be a Lady by Amy Sundberg

Paid by DeAnna Knippling

I Can’t Imagine by Sandra Wickham

Please read, enjoy, and let the authors know what you think with a comment!

(Also of note: CG has now reopened for submissions. Current genre: Heroes/Heroines.)

We’re looking for completed speculative fiction manuscripts of 50,000-100,000 words. Advances and royalties for accepted titles, to be published in print and ebook formats.

Please visit the novel submissions page for more details. Send us your best, brightest and most challenging novels! (We especially want to see novels with under-represented groups as MCs.)

In the House of the Brelsh
by Barbara Krasnoff

Soul of the City
by Jamie Mason

The Body and the Bomb
by John P. Murphy

Down There
by Aaron Polson

The Peculiar People
by Erik T. Johnson

Enjoy, and please leave a comment or two telling the authors what you thought of their work!

We’ve decided to make a small adjustment to Crossed Genres Magazine’s schedule. Crossed Genres is closed for submissions for the month of April. Submissions will re-open on May 1. Genres for the rest of the year are now posted on the Current Genre page. The next 3 upcoming genres will be: Heroes/Heroines, Sidekicks/Minions, and Villains.

This is something we’ve been thinking about for some time. CGM’s publishing year has always been one month off from the calendar year, with the final issue of a year of the zine being published in November. This adjustment will shift that year’s final issue to December, aligning CGM’s schedule with the calendar year.

This will also serve to give us our first break from submissions in over 2 1/2 years! And give our slush readers a well-deserved respite.

Issue #29 (Mystery) will be released within the next couple of days, and Issue #30 (Luck) will be released on May 1. There will be no issue released in June (*gasp!*), but the second Quarterly will be released June 1! Then our releases will resume their regular monthly schedule on July 1.

We apologize for the abruptness of this change – it took us by surprise too, in all honesty. But it’s a welcome alteration that will help us run CG more smoothly. Thanks for being patient!

It had been an ice storm, followed by a thaw and a freeze. Deja set him to clear the gutters, miserable, useless work, since he had to pry ice off grime and stone, and since the weather link said another thaw was due the next day. Martin didn’t mind. It kept him out of the house, away from Deja and his temper. Also, apart from the cold and the wet, it was far from the worst job he had been handed that month. It was late afternoon and he had reached the gutters behind the house, in the alley, when the day abruptly got worse.

He heard the gate open. He was digging at a stubborn chunk of ice and didn’t look up at once. Someone was coming toward him, though. He straightened off the spade. Deja, and another man. Martin wasn’t certain if this was a holder at first. He wore cheap clothing – not contract clothing, but cheap – and his hair was badly cut. He studied Martin with contempt. “Doesn’t look like much.”

Deja laughed. “Did I say he was?”

Martin felt a trickle of fear go through his belly. He gave Deja a quick glance. Deja had been waiting for it, he saw. Martin looked at the ground. Fuck, he thought.

“Come on, you,” the other man said. “Martin?”

“Martin,” Deja agreed cheerily. “He’s stubborn and stupid. You’re going to need to use the stick if you want him to listen.”

“Move, you,” the man said.

Martin put the shovel against the alley wall and followed him. No time to speak to Pia. No time to get a message to Harper. No time for anything.

Chapter 16 and the epilogue of Kelly Jennings’ novel Broken Slate is now on the website! The dramatic conclusion is finally here!

This tense, invigorating novel shows the origin of Martin Eduardo, a “contract” who must battle not only societal discrimination and oppression, but also the indoctrinated restrictions within his own heart and mind. Broken Slate has now been serialized in its entirety online for free.

Crossed Genres Publications will be publishing Broken Slate in print and ebook in July 2011.

Go here to read the conclusion! Or you can start at the beginning.

Read a short story about Martin Eduardo, published in issue 13 of Crossed Genres: Lunch Money.

["Drag Queen Astronaut" is] a wonderful exploration (and ultimately an affirmation) of a gender presentation that tends to be ignored or ridiculed.

The winner was Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka Ugresic. The announcement & Honor List are both posted on the Tiptree website.

Congratulations to Sandra, and to the winner and all the Honor List authors!

All ebooks sold through the CGP website are still bundles with 7 DRM-free formats: EPUB, LIT, LRF, MOBI, PDB, PDF and PRC.

Please visit the CGP store to see the new pricing. And please support CGP by picking up a (now less expensive but still just as awesome) ebook!

Deja took them back to Durbin, putting Martin in the below-stairs dorm there and giving him the worst work in the house, to impress upon him and everyone else how low Martin had sunk. He didn’t speak to Martin otherwise, except when he came around to tell him about the bids he had gotten on Martin’s contract he wasn’t planning to accept. By the evening of the third day, Martin had it clear: Deja wasn’t selling his contract anywhere decent, or to anyone sane.

The afternoon of the fifth day, he was shoveling compost when Deja came from the house and walked off toward the university. Martin watched him leave. Then he stowed the shovel and cleaned up best he could at the garden pump – as the weather was just above freezing, this wasn’t well. He did what he could. Then he went out the back gate.

He walked quickly along the gravel lane between the garden walls, his hands pushed into the pockets of his overshirt — standard contract clothing, which Deja had him wearing now, didn’t run to coats. But he had been working hard, so he was warm enough, though likely a bit smelly. That wouldn’t help his case.

After walking a good distance, he came to the gate, pushed up the latch, and went inside. This garden was nicer than Deja’s: apple and plum trees, moss over rocks. He liked the rocks, and slowed to look at them. The house was also bigger than the one Deja had been assigned, and in better shape. He wiped his boots on the straw mat by the steps, climbed up onto the porch, and knocked at the scullery door.

The kitchen girl who answered did not like his looks. When he told her who he wanted to see, she was even less pleased. But he was firm in his tone, and he used holder grammar; he told her what to do it, and she did it. He wasn’t the only cot who had been taught to obey.

Harper sat in his study, in a big armchair before the fire, handheld against his knee. His shrewd gaze ran over the bruises on Martin’s face. “I heard you’d had trouble with Strauss. Been a nasty kitten?”

Chapter 15 of Kelly Jennings’ novel Broken Slate is now on the website! This is the penultimate chapter of the novel! The final chapter and Epilogue will be posted on March 22!

This tense, invigorating novel shows the origin of Martin Eduardo, a “contract” who must battle not only societal discrimination and oppression, but also the indoctrinated restrictions within his own heart and mind. Broken Slate is being serialized online for free. It updates every other Tuesday.

Go here to read the new chapter! Or you can start at the beginning.

Read a short story about Martin Eduardo, published in issue 13 of Crossed Genres: Lunch Money.

The next morning, he couldn’t get up. Every muscle had seized, locked stiff with pain, and he burned with fever. He knew the fever was partly from the ‘tropes, which ran him on overdrive when they kicked into repair mode. He knew it meant he was healing. That knowledge didn’t make the pain any easier to bear.

Kistur, dressing, came to stand over his bunk. Martin shut his eyes. “Ought get up,” Kistur advised.

Martin didn’t answer. He felt awful. Kistur grunted and went upstairs.

Later in the morning, Pia fetched him some beef tea, which Martin was too queasy to eat, despite the furious hunger the nanotropes were rousing in him. When Pia tried to argue, Martin swore at him until he went away.

Shortly after that Kistur came down again. “Get up.”

Martin was lying as still as he could. “Fuck off.”

Kistur said, “You need to move.” Martin opened his eyes. “Once you start, ain’t be bad.”

“What are you, high?”

Kistur ignored this, ignored his whining, dragged him to his feet and into the scrub, where he stripped off Martin’s clothes and got him in a warm shower. He soaped up a cloth and scrubbed him down, all as professionally as though Martin had been a sorrel yearling, and not someone’s boy. Which Martin wished he was, by that point.

Chapter 14 of Kelly Jennings’ novel Broken Slate is now on the website! We’re fast approaching the conclusion, which should be posted on March 22!

This tense, invigorating novel shows the origin of Martin Eduardo, a “contract” who must battle not only societal discrimination and oppression, but also the indoctrinated restrictions within his own heart and mind. Broken Slate is being serialized online for free. It updates every other Tuesday.

Go here to read the new chapter! Or you can start at the beginning.

Read a short story about Martin Eduardo, published in issue 13 of Crossed Genres: Lunch Money.

Authors featured: Jacob Edwards, Arthur Carey, Jaymee Goh, Nicole Givens Kurtz, Christie Yant, Zen Cho, Angela Rega, Andrew S. Fuller, Lindsey Duncan, Shelly Li, Ken Liu, Molly Tanzer, Richard Larsen, Michelle Muenzler, Corinne Duyvis, Therese Arkenberg, Ada Milenkovic Brown, Calvin D. Jim and Gabrijel Savic Ra.
Interview with Maurice Broaddus
Cover Art by Lisa Grabenstetter

The Quarterly is available from Amazon.

Kistur did stay. He slept below stairs, spending his days in the stable, coming in only for meals. He didn’t speak to Martin; just dealt with the horses, and helped Pia manage the boiler, which, as it developed, took some managing. “He says he stayed because you gave him shit about taking care of the horses,” Pia told Martin.

“I gave him shit. Not about the horses. Not half what he gave me.”

Pia was making berry cobbler. Martin was watching him and eating stray scraps of dough. He was drinking cider with the scraps, having found a great stone jug of cider on the floor of the pantry that morning which he had been working his steady way through since.

“Some of these North Country contracts have issues,” Pia confided comfortably, tamping down the edges of the cobbler crust.

“He can suck me,” Martin said. Pia glanced at him, and at the cider. Martin finished what was in the cup and poured more. It wasn’t the cider. He wished.

Chapter 13 of Kelly Jennings’ novel Broken Slate is now on the website! We’re fast approaching the conclusion, which should be posted on March 22!

This tense, invigorating novel shows the origin of Martin Eduardo, a “contract” who must battle not only societal discrimination and oppression, but also the indoctrinated restrictions within his own heart and mind. Broken Slate is being serialized online for free. It updates every other Tuesday.

Go here to read it! Or you can start at the beginning.

Read a short story about Martin Eduardo, published in issue 13 of Crossed Genres: Lunch Money.

He and Deja had been back to Strauss Estate a half a dozen times over the years since they had gone up to Durbin, but they hadn’t stayed at the Estate House – when they came, it was to camp in the mountains, or to stay at the lodge at the lake. Deja’s rooms had been kept just as they had been left. Martin moved through the suite, unpacking their baggage, uncovering things he had forgotten he knew: a small yellow pillow filled with hulled rice Deja had liked, a painted bowl on the stand by the bed, the smooth honey-colored wood of the combs in Deja’s bath. The contract that had lived in these rooms seemed impossibly young to him.

After he unpacked, he braced himself and went downstairs.

The house was fancied up for Winter Holiday, with lead crystals on every light source, crystal beads spilling from the planters, elaborate lace hangings on the walls, and foil cutaways on every surface that might take them, not to mention sweetwood burning in fireplaces. The floors gleamed with polish, metal and glass shone bright. Even the contracts had new clothing. Wasn’t everything jolly.

Chapter 12 of Kelly Jennings’ novel Broken Slate is now on the website!

This tense, invigorating novel shows the origin of Martin Eduardo, a “contract” who must battle not only societal discrimination and oppression, but also the indoctrinated restrictions within his own heart and mind. Broken Slate is being serialized online for free. It updates every other Tuesday.

Go here to read it! Or you can start at the beginning.

Read a short story about Martin Eduardo, published in issue 13 of Crossed Genres: Lunch Money.

Here’s the official announcement.

“A Deafened Plea For Peace” was one of six pieces selected from the long-list of nominations (Partial long-list here). Also on the long-list for Best Art was Tânia Sousa Ribeiro’s piece Our Hell, which was the cover of Crossed Genres issue 17 (Antihero). RJ Astruc’s novel A Festival of Skeletons was on the long-list for Best Novel. Congrats to Tânia and RJ as well!

The winners will be announced the evening of Saturday, April 23rd, at a ceremony hosted at Eastercon. If you know any BSFA members, put in a good word for Ben!

Harper was working on a post for the Republic Society of Science page. The editors wanted revisions, which work had Harper in a furious, delighted, evil mood. And meanwhile, he had Martin doing most of his work.

Oh, he gave his lectures. But Martin built his boards, found his captures, took all his labs and tutorials; Martin evaluated student reports, fetched meals and took notes at meetings Harper couldn’t make; Martin traveled up the railway line to Paris or down to White Thorn, to some archive for a hardcopy Harper just had to have. It stretched Martin’s usual day up to fourteen hours, especially if he had work to finish.

This afternoon, he had taken the geology lab on deformation and cleavage in metamorphic rock. The students were hopeless. They spent the lab whispering to each other and peeking at Martin. He went from station to station, bringing up captures to show them how the links in their texts matched the rocks before them. None had done the reading beforehand; and their lab reports, which he spent the evening evaluating, had been abysmal. But this might have been because none of them could construct a simple sentence. Less time on the slam ball court, more time reading texts, that’s what Martin would advise. Shit, he had written better than this at ten, and he’d spent his childhood scrubbing loading docks.

Chapter 11 of Kelly Jennings’ novel Broken Slate is now on the website! (A bit late – sorry about that!)

This tense, invigorating novel shows the origin of Martin Eduardo, a “contract” who must battle not only societal discrimination and oppression, but also the indoctrinated restrictions within his own heart and mind. Broken Slate is being serialized online for free. It updates every other Tuesday.

Go here to read it! Or you can start at the beginning.

Read a short story about Martin Eduardo, published in issue 13 of Crossed Genres: Lunch Money.

The noise of the sea wind was enormous, like the roar of shuttle engines battering his ears. Sun burned the rock beneath him, burned his bare shoulders and back. It felt good. He felt good. For the first time in a long while, he felt safe, his knees against his chest, the stone beneath him, the day open before him. He had knocked a fragment of rock loose and was rubbing its edge with his thumb, squinting at it in the bright light, when Tsilla poked his ribs. “Yow, you’re skinnier than ever. Can’t you make him feed you?”

Martin jumped. He didn’t drop the rock, though. He looked around for his shirt and undershirt, spotted them in a heap on the rocks where he had left them and went to put them on. He rolled down the legs of his trousers while he was at it, and did up their laces. Tsilla scuffed at the sand drifting across the slab of pillow lava.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” he told her without rancor, buttoning his shirt. It’s not like Tsilla ever was where she was supposed to be, these days.

Chapter 10 of Kelly Jennings’ novel Broken Slate is now on the website!

This tense, invigorating novel shows the origin of Martin Eduardo, a “contract” who must battle not only societal discrimination and oppression, but also the indoctrinated restrictions within his own heart and mind. Broken Slate is being serialized online for free. It updates every other Tuesday.

Go here to read it! Or you can start at the beginning.

Read a short story about Martin Eduardo, published in issue 13 of Crossed Genres: Lunch Money.

Congratulations, Franklin Bonds! Your Fidelity Systems account has been updated! Please have your password ready and log into your page to verify the additions.

Franklin clicked on the link and entered his password on the splash page. He accessed his personal database, and when the page came up he quickly exhaled.

Instead of the expected list of his seven past lovers and the coinciding dates, times, location, and blank Excuse? boxes, he had thirteen. Six new additions, all within minutes of each other from the night before. He knew that his evening hadn’t included sex with six different men and women — he’d be in a lot worse shape if he had. At least, he hoped it hadn’t. Not now that he was engaged, anyway. Before, well, maybe. He would try anything once, but…

Science in My Fiction has posted its free fiction for December: “The Trouble With Chips” by C.B. Calsing. Calsing’s story “Mars-side” appeared in Crossed Genres issue 7 (“Urban”).

Enjoy this free fic!

Over on the gazebo, the university orchestra screeched through some elaborate arrangement. Everyone said holder music was awful. Which it didn’t matter to Martin: holder or cot, all music made him ill. Shoulders hunched, he got out of range of the racket as quickly as possible.

Above, clouds puffed into immense blossoms in the bright spring air; here below, ribbons and new flags popped on every pinion and from every window. The green and blue flag of the Republic with its triple superimposed worlds snapped on the flagpole just above the green flag of Julian and the ornate silver and blue flag of the West Country. Martin never could sort out the symbols of the holders’ flags: ancient weapons and tools, various animals, strips of this color over bars of that, who knew what all it meant. Well, Deja – Deja knew what each bit meant, and would tell anyone fool enough to ask.

Down on the lower commons, Martin slipped past a crowd of holder children and their nannies laughing at a crew doing the one about the bears and the dogs, and headed over the footbridge toward the market booths. It was cakes cooking somewhere. He snuffed hungrily.

Chapter 9 of Kelly Jennings’ novel Broken Slate is now on the website!

This tense, invigorating novel shows the origin of Martin Eduardo, a “contract” who must battle not only societal discrimination and oppression, but also the indoctrinated restrictions within his own heart and mind. Broken Slate is being serialized online for free. It updates every other Tuesday.

Go here to read it! Or you can start at the beginning.

Read a short story about Martin Eduardo, published in issue 13 of Crossed Genres: Lunch Money.

A labor conflict on a distant asteroid;
An environmental catastrophe unlike any other;
A most unusual dinner guest;
The irony of Luck.

Crossed Genres Year Two: Twelve stories selected from the 2nd year of Crossed Genres: the magazine of Science Fiction & Fantasy with a twist!

• Lunch Money by Kelly Jennings (Issue Thirteen: Action/Adventure)
• The Vanishing Sea by Caleb Jordan Schulz (Issue Fourteen: Folklore)
• The Seder Guest by Barbara Krasnoff (Issue Fifteen: Any Previous Genre)
• Whirligig Fingers & Globular Thumbs by Polenth Blake (Issue Sixteen: Steampunk)
• High School 3000 by Timothy Miller (Issue Seventeen: Antihero)
• The Last Rickshaw by Stephanie Lai (Issue Eighteen: Eastern)
• Conflicts by Timothy T. Murphy (Issue Nineteen: Gadgets & Artifacts)
• Yelloween by Sam Cash (Issue Twenty: Lies)
• Centzon Totochin by Cat Rambo (Issue Twenty One: Invasion)
• Luck of the Harvest by Tom Barlow (Issue Twenty Two: Bildungsroman (Coming of Age))
• The Mongrel Scholar by Ursula Wood (Issue Twenty Three: Dreams & Nightmares)
• Flying With the Dead by Sabrina Vourvoulias (Issue Twenty Four: Characters of Color)

The cover art has been provided by the talented Brittany Jackson. Crossed Genres Year Two was edited by Kay T. Holt, Kelly Jennings and Bart R. Leib. Published by Crossed Genres.

* Zipped bundle contains 7 DRM-free formats: EPUB, LIT, LRF, MOBI, PDB, PDF and PRC.

When Kamphor’s west end sees a series of prostitutes murdered, its citizens are fearful that a serial killer known as the Knife has returned. But the mortician Sink, owner of Kamphor’s finest morgue, doesn’t believe that the Knife has resumed killing – and he’d prove it, if his former student and current hateful rival Damien Torvault wasn’t getting in the way.

Sink and his two apprentices, handsome-if-loony Joshua Finkle and merkind Vona Urgarth, investigate the murders on their own. Sink’s ability to tell exactly when and how a person will die just by touching them earns him no friends, but it does yield some interesting clues – as does Sink’s other gift. The one which incites him to wear women’s clothing.

The investigation is further complicated when Joshua’s time is taken up running a 15-Step program, and Vona becomes intrigued by a repugnant yet strangely irresistible cook. Even Sink’s next-door neighbor, Policewoman Arifia Fowles, seems hell-bent on not just hindering Sink but arresting him, regardless of a crime.

But Sink presses urgently on, because he senses a strangeness in the air: the magic-smell of necromancy, a magic that has long been illegal in Kamphor… for it requires human sacrifice.

• In print – Amazon: $8.99
• Kindle: $3.99
• Ebook (7-format bundle*): $3.99

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You can read the first three chapters of A Festival of Skeletons for free!

A Festival of Skeletons is now available in several formats. Please consider picking up a copy of the novel reviewers have called “…a must-read. It’s a cruel, humorous page-turner for the wicked at heart.”

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TITLE: A Festival of Skeletons
Author: RJ Astruc
Publisher: Crossed Genres
Pages: 175
ISBN-13: 978-1453757352
ISBN-10: 145375735X
Release date: December 1, 2010
Edited by Kay T. Holt
Cover Art by Jonatan Iversen-Ejve
Design & layout by Bart R. Leib

* Zipped bundle contains 7 DRM-free formats: EPUB, LIT, LRF, MOBI, PDB, PDF and PRC.

If you’re still a fan of print issues, don’t fret! We’re going to be offering beautiful, quarterly versions with bonus added material.

As we get our space legs out here in the Crossed Genres universe, prepare to hear lots more from your new editors. Our next issue, Opposites, is shaping up to be quite fabulous, and we’ve got lots of delicious surprises in store in the coming year. Ooh, shiny!

Without further ado, here’s what you’ll find in the marvelous Celebration issue:

ARTWORK

“Balloons” by Margaret Hardy

FICTION
We Shall Overcome
by Nicole Givens Kurtz

The Gift
by Christie Yant

Lunar Year’s End
by Jaymee Goh

Total Security
by Arthur Carey

Desert Tango
by Jacob Edwards

The next day he was in the archives, working his way through an expense log kept by an in-system freighter that had hauled, among other things, contract miners among the asteroid mines, when he heard Fen at the gate.

Fen had no legitimate right to access. To enter the archives, you had to be trained in handling ancient documents. Fen had training in packing code and security protocols and ecological engineering, and, for all Martin knew, a dozen other exciting issues, but he had, Martin would have bet his back teeth, no training in handling archived documents, ancient or otherwise.

Nevertheless, here he came, busting through the gate, yanking off his big hairy coat as he entered the clean room, stomping straight for Martin’s table. Past him, Martin saw the curator scrambling through his own gate. Coming to his feet, Martin slipped on his static gloves and got the logbook shut and sealed in its case before Fen reached him.

The second half of Chapter 8 of Kelly Jennings’ novel Broken Slate is now on the website! (It’s such a long chapter we had to split it in two!)

This tense, invigorating novel shows the origin of Martin Eduardo, a “contract” who must battle not only societal discrimination and oppression, but also the indoctrinated restrictions within his own heart and mind. Broken Slate is being serialized online for free. It updates every other Tuesday.

Go here to read it! Or you can start at the beginning.

Read a short story about Martin Eduardo, published in issue 13 of Crossed Genres: Lunch Money.

This tense, invigorating novel shows the origin of Martin Eduardo, a “contract” who must battle not only societal discrimination and oppression, but also the indoctrinated restrictions within his own heart and mind. Broken Slate is being serialized online for free. It updates every other Tuesday.

Go here to read it! Or you can start at the beginning.

Read a short story about Martin Eduardo, published in issue 13 of Crossed Genres: Lunch Money.

Some of you may have seen my recent post calling for reviewers. I was being secretive about why, but this morning I realized that there’s really no reason to. I’m just in the habit from Crossed Genres, I guess.

So I’m pleased to announce that I will soon be launching Rise Reviews, a site dedicated to reviewing quality speculative fiction that did not receive professional pay*.

This is something that I’ve been thinking about for a long time. See, most review sites either only review fiction from professional-paying markets, or take most of what they review from those markets. I don’t hold that against them – every review site receives FAR more review requests than it could possibly accomplish, and each one has to decide for itself how to narrow down the pile.

But the result is that, more often than not, smaller presses which don’t pay pro rates are the ones that get passed over. And that’s what Rise Reviews will cover. Many of these publishers produce excellent quality publications, and I hope that Rise will be able to help bring new writers and smaller presses to the attention of readers. Rise Reviews will hopefully provide a complement to other review sites.

I’ve already got a solid core of reviewers, and the website is being developed. I’m aiming for a launch date of January 1. Rise Reviews will not be directly affiliated with Crossed Genres – the only real connection will be that I’m the owner/operator of the former and the publisher of the latter.

Right now, I could use 2 things:

• If you are a publisher, editor, author or agent who has a novel, anthology/collection or magazine that you would like reviewed (which fits the criteria**), please email reviews@crossedgenres.com. (We can’t review everything of course, but we’ll see what we can do.) Please put “Review request” in the subject line of the email. We’re open to reviewing just about any type of speculative fiction (including erotica, crossover, etc.), of pretty much any length**.

• If you have review experience and would like to contribute to Rise Reviews, also please email reviews@crossedgenres.com. Please put “Reviewing for RR” in the subject line of the email. Describe your experience, and if you can, include a link to a review you wrote. The more reviewers we have, the more fiction we can cover!

Many thanks to everyone who’s shown interest and contributed in various ways so far! I’m really looking forward to the launch!

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* “Professional rates” in this case is defined according to SFWA’s criteria: $0.05/word for short fiction, $2000 for novels.

** Rise Reviews will only review work that received some form of monetary compensation – at least a token payment, but less than professional rates. That means no self-published work and no publications which pay only in copies.

This tense, invigorating novel shows the origin of Martin Eduardo, a “contract” who must battle not only societal discrimination and oppression, but also the indoctrinated restrictions within his own heart and mind. Broken Slate is being serialized online for free. It updates every other Tuesday.

Go here to read it! Or you can start at the beginning.

Read a short story about Martin Eduardo, published in issue 13 of Crossed Genres: Lunch Money

ARTWORK:
Cover: “Long Walk” by Wilson Williams Jr.
Inside: “Regal” by Grace D. Palmer

FICTION:
Flying With the Dead by Sabrina Vourvoulias
Protected Entity by Daniel José Older
Drag Queen Astronaut by Sandra McDonald
Presence by Barbara Ann Wright
Sy Nebula and the Dream Tosser by Angela Ambroz
Equatorial Snow by Faslishah Johanabas
Blood Oranges by Audrey Fine
Dangerous Terrain by Kelly Jennings
December by Teresa Jusino
In the Half Light, a Woman by Lavanya Karthik
Diaspora by Paul Lamb

INTERVIEWS:
Author Tobias Buckell Interview by Kay T. Holt
Writer/Director Alex Rivera Interview by Kay T. Holt

We’re immensely pleased to be able to deliver a special end-of-year issue of such quality. Characters of Color are underrepresented in speculative fiction. We knew a year ago, when we were releasing our LGBTQ issue, that this would be the theme for our second special issue.

Please enjoy the issue for free on the website, and let us – and the contributors – know what you think. Leave a comment or two telling the contributors you appreciate their work. Tell people about the issue: help us show that there’s plenty of room for more Characters of Color in SFF- not just in themed issues but all the time!

And help us to continue producing this work: please purchase this issue (print & ebook) to support Crossed Genres!

There are just five hours left to preorder RJ Astruc’s A Festival of Skeletons:

If you have no interest at all in reading a fabulous, well thought-out, engaging story, stay away from RJ Astruc’s writing – you’ll get sucked in and read it anyway. The moment I started reading, she dragged me along for an extraordinary, outrageous ride through a perfectly ordinary universe filled with murder, madness, mystery, magic, merfolk, and morticians. Dark humor, light humor, macabre doings, cute little outfits, deluded cops, and afternoon tea with reformed alcoholics are all just the tip of the iceberg in this story. I’m not only reserving bookshelf space for the printed edition of A Festival of Skeletons, I’ll be reserving reading and re-reading time for it, too. Be careful of this one, readers; you won’t want to put it down, either!

~Jean Johnson, New York Times Bestselling Author of the Sons of Destiny series

Also available in the preorder: Crossed Genres Year Two!

Preorder A Festival of Skeletons! Ebooks are just $4, print copies start at just $11, shipping included!

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Also: After today, the LGBTQ issue of Crossed Genres will no longer be available to purchase:

Print copies and ebooks are available, all discounted!

Only one day left to preorder RJ Astruc’s A Festival of Skeletons:

If you have no interest at all in reading a fabulous, well thought-out, engaging story, stay away from RJ Astruc’s writing – you’ll get sucked in and read it anyway. The moment I started reading, she dragged me along for an extraordinary, outrageous ride through a perfectly ordinary universe filled with murder, madness, mystery, magic, merfolk, and morticians. Dark humor, light humor, macabre doings, cute little outfits, deluded cops, and afternoon tea with reformed alcoholics are all just the tip of the iceberg in this story. I’m not only reserving bookshelf space for the printed edition of A Festival of Skeletons, I’ll be reserving reading and re-reading time for it, too. Be careful of this one, readers; you won’t want to put it down, either!

~Jean Johnson, New York Times Bestselling Author of the Sons of Destiny series

Also available in the preorder: Crossed Genres Year Two!

Preorder A Festival of Skeletons! Ebooks are just $4, print copies start at just $11, shipping included!

…to preorder RJ Astruc’s novel A Festival of Skeletons!

“I’m not only reserving bookshelf space for the printed edition of A Festival of Skeletons, I’ll be reserving reading and re-reading time for it, too. Be careful of this one, readers; you won’t want to put it down, either!”
~Jean Johnson, New York Times Bestselling Author of the Sons of Destiny series

A Festival of Skeletons will be released on December 1. Preorders are open through October 31! Bundle it with our new anthology, Crossed Genres Year Two, and save even more!

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…to purchase a copy of Crossed Genres issue 12: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered & Queer! After October 31 the popular LGBTQ issue of Crossed Genres will come down from the website, and will no longer be sold. Print copies have been discounted to $6 (Amazon or Createspace), and you can pick up a digital copy for just $1 (PDF or PRC)!

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…to submit a story to the Celebration issue! This issue is the first one edited by the new team of Jaym Gates and Natania Barron! Show them you know how to party – or at least, your characters do!

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…until the Characters of Color issue (#24) is released! This is a really remarkable issue, with 11 excellent stories, 2 fascinating interviews and some stunning artwork. We can’t wait for you all to see it!
The Characters of Color issue releases the same day that Apex Magazine releases its Arab/Muslim themed issue! Be sure to check Apex out as well!

1) Print and ebook publications will now be quarterly. There will still be monthly online publications, but the print and ebooks will release once every three months. The monthly online releases will consist solely of fiction for now (most likely 5 stories); in the future we hope to bring back articles to our monthly releases.

2) Each quarterly release will contain previously unpublished content. The print and ebook publications will contain all the content published online in the previous 3-month period, plus additional fiction and articles. The quarterlies will also have original wrap-around cover art, just like the first 24 issues of Crossed Genres. A typical quarterly will contain 15 stories that were published online, 3 previously unpublished stories, and 1-3 nonfiction articles. They will most likely range from 75,000-85,000 total words.

3) Pay rates and rights requested will remain the same. We ask for 1 year exclusive online rights and 1 year exclusive print/ebook rights. Fiction and articles still pay a flat rate of $10 USD.

4) The Subscribers Area is being phased out. Subscriptions have never gained any foothold for Crossed Genres, so we’ve decided to stop accepting new subscriptions. Current subscribers will continue to receive free ebooks (including all the material not published online), as well as discounts and other special benefits, while their subscriptions are still current.

5) Some of the upcoming monthly genres have been changed. We typically post the next 5 upcoming monthly genres on the Current Genre page. While the next 3 months (through January 2011) are remaining the same, the previously posted genres for February & March have been changed. If you’d been planning a submission to one of those issues, please check the website.

There may be some other minor changes, but these are the primary ones you can expect to see, starting around December 1 with the release of issue 25 (Celebration).

We realize that these are some major changes, and we’re optimistic that they’ll be big improvements for everyone. The quarterly print and ebook editions will be much cheaper than what the same 3 issues would have cost when purchased monthly. The changes also allow us to further streamline the process of publication, enabling Jaym and Natania to dedicate themselves to further improvements, like a revamp of the website. It’s also our sincere hope (although we can’t guarantee it yet) that these changes will enable us to raise our pay rates in the relatively near future, something we’ve wanted to do since we founded Crossed Genres.

Big thanks to Jaym and Natania for the enthusiasm they’re showing in their new roles; and thank you to everyone who’s helped Crossed Genres get this far!

FICTION:
“Flying With the Dead” by Sabrina Vourvoulias
“Protected Entity” by Daniel José Older
“Drag Queen Astronaut” by Sandra McDonald
“Presence” by Barbara Ann Wright
“Sy Nebula and the Dream Tosser” by Angela Ambroz
“Equatorial Snow” by Faslishah Johanabas
“Blood Oranges” by Audrey Fine
“Dangerous Terrain” by Kelly Jennings
“December” by Teresa Jusino
“In the Half Light, a Woman” by Lavanya Karthik
“Diaspora” by Paul Lamb

INTERVIEWS:
Author Tobias Buckell (interview by Kay T. Holt)
Wirter/Director Alex Rivera (interview by Kay T. Holt)

ARTWORK:
Cover: “Long Walk” by Wilson Williams, Jr.
Inside: “Regal” by Grace D. Palmer

Issue 24 will be released on November 1, in print, ebook and online.

You can read chapter 6 here.

Or, you can start at the beginning!

Broken Slate updates every other week. It will be serialized through March, after which it will be published in its entirety by Crossed Genres.

Subscribers can go to the Subscriber’s Area to read the exciting conclusion!

A Festival of Skeletons is now available for preorder: ebook as low as $4, print copies as low as $11, shipping included! The novel will officially release on December 1.

A Festival of Skeletons is a character driven novel that had me cracking up left and right. There are plenty of sex jokes that get a bit old after a while, but overall, there’s witty banter and a wonderful flow to the novel that’s … reminiscent of Susanna Clarke’s Johnathan Strange and Mr. Norrel.

The plot follows an even pace with plenty of surprises that are perfectly foreshadowed. I was kicking myself that I didn’t catch on to them earlier, but I was amazed at how wonderfully put-together this story is.

Go here to read the entire review.

Preorders for A Festival of Skeletons are now open! We’re at two thirds of our goal!

Read the first 3 chapters of A Festival of Skeletons!

Lunch Money by Kelly Jennings (Issue Thirteen: Action/Adventure)
The Vanishing Sea by Caleb Jordan Schulz (Issue Fourteen: Folklore)
The Seder Guest by Barbara Krasnoff (Issue Fifteen: Any Previous Genre)
Whirligig Fingers & Globular Thumbs by Polenth Blake (Issue Sixteen: Steampunk)
High School 3000 by Timothy Miller (Issue Seventeen: Antihero)
The Last Rickshaw by Stephanie Lai (Issue Eighteen: Eastern)
Conflicts by Timothy T. Murphy (Issue Nineteen: Gadgets & Artifacts)
Yelloween by Sam Cash (Issue Twenty: Lies)
Centzon Totochin by Cat Rambo (Issue Twenty One: Invasion)
Luck of the Harvest by Tom Barlow (Issue Twenty Two: Bildungsroman (Coming of Age))
The Mongrel Scholar by Ursula Wood (Issue Twenty Three: Dreams & Nightmares)
“Flying With the Dead” by Sabrina Vourvoulias (Coming November 1) (Issue Twenty Four: Characters of Color)

The cover art has been provided by the talented Brittany Jackson:

You can preorder copies of Crossed Genres Year Two right now along with RJ Astruc’s A Festival of Skeletons – both for $19, shipping included! ($27 outside US/Canada) Or if you don’t have Crossed Genres Year One yet, get all 3 for $29! ($38 outside US/Canada) Ebooks are available as well – get all 3 books for just $12!

ETA: It might help to mention that the official release date for Crossed Genres Year Two is December 7! D’oh.

A Festival of Skeletons is like a love child of Terry Pratchett and Robert Rankin – a pacy, intelligent comedy novel that’s crazier than a cat on catnip, with excellent characterisation that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Highly recommended.

Go here to read the entire review.

Preorders for A Festival of Skeletons are now open!

You can read chapters 4 & 5 here.

Or, you can start at the beginning!

Broken Slate will be serialized through March of next year, after which it will be published in its entirety by Crossed Genres.

Crossed Genres now has both a LinkedIn profile and a networking group. If you’ve contributed content to any of our issues, we invite you to add “Contributing Author/Artist at Crossed Genres”, with the appropriate date(s), to your profile, and to join our group. Make some connections and expand your professional network!

Crossed Genres on LinkedIn

Crossed Genres Group

If you’re a fan of Crossed Genres, don’t be shy! You are also welcome to join our group and hang out with the people who make the content happen.

A Festival of Skeletons by New Zealand author RJ Astruc is a remarkable novel of zombies, necromancers, merkind, serial killers and cross-dressing. This 78,000-word novel has been serialized for subscribers on the Crossed Genres website, and now it’s being published in its entirety! (175 pp., trade paperback)

The official release date of A Festival of Skeletons will be December 1, 2010, but people who pledge to the Kickstarter will have your copies shipped early!

Print preorders are just $11 USD, shipping included ($15 outside US/Canada), and ebooks are just $4! Plus there are little extras for each level of pledge.

You can even get A Festival of Skeletons bundled with our anthology, Crossed Genres Year One: just $8 for ebooks, or $19 for print ($27 overseas)!

Please visit the Kickstarter page for more information, and pick up this amazing novel. And help us out by spreading the word!

For this last month, we’ve lowered the price on the issue so hopefully as many people as possible will have a copy once it’s no longer available: Print copies are now $6 USD, and digital copies are $1. Please visit the store to pick up a copy.

Crossed Genres has and will continue to support LGBTQ representation in the SFF world. We’ve been proud members of Outer Alliance for more than a year, and the new magazine editors are the founder of Outer Alliance and another OA member. We welcome submissions with LGBTQ characters at all times!

COVER ART:

“Torn Psyche” by Cloxboy

FICTION:
The Mongrel Scholar by Ursula Wood
Theft of Dreams by Tim Ford
Significantly Other by R.C. Lewis
Seeing Stars by Debi Carroll
The Frog Princess by Mae Empson
Butterfly Dreams by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt

Please read, enjoy, and comment! And consider supporting Crossed Genres by purchasing this issue in print or as an ebook!

As stated earlier, we welcome and encourage submissions with Characters of Color at all times. However, please help us make this special double-sized issue extra impressive! Send your stories before midnight tomorrow!

Thanks!

As stated earlier, we welcome and encourage submissions with Characters of Color at all times. However, please help us make this special double-sized issue extra impressive! Send your stories before midnight tomorrow!

Thanks!

Cover art by Galen Dara

FICTION:
“Seven Little Words” BY Jennifer Brozek
“Saving Pandora” BY Jason S. Ridler
“Spring Migration” BY Wendy N. Wagner
“Trancendental” BY Lorna D. Keach
“Hands of Time” BY Shanna Germain

Edited by Jaym Gates & Chris Fletcher, Little Death is a zine of erotic science fiction and fantasy.

The Little Death of Crossed Genres is available for digital download – 7 different digital formats for only $1! the print edition is available through Amazon.

Many huge thanks to Jaym and Chris for all the work they did!

You can read Broken Slate for free! New chapters are posted every other Tuesday!

Next month, on October 15, we will post the FINAL 2 CHAPTERS. We’re almost to the conclusion of this great story!

In October we will be taking preorders for A Festival of Skeletons ahead of the official release on December 1. Review copies (print and digital) are available now for publications and review blogs. Contact questions@crossedgenres.com.

Crossed Genres is no longer only the magazine. In March we launched Science in My Fiction blog. We’ve run the Science in My Fiction contest, and two annual Flash Fiction contests. We released a yearly collection, have begun serializing two novels (A Festival of Skeletons and Broken Slate), and in December will publish the first of those novels in print & digital. We also have plans in motion for our second annual collection, and a stand-alone anthology; we’ll shortly begin publishing monthly short stories on Science in My Fiction; and there are numerous other projects either in the works or still in concept mode. We’ve brought aboard slush readers, an assistant editor, and will soon be adding more to the CG staff.

Through all of that, we’ve put out a new issue of Crossed Genres every month. As we approach the end of our second year, we’re very proud to say that we have never missed an issue, or even been late with one. There have been occasional snags along the way, and some adversity to work through, but we’ve learned from all of it and used that knowledge to make CG better.

After two full years, we feel that it’s time for a change. The magazine has been a wonderful experience, and its growth has exceeded all our expectations. But our other projects have taken up more and more of our time, and after thinking about it long and hard we finally concluded that we’re ready to shift our attention away from the magazine itself.

Following Issue 24 – the end of our 2nd year – Kay Holt and Bart Leib will be stepping down as active Editors of Crossed Genres magazine. It’s the right decision, logistically and structurally, if not emotionally. And while we’re somewhat sad, we’re also looking forward to seeing what the new editors will bring to the magazine!

Jaym Gates is creator and co-editor of the anthology Rigor Amortis, forthcoming from Absolute Xpress, and is working on a number of other anthologies. Jaym founded and runs #zinechat, a series of realtime chats with guest speakers on Twitter about all things specfic. She’s an intern at Fantasy Magazine. Somehow, she still finds time to write.

Natania Barron is the founder of Outer Alliance, a group dedicated to advocating for queer speculative fiction. She’s a contributing writer for Wired.com’s GeekDad, and a founding Editor & contributor for the just-launched GeekMom. She’s also a prolific writer, and has been published in Weird Tales, Bull Spec, and the Dark Futures anthology, amongst others.

We’re in the process of slowly turning over the running of the magazine to Jaym and Natania; they will take over full editorial duties beginning with Issue 25, the first issue of our 3rd year. Crossed Genres will still be published by Crossed Genres Press. There are no plans to change the structure of the magazine (monthly releases, a different genre every month, etc.) The founding editors Bart and Kay are still the publishers, but intend to give the new editors as much freedom as possible to make Crossed Genres magazine their own.

Please join us in welcoming Jaym Gates and Natania Barron as the soon-to-be Editors of Crossed Genres magazine!

We’ll be serializing the entire novel on the site for free over the next few months. (Chapter One is right here.) New chapters go up every other Tuesday.

Please enjoy the new installment, and see you on the 21st!

This seems like the perfect time to give you a look at the cover of A Festival of Skeletons. So here it is!

Isn’t that incredible? The art was done by Jonatan Iversen-Ejve, a freelance illustrator from Sweden. Jonatan did the cover of our Horror Issue (soon to be discontinued). He’s been wonderful to work with and we strongly recommend him to other zine editors.

A Festival of Skeletons will be released on December 1, 2010. Preorders will be taken during October (preorders will be shipped ahead of the release date). You can read the first 3 chapters of Festival for free on the website!

We will consider submissions from everyone, regardless of race or ethnicity – what we’re looking for are characters of color. Everyone is encouraged to submit their work!

The stories do not have to focus on the character’s ethnicity, but it must be clear from the content/context of the story that the MC is a character of color. We are not interested in stereotyped, derogatory or racist caricatures. (This does not mean that you can’t address issues like racism and stereotyping in your stories.)

Remember, this is a double-sized issue. We’re looking for about 10 stories for the issue! We’re also interested in articles, comics, artwork, reviews, interviews, etc. so long as they’re about the theme. We have our cover art but otherwise we’re open to almost anything. Tell your friends!

Submissions for Issue 24 will be accepted until 11:59 pm US EST on September 30. Please send in your submissions via the online submission form.

COVER ART

“Asking the Specialists” by Evan Jensen

FICTION
Luck of the Harvest by Tom Barlow

The Red and Green Kerchief by Kater Cheek

The Consequences of Deliberation by Clifford Royal Johns

Vibrations of Battle, Vibrations of Joy by Deirdre M. Murphy

For There You Have Been by V. Edward Gordon

Jennifer Quarantine by Justin Howe

Please read & enjoy! And tell the contributors how you like their work – please leave a comment!

- Download a PDF for $2.50!

- Buy a print copy for just $5! (Add the discount code SZ2TGV3F for the sale price.)

You can also still buy 6 issues of Crossed Genres for just $4 – but the price goes up each day!

The sale lasts through Saturday! Take advantage quickly!

1) We’re very proud to begin the serialization of Kelly Jennings’ novel Broken Slate! The first chapter is up, and new chapters will be released biweekly until the entire novel is online, at which point we’ll offer complete versions. This intense and wonderful novel is free to read online!

2) The First Come First Save sale! Right now you can get an entire year of Crossed Genres for just $7.00 (both PDF & EPUB formats for one low price)! The sale lasts until Saturday, but the price goes up each day – the sooner you buy, the cheaper it is!

This tense, invigorating novel shows the origin of Martin Eduardo, a “contract” who must battle not only societal discrimination and oppression, but also the indoctrinated restrictions within his own heart and mind.

Martin previously appeared in the short story Lunch Money, which was published in Crossed Genres issue 13 (“Action/Adventure”).

Chapter One of Broken Slate is free to read on the site. New chapters will be posted every two weeks until the entire novel is published: at which point, Crossed Genres will publish Broken Slate in its entirety.

Raised in New Orleans, Kelly Jennings teaches writing at the University of Fort Smith-Arkansas, where she uses way too many office hours working on a five book series about Martin Eduardo and the contract labor revolution on Julian. You can follow Kelly’s blog at http://delagar.blogspot.com.

Please read, enjoy, and comment. Thank you!

Here’s the deal. There are two new bundles of CG issues for sale in the store:

Issues 10-15 (Both PDF & .EPUB files included): $3.00
Issue 10: Child Fiction
Issue 11: Horror
Issue 12 (Double-sized): LGBTQ
Issue 13: Action/Adventure
Issue 14: Folklore
Issue 15: Any Previous Genre

Issues 16-21 (Both PDF & .EPUB files included): $3.00
Issue 16: Steampunk
Issue 17: Antihero
Issue 18: Eastern
Issue 19: Gadgets & Artifacts
Issue 20: Lies
Issue 21: Invasion

Usually, 6 issues in digital format would run $9.54. For the sale, each bundle starts on Tuesday at just $3 total for 6 issues! The price will increase each day by $0.50, ending at $5 on Saturday.

When you make your purchase, you’ll be emailed a link to download the bundle.

UPDATE: Get Crossed Genres Year One for 50% off! Download a PDF for $2.50, or Buy a print copy for just $5! (Add the discount code SZ2TGV3F for the sale price.)

Please enjoy the inexpensive issues of CG, and go check out GUD’s sale page to see what other zines are participating in the sale!

Subscribers can read the new chapters by logging in on the site. New readers can read the first 3 chapters for free!

We’ll have information on preordering A Festival of Skeletons very soon! The official release date is December 1!

ARTWORK
“A Deafened Plea For Peace” by Ben Greene

FICTION
The Forever Engine by Timothy Miller
Centzon Totochin by Cat Rambo
Charismatic by Therese Arkenberg
The Last Mountie by Jason S. Ridler
Pictographology by Jason R. Richter
Tibet, Or At Least Boise by Patricia McMahon

Please read, view & enjoy! And tell the contributors if you like their work – leave them a comment!

Tomorrow is also the final day we’ll be accepting submissions to Issue 22: BILDUNGSROMAN. Send us your coming-of-age stories!

FICTION
“The Forever Engine” by Timothy Miller
“Centzon Totochin” by Cat Rambo
“Charismatic” by Therese Arkenberg
“The Last Mountie” by Jason S. Ridler
“Pictographology” by Jason R. Richter
“Tibet, Or At Least Boise” by Patricia McMahon

COVER ART
“A Deafened Plea For Peace” by Ben Greene

The winners of the Science in My Fiction contest have been announced! Go here to see the announcement!

Digital downloads: Add what you want to the CG cart, & at checkout use the code “GIVENOQUARTER“.

Print copies: Select the Createspace editions, & add the code “2WLPMYW6” in the Discount Code field.

The sale will last until July 31. Pick up your discounted copies now, and please spread the word!

We just received an in-progress look at the cover art for the eventual publication of Festival, too – it is hilarious, grotesque and wonderful. I can’t wait to see it in print! Look for the publication this winter!

WINNER
“Of Mice And Astronauts” by John Eric Vona

Honorable Mentions
Beth Cato, “Bless This House”
WIlliam T. Vandemark, “Christening the Leviathan”
Celestine Trinidad, “Not Ready Yet”

The winning story is published on the site for everyone to read. Congratulations to the winners, and all the finalists!

Wednesday, June 30 is the FINAL DAY to enter the Crossed Genres Science in My Fiction contest!

* 2,500-10,000 words
* SF/F inspired by a recent scientific discovery or innovation (Citation required)
* 1 entry per person
* Only unpublished work

10 finalists will be selected, and the finalists will be voted on by a panel of 6 judges:

• Athena Andreadis – Associate Professor of Cell Biology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School; author of To Seek Out New Life: The Biology of Star Trek.
• Nicola Griffith – Nebula, World Fantasy, Tiptree, and Lambda Literary Award-winning author
• Michael Kabongo – Agent; owner, The Onyxhawke Agency
• Randall Munroe – Creator of the webcomic xkcd; Programmer
• Cat Rambo – Author; Managing Editor of Fantasy Magazine.
• Brett Savory – Editor-in-Chief of Chizine: Treatments of Light and Shade in Words and co-Publisher of Chizine Publications.

The winner gets a $250 prize. 2nd Place gets $100, 3rd gets $50. The top 3 stories will be published on the Crossed Genres website, and in limited-run print and digital editions. There will also be 3 Honorable Mentions.

Just one week left! Read the detailed rules, and then get those entries in!

Winners will be announced on or before July 21. The top 3 stories will be published online at the time of official announcement.

NOTE: You must register on the site to read the stories & vote. Don’t worry, it’s free & easy.

Once you’ve read the stories, at the bottom of the page is the voting poll. Select your favorite story and click “Vote”. (If we discover anyone trying to vote more than once, all of that person’s votes will be discarded. We will be checking!)

We received over 90 entries, and there were a lot of great stories, so choosing the finalists was tough. Last year, we only received 80 entries, and that was even while allowing people to enter up to 3 stories! Thanks to everyone who entered!

If you’re not a subscriber, you can read the first three chapters of A Festival of Skeletons for free!

First: Crossed Genres issue 19: Gadgets & Artifacts is up!

A great issue with some incredibly strong fiction. Please read, enjoy! And comment – the writers & artists truly appreciate it!
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Next: We’ve opened the 2nd Annual Crossed Genres Flash Fiction contest! We did one last year in June and it was so much fun we decided to do it again! The guidelines are behind the link, but short version: 100-500 words; anything SF/F; one entry per person; 1st place gets Pro rates (at least). Open for entries until June 15 only. Not much time, so better get cracking!
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Thanks to some terrific generosity, the Kickstarter to fund a print edition of the Science in My Fiction contest winners was a rousing success! Not only did we reach our goal, we surpassed it by 60%! Thank you, everyone who’s supported the pledge drive! There’s still one month left to enter the contest – stories must be submitted by the end of June 30. Get your stories in!
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June is the FINAL month to read Issue 8: ANTHROPOMORPHISM! It will go away forever after June 30. Please give it a read, and if you like it consider picking up a copy while it’s still available.
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Right now we’re reading submissions to the LIES issue, accepting submissions for INVASION, and managing the SiMF and Flashfic contests. Whew! Sometimes it’s hard to keep up, but somehow we manage!

Post title from “Today is gonna be a great day” from Phineas & Ferb

Tomorrow – Monday, May 31 – is the final day to get a copy of the Science in My Fiction contest winners!

• The 1st Place winner, 2nd Place winner and 3rd Place winner bound together in print and/or ebook format
• Original cover art by wonderful artist Julie Dillon
• Original art accompanying each story (Artists TBD)

This is the ONLY time these stories will be published together. There won’t be a general release. If you’re entering the contest, and will want more than one copy should you win (the authors whose stories place in the top 3 each get a complimentary copy), now is the one chance to get them!

• A pledge of just $4 gets you a “digital bundle”: the ebook of the winners in 7 different digital formats. These formats will work for iPad, iPhone, Blackberry, Palm, B&N Nook, Sony Readers, and more. All formats are DRM-free.

• A pledge of $9 gets you the digital bundle plus a one-year online subscription to Crossed Genres, which gets you digital bundles for a year’s worth of issues. The subscription normally costs $10 on its own.

• A pledge of $15 gets you the digital bundle, the Crossed Genres subscription, and a print copy of the book – the only run of print copies there’ll be.

There are other rewards, like extra copies, and even a cartoon portrait of you (With SCIENCE!) included in the print edition. Go here to make a pledge. You have until tomorrow night!

In case you’re not on Twitter, or missed our mad excited tweeting last night: WE MADE IT! The Crossed Genres “Science in My Fiction” contest reached 100% of our goal last night!

Thank you so much to everyone who’s pledged so far. We were confident from the beginning that we’d make it, but it’s a huge worry behind us now that we’re there, and we can concentrate on having the contest results turn out brilliantly.

Of course, there are still 18 days left to the pledge drive! And the more pledges we get the better each copy will be! We know we’ll never get anywhere near these guys (and we say kudos to them, we were one of their earlier supporters), we’d love to reach the point where we can add artwork to the print copies! If you’d like to see the final versions even more impressive, please keep spreading the word. And thanks again to everyone who’s supported the contest so far!

We’re thrilled to announce that artist Julie Dillon has agreed to create artwork for the cover of the print edition of the Science in My fiction contest winners!

Julie provided the artwork for the cover of Crossed Genres’ special LGBTQ issue which was released in November:

Julie’s done work for Wizards of the Coast, Paizo Publishing, Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, Fantasy Flight Games, and Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show, amongst others. She was my first choice to do the cover for the SiMF contest and I’m ecstatic she has time and is enthusiastic about it.

Remember, the print edition won’t be made unless we make our pledge goal! As of this writing we’re just $65 shy of our goal. Please help spread the word and push us over the top! Thanks!

ARTWORK

The New Enlightenment by Padibut Preeyawongsakul

FICTION
I Will Come Home by Chris Fletcher
The Only Motion is Returning by Del Dryden
Goddess by Lavanya Karthik
The Last Rickshaw by Stephanie Lai
When the Earth and Sea Swapped Places by Kaolin Fire

ARTICLE
Growing Up by Joyce Chng

This is a beautiful issue that we’re immensely proud of. Please read and enjoy! If you like something, please leave a comment letting the author or artist know!

Deacon Carter’s Last Dime first appeared in Crossed Genres Issue 7 (URBAN).

ETA: Nathan is reading “Deacon Carter’s Last Dime” on Friday, April 2 at 12:30pm at Norwescon! If you’re there, go!

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Congratulations also to Barbara Ann Wright, whose short story “Damaged On Every Level” made the Tangent Online Recommended Reading List of 2009!

Damaged On Every Level first appeared in Crossed Genres Issue 11 (HORROR).

“Here’s how it works: Authors write a science fiction or fantasy short story which is inspired by a scientific discovery or innovation made or announced within the past year. It can’t be peripherally added: the science must be integral to the story. Writers must include a link to a relevant article or study of the applied science when they submit their stories.”

A panel of 6 amazing judges will vote on the finalists. There’s $400 of cash prizes to be won, plus subscriptions, books, etc.

Please visit the contest page, read the entry guidelines, see who the judges are, and read about our Kickstarter drive to put the winning stories in print!

Then, enter your story! The contest will be open for entries from April 1 through June 30. Winners will be announced on July 21.

Show us there’s still room for real Science in fiction! Huge thanks to everyone who helped us make the contest happen!

Due to time constraints from their other responsibilities, Bart Leib and K.T. Holt are turning over the operation of “Little Death” to two colleagues:

Jaym Gates is an intern and writer with Fantasy Magazine. She also writes horror and the occasional LGBTQ romance and is a proud member of Outer Alliance. She can be found at her website or her blog.

Chris Fletcher is the editor of M-Brane SF Magazine and works tirelessly to fight fascism. He recently moved from the buckle of the Bible Belt with his boyfriend and his two cats. He is also a member of Outer Alliance. Find Chris on Twitter.

Jaym and Chris were slush readers for “Little Death” prior to agreeing to become editors; each brings valuable experience (and an open mind!) to their new role. We’re ecstatic that they’ve agreed to take over running “Little Death”!

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Part 2 of this announcement!

Previously, “Little Death” had compensation for accepted submissions lower than that of Crossed Genres. Starting immediately, compensation has been raised to match Crossed Genres’ compensation. For more information visit the submission guidelines.

ANNOUNCEMENT # 1

Issue 16: STEAMPUNK is now live on the website!

Artwork

Rotterdam Bay by Shaun Lindow

FICTION

Dead’s End to Middleton by Natania Barron
Whirligig Fingers and Globular Thumbs by Polenth Blake
The Vostrasovitch Clockwork Animal and Traveling Forest Show at the End of the World by Jessica Reisman
Twentieth Century by Michael Glenn Farquhar
The Recondite Riddle of the Rose Rogue by Dawn Vogel

ARTICLE

Doctor Tsoundpounder’s Euterpean Soliliquizer by J.C. Hay

This is a fun, intriguing and eclectic issue! Please read and enjoy. And please make the writers/artists very happy and leave them a comment with what you thought!

ANNOUNCEMENT # 2

We’re excited to announce

Science in My Fiction is a new blog we’re launching to get science fiction and fantasy writers and fans thinking ahead of science again. Playful bloggers will take a look at recent scientific developments and extrapolate potential futures from them.

Science in My Fiction (or “SiMF”) will update Mondays and Fridays (to start – possibly more frequently as it develops and more contributors are added). The first post by Kay Holt is up. Please join the discussion! As Kay likes to say: It’s time to seize culture and do science to it!