Recs In General
15 Mar
Another week of radio silence! I had planned to do the WIP Wednesday thing, but I’d spent almost the whole week reading for research and filling in scripted bits between written scenes, so I didn’t feel like I had anything of interest to say. Then I thought I’d do some recs, as I dropped the ball in February and didn’t want a repeat in March–
Wait, this is kind of a long story.
I read perpetually. Much of it is research, which is the usual when I’m writing anything. (In this case I decided that what little magic exists in this fantasy world is not only clockwork and/or drug-induced, but can only be accurately understood by the sane through the application of mathematics that I don’t understand myself. Brilliant, I know.)
But I’ve also noticed that I’m not reading quite as much free online stuff as I used to for one simple reason: after a few years of that, I’ve learned whom and what I can trust to give me the goods and started paying for it. Necrotic Tissue, M-Brane Sci-Fi, Jeremy Shipp’s Bizarro Bites, Apex– okay, you can still read Apex for free, but you know. I’ve also had a load of anthologies and collections from these and other publishers on my plate lately, and find I’d rather read those than anything else. And that’s another post for another time.
Then there’s part where, after all those months of rifling through the online mags, I know which editors produce what I like and I find myself simply going back to them over and over– which doesn’t make for a very interesting online sampling. I invariably read 52 Stitches, a good chunk of Absent Willow Review, Reflection’s Edge almost entirely, The Edge of Propinquity, The New Bedlam Project, Fantasy Magazine, Strange Horizons, and Three Crow Press– hit up the later for the annual erotica issue with a story by the lovely Mina Kelly, by the way.
See, I can’t help myself, I snuck in a rec!
Not that I don’t read anything else or try new things– and I’m certainly leaving things off that list. Just that, you know, why thump on about the same magazines every time?
But I didn’t want to start going on about magazines/stories one must pay for, because the whole point was to go on about things people can see for free, because online free markets are truly a thing of beauty– and quality. So I can either continue on in the previous way, but cut it down to one story a month, even if it is from the usual suspects, or I can completely change up and do the “I paid for this and it’s worth it, so give it a shot” route.
Now’s the part where I reach a conclusion, right? Yeah, I totally haven’t. In the end, I’m just pleased that my search for good short fiction has led me to it so regularly that I don’t even need to look any more. On the other, I’m concerned that I’ve stopped being hungry. Complacency ought to scare me.
But y’all will point me in the right direction when things come up, right?
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Now playing: Camera Obscura – French Navy
via FoxyTunes
Crap, I need to read more. Luckily I think the next issue of Necrotic Tissue will be out soon : )
Nice post. Have you read Crossed Genres?
Thanks for the pimp ^_^ I read Three Crow Press pretty regularly, and Drops of Crimson when I remember. Otherwise, I tend to buy My Weekly and Take a Break’s short story mags – more versatile than the internet! That and I just have so many anthologies on my to read pile – I just finished Necrotic Tissue’s ‘Malpractice’, I’ve got Candlelight volumes 2 and 3, half a Glimmer Train volume to go, and I’m fairly sure there’s another Riptide I haven’t got yet. I like eBooks and eZines in principle, but I still do most of my reading away from my computer.
Nat, a little birdie told me it’s supposed to ship Apr 5!
M-G, good point. I have! I really love themed issues for some reason– and that place is always like the best of the best.
Mina, me too. I really want an ereader– got my mom one for Christmas and not myself! As it is I get annoyed when I have to read whole anthologies or mags on the PC. One story at a time and I love it (hence the like for the free online mag), though.
Ereader. Really. Want.