From richard.horton@sff.net Mon Mar 15 23:41:45 2004 Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2003 23:18:17 -0600 From: Rich Horton Newsgroups: sff.people.richard-horton, sff.discuss.short-fiction Subject: Summary: Realms of Fantasy, 2003 Summary: Realms of Fantasy, 2003 [This is reposted, to make sure the corrected attribution of "A Hunter's Ode to His Bait" to Carrie Vaughn gets seen. I've also taken the opportunity to add a gloss or two to things I said previously.] Realms of Fantasy published some 204,000 words of fiction this year, almost exactly the same as they published last year. (Though as always I caution that word counting is difficult with Realms of Fantasy, given their proclivity to change font sizes, use lots of different borders and interior story quotes, and irregular illustrations.) Three stories were reprints (albeit one from a 2003 anthology: Michael Bishop's "The Door Gunner", first published in _The Silver Gryphon_), leaving about 177,000 words of new fiction. 38 stories in all, 7 novelettes, 31 short stories (5 novelettes and 30 short stories from 2003). I thought this was a very strong year for Realms of Fantasy, perhaps the best year the magazine has had since I've read it closely. One of the best stories was a reprint: Robert Silverberg's "Crossing into the Empire". (Bishop's "The Door Gunner" has been highly praised by people I trust (such as Jonathan Strahan), but it really didn't work for me at all -- I found it not only mediocre but I actively disliked it -- I suppose I must admit that I set a VERY high bar for Vietnam stories.) (And for that matter, I didn't bother to reread the Ellison/Sturgeon reprint, "Runesmith", which I read years and years ago -- I have a notion it's probably pretty good.) Of the new novelettes, I was particularly taken with Tim Pratt's "Fable from a Cage" (February), a nasty story about a thief captured by a witch who needs him to help her steal something of great value to her. Pratt twistily and cynically shows serial betrayals. Pratt had a great year at RoF, with two more strong novelettes, "Romanticore" (December) and "Captain Fantasy and the Secret Masters" (April), as well as a good short story, "Down With the Lizards and the Bees" (August). Pratt also deserves praise, in my skewed view, for apparently pushing the magazine to publish longer stories: last year's "The Witch's Bicycle" was at that time the longest RoF story I'd ever seen (though I am told that Noreen Doyle and Lois Tilton published a still longer story in an issue I didn't get), and he had three stories in the 10,000 word range this year. This year's longest story by far was Steven Popkes' "Stegosaurus Boy" (February), another good piece, if (perhaps unavoidably) a bit over-earnest dealing with its subject matter (race relations in Alabama in 1964). The main character is a boy fascinated by dinosaurs who learns a very odd secret about himself: he is well-portrayed and the central secret is clever and original. And Gene Wolfe's December novelette, "Of Soil and Climate", is a highly intriguing tale of a man transported to a fantasy world. (It reads like part of a novel -- does anyone know if it is in fact part of his upcoming diptych _The Wizard Knight_? [As far as I can tell it is not, at least based on what I've read about the first half of _The Wizard Knight_.]) There were several outstanding short stories this year. Richard Parks's "Worshipping Small Gods" (August), a whimsical story of a god who doesn't really see why he should do what a stubborn saint asks of him, was a highlight. Parks had another strong story in December, "Yamabishu", about a warrior home from dispiriting wars who takes to the mountains for his own reasons -- but everyone else, especially including a mischievous tengu, assume he wishes to be a monk. Bruce Holland Rogers's "Alephestra" (June), is a lovely short-short about a minor moon goddess fascinated with mortals. Theodora Goss contributed "In the Forest of Forgetting" (October), pure metaphor, about a woman and several fantasy encounters, all, it becomes clear, telling a bittersweet story about her real life. Those were the best stories, but I also like Carrie Vaughn's "A Hunter's Ode to His Bait" (February), a unicorn story with an almost shockingly unvirtuous ending; Tanith Lee's "Moonblind" (April); Nina Kiriki Hoffman's "A Fault Against the Dead" (June); Kage Baker's "The Briscian Saint" (August); and Michael Swanwick's wry set of short-shorts from October, "Deep in the Woods of Grammarie". That's quite a list, I think, evidencing that this really was a fine year for Realms of Fantasy.