Editor’s Note – October 2010

Welcome to Redstone Science Fiction number five. Thanks for dropping by.

We have been working on Redstone SF for six months and are excited about the quality of the stories we have been able to bring you. We have received top-notch submissions from the very beginning and are looking forward to reading more new and exciting science fiction when we reopen to submissions on November 1st.

We are publishing two outstanding stories this month. Vylar Kaftan came to our attention when she headlined the inaugural issue of Lightspeed Magazine in June. Not long afterward we received her story “Witness” in our inbox. It simply blew our editors away. The quality of the writing, the inner struggle of the protagonist, and the classic adventure scifi story turned on its head is exactly the sort of story we are looking for and we are pleased to present it to you here.

“His Master’s Voice” by Hannu Rajaniemi was a 2009 Sturgeon Award Finalist, recognized as one of the best speculative short stories of the year. It is the first story we actively sought to reprint. It was printed in Interzone, has been anthologized, and was podcasted (twice) but the text is not available online. I simply love this story and am excited to bring it to even more readers. Rest assured it is one of the best “cat and dog” stories you will ever read.

Henry Cribbs’ column this month reveals the dark, squirmy underbelly of classic scifi horror, just in time for Samhain. He examines the influence of Frankenstein, the lasting impression made by The Invisible Man, and then swears his undying allegiance to Cthulhu. Henry does a great job showing us how modern science fiction/horror owes a great debt to these seminal works.

We got to interrogate Vylar Kaftan and she gave us a dash of insight into how she produced “Witness” for Redstone SF.

We are also going to bring you a fine interview with one of our favorite editor/anthologists, John Joseph Adams, the editor of Lightspeed Magazine and a boatload of top-selling speculative fiction anthologies.

If all goes as planned, Paul Clemmons will get enough time with Harrison Brown outside of the operating room to finally discuss issues and trends in neuroscience.

We are having a great time with Redstone Science Fiction and proud of what we have been able to bring you thus far. We appreciate you taking a look at what we’ve got, and we hope you find something you’ll enjoy.

Yours,
Michael Ray
Editor
Redstone SF