Sci-Fi Online: Daily Science Fiction

As the name says, Daily Science Fiction publishes a new science fiction/fantasy story every weekday.

You can subscribe to the site and receive a new story via e-mail each day. Or, visit the website and read from the archives. And, if that isn't flexible enough, you can purchase the annual anthologies from the first two years.

The site describes their content this way:

“Science Fiction” means—to us—everything found in the science fiction section of a bookstore, or at a science fiction convention, or amongst the winners of the Hugo awards given by the World Science Fiction Society. This includes the genres of science fiction (or sci-fi), fantasy, slipstream, alternative history, and even stories with lighter speculative elements. We hope you enjoy the broad range that SF has to offer.

Sci-Fi Online: Galaxy's Edge Magazine

If you're looking for a source of short stories or articles for Sci-Fi Month, check out Galaxy's Edge Magazine. Published six times a year, the magazine is available in paper/printed and electronic editions.

The November 2015 issue contains short fiction by David Drake, Mercedes Lackey, Eric Cline and others. You can read an interview with Terry Brooks and columns by Barry Malzbert and Gregory Benford. And if that weren't enough, there are book reviews by Bill Fawcett and Jody Lynn Nye.

The current issue can be read online for free and past issues are also available for purchase.

Stacking the Shelves (56)

While there are a couple of new books at my place this week, all of them are from the library. I do like “shopping” at the library, especially for books that I want to read but that I'm not particularly interested in keeping. I do, however, need to speed up my reading or exercise a little bit more discipline so that I read these borrowed books before they are due to be returned. I'm lucky that one of the libraries I frequent has a 3-week check-out period. I rarely have to ask for an extension.

From the library:

I decided to fill in a couple of series by getting the short stories and novellas that are set between the novels, so I borrowed the eBooks from my local library. I'm planning on squeezing these in between the science fiction books I'm reading for Sci-Fi Month. The Shell Game is a short story that introduces con man Nick Fox and FBI agent Kate O'Hare. Time of Death contains three In Death novellas, one of which I read several years ago. Along with Possession in Death, that will leave me with five novels and three novellas to catch up with the series so far!

Sci-Fi Online: Unlikely Story

Unlikely Story is the home of Journal of Unlikely Entomology, Journal of Unlikely Cryptography, and assorted “Unlikely” journals. Publishing three issues a year, with archives online, Unlikely Story is a magazine consisting entirely of fiction—about bugs, about information technology, and more.

If you're looking for some short fiction, how about How to Recover a Relative Lost During Transmatter Shipping, In Five Easy Steps by Carrie Cuinn in The Journal of Unlikely Cartography. Or Coping With Common Garden Pests by Will Kaufmann in the November 2014 issue of Journal of Unlikely Entomology.

The latest issue is Unlikely Story #12: The Journal of Unlikely Academia. Eight short works explore the pursuit of knowledge through formal instruction, fieldwork, and even the library. I recommend The Librarian's Dilemma by E. Saxey.

Sunday Summary: 8 November 2015

Another slow week of reading. I only completed three books, so I'm sliding just a wee bit more behind when it comes to my goal of reading 200 books in 2015. So far, I've completed 165 books and with 7 weeks left in the year, I need to complete an average of five books each week to meet my target of 200. Whew! That's a lot of reading. Guess I need to stop watching TV and Netflix until I've caught up.

Where I've been reading

I was at home all week long. It was the second week in a row that I've been able to sleep in my own bed. However, I had to commute to the office in Dallas instead of working from the house. The good thing about commuting is that I get to “read” by listening to an audio book as I'm driving the hour and a quarter each way. I listened to an entire book in three and a half days and got started on another one.

 

Stacking the Shelves (55)

Sci-Fi Online: Beneath Ceaseless Skies

Beneath Ceaseless Skies publishes “literary adventure fantasy”: stories with a secondary-world setting and some traditional or classic fantasy feel, but written with a literary approach.

So, even though the editors say that Beneath Ceaseless Skies is a vehicle for fantasy stories, most of those that take place in a “secondary-world setting” meet my personal criteria for science fiction.

In addition to the current issue, past issues are available from the web site, and annual “best of” anthologies are sold through various online book stores.

Issue #184 just went online on October 15. It features a podcast of short story A Careful Fier by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam, which is also available in traditional text format for those who want to read instead of listen. The second short story is Unearthly Landscape by a Lady by Rebecca Campbell, and from the Archives, We, As One, Trailing Embers by E. Catherine Tobler.

Sunday Summary: 1 November 2015

Work has been brutal for the past couple of weeks. I'm so tired in the evenings that I just cannot focus on a book. Therefore, I remain a couple of books off the pace to complete 200 by the end of the year. I'm really counting on the holidays to help me rise to the challenge.

 

Where I've been reading

I've been at home! It has been so nice to work in my home office all week long, sleep in my own bed, and not to be in hotel rooms. I get to stay at home another week, though I do have to commute to the office rather than working from my house.

 

What I've been reading: Completed this week

All of the books that I read this week were from the library. Two were electronic books and two were hardbacks. And three of these books are part of my Finishing the Series challenge for 2015. I now have two more books to read in the Elm Creek Quilts series and three more in the Brother Cadfael series. And there's two months in which to read them. I think I'm solid on this challenge.

Sci-Fi Month 2015

The entire month of November has been designated as Sci-Fi Month by Rinn at Rinn Reads and Lisa at Over the Effing Rainbow. This is a month-long blog event to celebrate everything science fiction, and I'm going to take part.

My love affair with SF

When I was in elementary school, I fell in love with science fiction, and I have kept it up for most of my life. I obsessively read every book I could get from my favorite authors, anxiously waiting for new releases of books that are now considered classics. Back then it was Robert Heinlein, James Blish, Andre Norton, Isaac Asimov, Frederik Pohl, Arthur C. Clarke,and so many more. Recently, I've been reading a lot of military science fiction, including David Weber's Honor Harrington series and Mike Shepherd's Kris Longknife novels.

Sci-Fi Month at Reading in Texas

It remains to be seen how much time I can dedicated to blogging this month. As part of October's Blog Ahead Challenge, I did get some posts written and scheduled for November.

Every Tuesday, my post will cover an online science fiction magazine. For those who just cannot get enough SF, these online magazines provide an extra dose or two. I was able to write a couple of reviews that I'll scatter throughout the month, and I plan to produce a list of interesting SF books I find on the shelves at my local public library. I'll also be reading at least one SF book per week and posting a review. Two of these are recent releases: Kris Longknife: Unrelenting by Mike Shepherd and This Gulf of Time and Stars by Julie Czerneda. The others may be classics borrowed from the library—I haven't exactly made up my mind, yet.