ABSENT WILLOW REVIEW SHORT STORY CONTEST

The First Annual Absent Willow Review Short Story Contest‏

The contest is open to all unpublished works of speculative fiction (Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction). The contest deadline is May 31, 2010 with the winner to be announced on or before July 01, 2010. Cash Prizes are as follows:

1st Prize $150.00

2nd prize $75.00

3rd prize $25.00

Complete Contest Rules can be found at:

http://absentwillowreview.com/contest

THE TEARS OF ISHTAR

The Tears of Ishtar by Michael Ehart

From the sands and cities of the ancient middle-east comes an epic story of bloodshed, love and betrayal. Award-winning fantasy author Michael Ehart spins a tale that echoes with the blood and thunder of the golden age.

Bound by an ancient curse, serving her master in bitter unwillingness, the Servant of the Manthycore must lure the greedy, the unsuspecting and the unwary into the desert to feed the insatiable beast to whom she is bound. Centuries of combat and murder have made her a swordswoman whispered of in the marketplaces, feared in the back-alleys and sung about by the campfires of the caravans. The passing centuries of betrayal and death have stolen her humanity and even her name, leaving only a glimmer of who she once was. Her only hope is to someday meet a greater warrior than she, and so be freed.

Striding across the background of civilization in its youth, in the time of the first great heroes and the cities they built, she becomes more than a woman, and as her legend grows so does her determination to someday be free of the great beast who she serves. Goddesses, bandits, soldiers and kings fall beneath her sword as she fights her way to discover a path to freedom.

http://www.cyberwizardproductions.com/Ancient_Tomes_Press/The_Tears_of_Ishtar_-_real_sword_&_sorcery_by_author_Michael_Ehart.html

BENEATH CEASELESS SKIES: UPDATE

Beneath Ceaseless Skies
An Online Magazine of
Literary Adventure Fantasy

Issue #35 -- Jan. 28, 2010

Now available in EPUB ebook file format for iPhone/iPod Touch and Sony E-Reader, in addition to PDF and Mobi PRC--all downloadable from the Issue's Table of Contents.

"Gizzard Stones," by Garth Upshaw
Grampa huddled inside, exposed in the corner. Bark and Thorn crouched next to him covering their faces. The gleaner struck—one-two—and in less time that it took to draw a breath, Grampa and Thorn were trussed and thrown over the gleaner's back like sacks of meal. Bark, the bravest of my littermates, whimpered and dodged out of sight into the yard behind the house. The gleaner stepped forward and raised its serrated front legs.

"Shatterach Gates," by Paul Daly
The warmth, then swift coldness, of piss on my legs brings me back from the rolling horror oozing over the dirt-pack towards me. Still a league distant, it is monstrous. A grotesque boil on the earth; a seething mass of tree spars and rocks that scalds the ice around it into steam. The way it moves! Questing forward, then rushing into the blackened space before it. Each thrust accompanied by boulders grinding, great snappings of century-old trunks as it heaves ahead.

Audio Fiction Podcast 030
"In the Age of Iron and Ashes," by Aliette de Bodard, from BCS #33
The girl did not answer for a while; for so long, in fact, that Yudhyana had started to move back towards the camp. When she spoke, her voice stopped him, as surely as a knife drawn across his throat. “Everything lives and dies,” she whispered. “Everything changes, and all changes end in death.”

http://beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/

A FLY IN AMBER ISSUE 14

Fiction

Start Packing by Alexandra Mazarakis

Branded in Gray by Dawn Allen

Button Men by Tess Almendarez Lojacono

Cries through the Walls by Fredrick Obermeyer

Duet by Bill Beauviche

Foster Care by A. Michael Schwarz

Hero for Hire by Milo James Fowler

My Friend, the Zombie by Regina Glei

Ultimate Rose by Anna Sykora

http://www.aflyinamber.net/

HUB: UPDATE

HUB: Issue 109

Gonzo Laptop by Gareth L Powell

Reviews and Features

Reviews:
Clone Wars s2, eps 9-10
Feature
Heaven Book 2: Hell

http://www.hubfiction.com/

ABSENT WILLOW REVIEW: UPDATE

The Absent Willow Review is the world's fastest growing magazine featuring short fiction works of horror, fantasy, and science fiction.

New Fiction from:

Chris Deal

Marilyn Evans

Jeff Miller

Nancy Widrew

Lynette Mejía

and others

http://absentwillowreview.com/

BENEATH CEASELESS SKIES: UPDATE

Issue #34 -- Jan. 14, 2010
Now available in EPUB ebook file format for iPhone/iPod Touch and Sony E-Reader, in addition to PDF and Mobi PRC--all downloadable from the Issue's Table of Contents.

"A Serpent in the Gears," by Margaret Ronald
While the Royal Society's ostensible reason for our expedition was to offer the hand of friendship and scientific inquiry to their poor isolated cousins, any idiot could see that it was also to assay whether air power could bypass the gun emplacements. Thaumic reservoirs might be useless for certain engineering methods, but that hardly made them worthless, as the Royal Society well knew.

"Bellwether," by A.C. Smart
Niddy’s pale corpse lay naked on the table. Her eyes were held shut by river-worn pebbles rather than the coins I’d placed before I left. The dress that should have graced the corpse, Niddy’s best, was on Trilla. Though it shamed me that my sister’s body was shown such dishonor before strangers, it didn’t hurt as it might have. If justice prevailed, that dress would be all the benefit Trilla’s treachery brought her.

Audio Fiction Podcast 029
"The Manufactory," by Dru Pagliassotti, from BCS #30
Harvesting the bodies meant taking a few risks, but it was easy enough for a steady man who did his research and kept himself sober, and anatomists always needed fresh bodies to dissect. And if we dug up a not-so-fresh body, well, wigmakers and dentists pay well for human hair and teeth. We’d lived well back then, Bet and me, and we'd planned to give our baby girl everything she wanted. But then the Anatomy Act passed and the demand for bodies plummeted.

http://beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/

THE PHANTOM QUEEN AWAKES

Love, death and war…

The Morrigan goddess represented all three to the ancient Celts. Journey with our authors as they tell stories of love, war, hatred, revenge and mortality - each featuring the Morrigan in her many guises.

Re-visit the world of Deverry, and of Nevyn, with a previously unpublished tale by Katharine Kerr, watch the Norse gods meet their Celtic counterparts with Elaine Cunningham, meet a druid who dances for the dead with C.E. Murphy and follow the path of a Roman centurion with Anya Bast.

These are but a few offerings from the stories collection in The Phantom Queen Awakes. If you are searching for a rich blend of dark fantasy, then this is a collection perfect for you.

The Phantom Queen Awakes stories:

Rising Tide: Ruth Shelton
Kiss of the Morrigan: Anya Bast
I Guard Your Death: Lynne Lumsden
GreenGifts of the Morrigan: Donald Jacob Uitvlugt
Cairn Dancer: C. E. Murphy
Washerwoman: Jennifer Lawrence
The Raven’s Curse: Sharon Kae Reamer
Ravens: Mari Ness
The Lass from Far Away: Katharine Kerr
The Trinket: Peter Bell
The Dying Gaul: Michael Bailey
The Children of Badb Catha: James Lecky
The Plain of Pillars: L. J. Hayward
The Silver Branch: Linda Donahue
The Good and Faithful Servant: Martyn Taylor
The White Heifer of Fearchair: T. A. Moore
She Who is Becoming: Elaine Cunningham

Available February '10

http://www.morriganbooks.com/?p=188

CHIZINE: 43

The Chiaroscuro WebZine (ChiZine), featuring original work from today's best dark fiction authors.

Fiction

Nir Yaniv: The Believers

Claude Lalumière: The City of Unrequited Dreams

Joe L. Murr: Tide

Alexander Patterson: Drowning

Poetry
Robert Borski: Noir

Harry Calhoun: The storm of her passing

Nancy O. Greene: Monsters

Ed Lynskey: Astral Cargo Cults

http://www.chizine.com/

THREE LOBED BURNING EYE: UPDATE

An online magazine of speculative fiction.

We've received inquiries as to whether 3LBE is still an active magazine.The answer is Yes. Despite that nearly a year has gone by since our last issue, we are still publishing. We're just looking for those last few good stories to complete issue #19. So send 'em in!

http://www.3lobedmag.com/index.html

Submission guidelines:

http://www.3lobedmag.com/submissions.html