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Locus Reviews Clarkesworld

Some nice things being said about Clarkesworld in the November issue of Locus Magazine.

“Now to Clarkesworld Magazine, which publishes two stories online each month, one by a newcomer, the other by a more established name. In the last few months, the latter category has as usual been fairly impressive. “The Ape’s Wife” by Caitlin R. Kiernan (September) is a majestic novelette imagining varying scenarios for the climax of King Kong: does Ann Darrow, the beauty played by Fay Wray, truly return to New York, or does she stay on Skull Island? Is she marooned, a high priestess, or (back in America) an embittered, aging alcoholic, otherwise an older woman pondering Kong’s skeleton, now a neglected museum exhibit? Is Kong god to a destroyed Manhattan? These possibilities progress through Ann’s dreaming mind powerfully and very memorably. “The Oracle Spoke” by Holly Phillips (June) is also good, recounting the experiences in a country ravaged by civil war of Cassandra, through whom ambiguous and perhaps mischievous prophecies are uttered by a supernatural power; like her Trojan predecessor, the young woman is ignored or misunderstood, and her lack of free will is starkly illustrated. Ekaterina Sedia’s “The Taste of Wheat” (August) rather antically investigates modalities of reincarnation, first of an old man, then of a young woman; and “I’ll Gnaw Your Bones, the Manticore Said” (July) by Cat Rambo amusingly contemplates the life of travelling circus-folk, and how the beasts in their charge can be critically useful in a pinch.”

Tangent Online Review of Clarkesworld Magazine #9

Tangent Online has posted their review of this months issue of Clarkesworld Magazine.

THE ORACLE SPOKE – Holly Phillips
“The story’s point of view alternates between Caldwell and Cassandra, and both are well-drawn, intelligent characters. Cassandra’s story, in particular, is moving, as we discover more about her plight as voice of the Oracle, and what it might mean for a real human being to be trapped in such a circumstance. The tale’s ending is chilling. A very strong story.”

MOON OVER YODOK – David Charlton
“This is another well-written story, with likeable characters and a very real menace. I haven’t read any stories set in this background before, and found it fascinating from that aspect alone.”

Favorite quote:
Clarkesworld is fast becoming one of the most consistent and reliable venues for finding good fiction, particularly online. This issue is probably the best of the year so far. Definitely worth checking out.”

You can read the full review here.

IROSF Reviews Clarkesworld Magazine Issues 2 & 3

Reviews for issues two and three are now up at the Internet Review of Science Fiction.   Congratulations to Catherynne M. Valente for getting a “recommended” for her story “Urchins, While Swimming”

Locus Review for Issues 1-3

Just received email that the following review will appear in the next issue of Locus:

Anthologies and webzines, yes; but what about the promotional exercise I mentioned at the start? Well, Clarkesworld Magazine is now publishing, on its website (and later in printed form), two new short stories a month, chosen by Sean Wallace & Nick Mamatas, and the selections thus far are very sound; they may well attract more online book purchasers to Clarkesworld’s precincts (www.clarkesworldmagazine.com). To begin with: in October, Sarah Monette’s “A Light in Troy” considers touchingly the desperate quest for affection by victims of war throughout the ages; and Lavie Tidhar’s “304, Adolph Hitler Strasse” penetratingly scourges the mentality of Nazism and anti-Semitism, presenting an alternate history of German victory in World War Two that proceeds to swallow itself up, consumed by the frenzy of its own degenerate fetishism. Tidhar is an emerging master, and as usual, he pulls no punches at all.

In November, Ian Watson & Roberto Quaglia send up a different sort of fetishism—that of the Japanese consumer—with exuberant daft eroticism in “The Moby Clitoris of His Beloved”; and in December, Jenny Davidson’s “The Other Amazon” wittily evokes the addiction of the online book buyer, the fantasies of alternate retailers purveying impossible books that must occur to every bibliophile, early and often.

—Locus, (Nick Gevers).

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