Subterranean #8...AT LAST!
Today's trip to the mailbox brought with it something very unexpected, that I'd pretty much forgotten about after ordering it so long ago. What did I find?
That's right, the 8th issue of Subterranean Magazine, the print version of the short fiction periodical produced by Subterranean Press, was waiting for me. How long ago had I ordered this thing? I can't even remember. Why had I ordered it? Well, mostly because I wanted to get my hands on the short story scheduled to be included in the issue, "Questions for A Soldier" by John Scalzi. Set in the "universe" Scalzi created for his novel Old Man's War, the story previously was available only as a very limited edition chapbook from Subterranean. That edition sold out long ago, and meeting the prices for copies available on the secondary market would require selling an organ or a child. When I learned the story would be reprinted in an upcoming issue of the magazine, I promptly pre-ordered my copy. And waited.
And waited.
And waited some more.
Then, I forgot about it.
I'd occasionally be reminded about it when reading Scalzi's incomparable blog, Whatever, or on those couple of occasions I bought a new Scalzi book. I don't know that I ever "gave up" on ever seeing the issue; but it definitely fell off my radar. So, it was quite the pleasant surprise to find it in the mailbox today.
The issue contains other stories, of course:
"The Seventeenth Kind" by Michael Marshall Smith
"Vale of the Blood Roses" by Tim Lebbon
"Redemption Center" by R. Andrew Heidel
"Bogeymen" by Jason Erik Lundberg
"Why Do You Linger?" by Sarah Monette
and
"Waltz with the Echoes" by Darren Speegle
Thanks to publisher/editor William Schafer and the entire Subterranean gang, not just for finally bringing this issue to those of us who've been waiting for it, but also for all the other great stuff they publish, both in print and online. If you've never checked out their offerings, you're missing out. Go, look.
(Originally posted at The Fog of Ward and cross-posted to LiveJournal.)