The Weirdest Fairy-Tale Wishes Ever Made
Thanks to a tireless awareness campaign on behalf of folklorists everywhere, the dangers of your standard wishes are well-known these days. In the wrong hands, we all know, a wish can go terribly wrong.
Aug. 2011 (Issue 53)
Welcome to issue fifty-three of Fantasy Magazine! Here’s what we’ve got on tap this month … Fiction: “The World Is Cruel, My Daughter” by Cory Skerry, “The Pragmatical Princess” by Nisi Shawl, “Crossroads” by Laura Anne Gilman, “The Edge of the World” by Michael Swanwick. Nonfiction: Feature Interview: Seanan McGuire by Paul Goat Allen, in “The Messengers, Monsters, and Moral Instructors of Islamic Literature” by Saladin Ahmed, “How To Stock Your Magic-Fighting Toolkit” by Abby Goldsmith, “The Weirdest Fairy-Tale Wishes Ever Made” by Genevieve Valentine.
Michael Swanwick: Author Spotlight
The problem Donna, Russ, and Piggy have is that they live in a world which is, so far as they can tell, entirely devoid of magic. Also, they’re adolescents, which amounts to the same thing.
The Edge of the World
The Edge of the World lay beyond the railroad tracks. The streets were narrow here, the sideyards crammed with broken trucks, rusted out buses, even yachts up in cradles with stoven-in sides.
How to Stock Your Magic-Fighting Toolkit
Supernatural evil is perhaps the oldest fear among humankind. Every culture throughout history recognizes some form of the evil eye, and acknowledges some form of a curse.
Author Spotlight: Laura Anne Gilman
In this week’s Author Spotlight, we ask author Laura Anne Gilman to tell us a bit about her story for Fantasy, “Crossroads.”
Crossroads
John came to the crossroads at just shy of noon, where a man dressed all in black stared up at another man hanging from a gallows-tree. No, not hanging; he was being hung.
The Messengers, Monsters, and Moral Instructors of Islamic Literature
Angel, Djinn, and Ghoul: each of these creatures appears in numerous Islamic scriptures or stories, from the Qur’an to the Thousand and One Nights to epic poetry.
Author Spotlight: Nisi Shawl
I felt rather presumptuous using the word “pragmatism” in the story the title. I know it has a bunch of baggage. My research has been in other areas of the discipline.
The Pragmatical Princess
Princess Ousmani had fallen asleep in her chains, from boredom. She woke to the weight of a dragon’s head resting uncomfortably on her stomach. One rough, scaly paw kneaded her left shoulder, pricking at her skin.
Feature Interview: Seanan McGuire
I can say with complete sincerity that I am not a group of human individuals working to produce my annual output. I cannot comment on the possibility of my actually being an alien hive-intelligence here to conquer your world.