ISSUE.54
Third anniversary issue!
OVERLORDS (FOUNDERS/EDITORS)
Johne Cook, L. S. King, Paul Christian Glenn
Matthew Winslow
Book Reviews Editor
Shannon McNear
Lord High Advisor, Grammar Consultant, Listening Ear for Overlord Lee
Paul Christian Glenn
-
PR, Executive Tiebreaker, desktop publishing
L. S. King
-
Lord High Editor, proofreader, beloved nag, muse, webmistress
Johne Cook
-
art wrangler, desktop publishing, chief cook and bottle washer
Submissions Editors
John M. Whalen, Alice M. Roelke. Martin Turton
Serial Authors
M Keaton, Keanan Brand. Justin R. Macumber, Johne Cook, L.S. King
Cover Art
“Robojourney”
by Christian Nauck
Bill Snodgrass
Site host, Web-Net Solutions, admin, webmaster, database admin, mentor,
confdante, liaison – Double-edged Publishing
Ray Gun Revival Issue 54 © 2009 by Double-edged Publishing,
a Memphis, Tennssee-based non-proft publisher.
Special Thanks
Ray Gun Revival
logo design byHatchbox Creative
v54b
W
ith this issue, Ray Gun Revivalmagazine celebrates our thirdanniversary and starts our fourth
year of publicaon. When we start
-
ed publicaon in 2006, we modeled
our magazine on Deep Magic, a ven-erable magazine devoted to fantasy
and science con, ‘a safe place forminds to wander.’ Deep Magic wasaround for four years, and I’ve al
-
ways had it in the back of my mindthat if we could make it that long,we’d be a success. But where DMwas largely a fantasy publicaon,RGR was going for something dif
-
ferent. Fantasy has been enjoying alot of aenon and book sales. Butwhat about space opera of the kindI grew up with? Who was wringthose stories?Joss Whedon, for one. If therewas any one catalyst for Ray GunRevival, it was Whedon’s
Firey
TV series and
Serenity
movie. Thatwas the kind of story we wantedto tell. We were collecvely so ex
-
cited about the seng and yarnsfrom Firey that when the plug was
pulled on the TV series, a number of
us sll had so much enthusiasm for
the genre that forming the maga-
zine was almost second nature, aforegone conclusion.It is axiomac that while Paul andI were kicking around space opera
story ideas, Lee King had already in-
dependently had the same thought.Starng the magazine was hard, butdeciding what to write about waseasy.But what, exactly, is space opera?John Scalzi’s recent observaons
about
design aws
in the Star Wars
lms ared up into heated, and sur
-
prising, ‘nerdrage.’ Scalzi claims StarWars is science con. We spaceopera fans know otherwise.Some think of Space Opera asscience con without the science.That isn’t quite true. It is more ac
-
curate to say that Space Opera is sci
-
ence con with a lessened empha
-sis on rigorous science and a greateremphasis on adventure, character-
izaon, and sprawling scale.In the beginning, Space Operaused to be Doc Smith’s Lensmanstories, pulp sci- where the storywas more important than the sci
-
ence. Today, Space Opera has been
revamped and re-imagined to fea-ture more plausible science in ser-
vice of the wildest, largest storiesimaginable.You might think Space Opera as
the smallest subgenre of science
con, however, I think the oppo
-
site. I think it lls the very wide ex
-
panse between hard science con(on the one side) and Tolkienesquefantasy (on the other). There arerousing debates about dening justwhat, exactly, Space Opera is, but inmy mind, it is simply Science Fanta
-
sy, the best of both worlds.Everything about Space Opera is
big, and the best recent treatmentof the genre is an anthology is called
The Space Opera Renaissance
. Itweighs in at 941 pages and coversthe enre history of the genre fromthe early days (the Redened Writ
-
ers) to the present (the New Wave).Editors David G. Hartwell and Kath
-
ryn Cramer do a phenomenal job of geng their arms around this mostbrowbeaten, overlooked genre.
Space opera… means colorful,dramac, large-scale science conadventure, competently and some-mes beaufully wrien, usually focused on a sympathec, heroiccentral character and plot acon,and usually set in the relavely dis-tant future and in space or on other worlds, characteriscally opmiscin tone. It oen deals with war, pi-racy, military virtues, and very largestakes. What is centrally important is that this permits a writer to em-bark on a science con project that is ambious in both commercial and literary terms.
And while Space Opera used tobe overlooked, it is currently enjoy
-
ing a huge resurgence in popularity.Science con author Alastair Reyn
-
olds just signed a ten year, ten book,one million pound contract wringout a Space Opera series with UKpublisher Gollancz. That’s geng upinto J.K. Rowling territory, and that’sgreat for Space Opera. And as longas there’s Space Opera, there will beRay Gun Revival magazine.At least for another year. ;)
Johne Cook Overlord Breezeway, WI USASeptember, 2009
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Ray Gun Revival magazine, Issue 54 (3rd Anniversary!)
Ray Gun Revival magazine celebrates our third anniversary and starts our fourth year of publication with Issue #54!
56 pages
The Overlords' Lair: RGR's Third Anniversary
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56 pages
The Overlords' Lair: RGR's Third Anniversary
Sky Voices by Alice Roelke
She remembered how she'd wished… (More)
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