September 2008Issue 46
Pg. 2
Ray Gun Revival magazine Issue 46, September 2008
Overlords (Founders / Editors)
Johne Cook, L. S. King, Paul Christian Glenn
Venerable Staf
A.M. Stickel - Managing Copyeditor Shannon McNear - Lord High Advisor, grammar consultant, listeningear/sanity saver for Overlord LeePaul Christian Glenn - PR, sounding board, strong right handL. S. King - Lord High Editor, proofreader, beloved nag, muse,webmistressJohne Cook - art wrangler, desktop publishing, chief cook and bottlewasher
Slushmasters (Submissions Editors)
John M. WhalenAlice M. RoelkeDavid Wilhelms
Serial Authors
Sean T. M. StiennonM KeatonKeanan BrandLee S. KingPaul Christian GlennJohne Cook
Cover Art
“LEGACY”
by Christian Hecker Without Whom...
Bill Snodgrass
, site host,Web-Net Solutions, admin, webmaster, database admin, mentor,
confdante, liaison – Double-edged Publishing
Special Thanks
Ray Gun Revival
logo design by
Hatchbox CreativeVisit us online at
http://raygunrevival.com
Ray Gun Revival
Table of Contents
All content copyright 2008 by
Double-edged Publishing
,
a Memphis, Tennessee-based non-prot publisher.
Rev: 200809a
2 Table of Contents3 Overlords’ Lair - The Crotchety / Sales Debate8 Fire on a World of Iceby Jonathon Mast14 Dark Runningby Justin R. Macumber 20 Obedienceby T.M. Hunter 25 Boarders Over Brantialby JonathanJ. Schlosser 29 Message to Marsby Alice M. Roelke36 RGR Reviews - Book Reviewsby Matthew Winslow39 RGR Reviews - The Balcony Fool Reviews TR2Nby Paul Chr istian Glenn41 Featured Artist - Christian Hecker 45 Calamity’s Child Chapter Four Rites of Passage - Dominoby M. Keaton53 Thieves’ Honor Episode OneSpider’s Web, Part Oneby Keanan Brand62 Deuces Wild, Season Two,Chapter 5Rock and a Hard Placeby L. S. King69 The Adventures of the Sky Pirate, Chapter 25All The Men In Shadowby Johne Cook78 Memory Wipe, Chapter 23Liunby Sean T. M. Stiennon86 The RGR Time Capsule July / August 2008
Overlords’ Lair Pg. 3
Ray Gun Revival magazine Issue 46, September 2008
I
’ve been reading posts on the internetthis summer and have been watching withinterest and—in some cases, enjoying—thespirited debate that’s been, oh,
everywhere
.We’re getting into political silly-seasonin advance of the November Presidentialelections, and that chatter is just burning upthe internet. Hurricane Gustav came ashoretoday and threatened an already-batteredNew Orleans region, which is always goodfor discussion. But the real storm that I wantto address is one about what kind of sciencefiction to turn to when introducing newreaders to the genre. It is not an irrelevantquestion.
is a writer
—which describes many of us aroundhere, including me, heh. In the meantime,Mr. Sales has stirred up a hornet’s nest ofcontroversy
by suggesting that itmay not be such a great idea to recommendthe old classics to readers just getting into sci-fi.
Readers new to the genre are not servedwell by recommendations to read Isaac Asimov, EE ‘Doc’ Smith, Robert Heinlein, or
the like. Such fiction is no longer relevant, isoften written with sensibilities offensive tomodern readers, usually has painfully badprose, and is mostly hard to find becauseit’s out of print.
To be fair, Ian isn’t completely saying whatit sounds like he’s saying, which should beapparent from his closing thoughts on thematter.
I don’t think we should refuse to read old
classic works, but we must recognise that
they’re historical documents. ... Further,modern sf readers shouldn’t need to beaware of everything which has gone before,but modern sf writers certainly ought to.
Steve Davidson, who writes as
,
.
The point here is - if you are going to
recommend a story to a potential newreader and you cut out any author who
started writing in the bad old days before
MTV and home computers, you’re chopping
out most of your best and brightest. The
point is, those old authors who wrote such
horrible stuff are STILL receiving awards inthe modern era, and in large numbers.The point is many of the OLD authors are ALSO THE NEW AUTHORS. As I said the other day, history is a continuum.The measure is in converts. Restricting your
recommendations to the ‘modern era’ is
self-defeating.
What do I think about all this? Well, it seemsto me that we’re talking about findingspeculative fiction that contains all thewonder and curiosity and thrill of discoveryof the classic writers of bygone days, whilemaintaining the modern standards of literarycraftsmanship which has been honed anddeveloped over time and which has valuewhen the audience is a modern reader.In short, it appears we’re talking aboutmerging the best elements of yesteryearwith the latest critical standards for whatconstitutes good modern fiction writing.It occurs to me that this, in a nutshell, isessentially the charter here at
Ray Gun Revival
magazine. Granted, we’re limited by theshoestring budget to what we can pay ourauthors—nobody will get rich off the nominalfifteen bucks, American, we’re able to pay.Newer and more expensive doesn’t alwaysequate to ‘better,’ a point Steve Davidsonmakes with regard to the modern retellingof The Day The Earth Stood Still, due out this2008 holiday season. Steve would prefer thatpeople
if you haven’tseen it already before letting the updatedversion color your impression of the classicstory. I took advantage of the opportunityto watch the classic online this afternoon.
Overlords’ Lair
The Crotchety / Sales Debate
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Ray Gun Revival magazine, Issue 46
86 pages
The Overlords' Lair: The Crotchety / Sales Debate
Fire on a World of Ice by Jonathon Mast
Fiction
Pastoric and Deveraux are on the run from bounty hunters. Stranded in an ancient city on… (More)
The Overlords' Lair: The Crotchety / Sales Debate
Fire on a World of Ice by Jonathon Mast
Fiction
Pastoric and Deveraux are on the run from bounty hunters. Stranded in an ancient city on… (More)
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