A Webzine of Astonishing Tales
Issue #7, Spring-Summer, 2009
Ashby, Anders, Bisson, Garrison, Goodfellow, Guffey, Kadrey, Hardison, Kek-W, Logan, Rucker, Rothstein, Shirley!
Issue #7 Contents:
| Madeline Ashby Off Track Betting |
Alex Hardison Clouds in the Night |
| Charlie Anders The History of the Internet |
Richard Kadrey Trembling Blue Stars |
| Terry Bisson Billy and the Flying Saucer |
Kek-W Cobalt Imperium |
| Brian Garrison 5 SF Poems |
Simon Logan And They Will Not Be Stopped |
| Cody Goodfellow The Squonk Hunt |
Adam Rothstein Growth Industry |
| Robert Guffey Initiation |
Rudy Rucker & John Shirley All Hangy |
Back Issues:
 Issue #1, Fall, 2006 |
 Issue #2, Winter, 2006 |
 Issue #3, Spring, 2007 |
 Issue #4, Fall, 2007 |
 Issue #5, Spring, 2008 |
 Issue #6, Fall, 2008 |
From the Editor, Issue #7
March 4, 2009
This is the biggest issue of Flurb yet. I feel like the zine is truly in flight now, with a wonderful stream of contributions coming in.
We start off with Madeline Ashby, here for her second appearance in Flurb, with "Off-Track Betting," a richly textured tale of alien invasion that has some echoes of Phil Dick’s Time Out of Joint.
Charlie Jane Anders, a multiple Flurb offender, brings us a delightfully corrupt and in-your-face offering with the misleadingly bland title, "The History of the Internet." I heard Charlie read this at the Make Out Room bar in San Francisco last week, and cadged the story off him on the spot.
My fellow Kentuckian Terry Bisson returns with his second Billy story for Flurb, “Billy and the Flying Saucer.” Despite the title, it’s a short of UFOlogy, but it’s long on cigarettes. If memory serves, Terry controls his habit by smoking only one day week. I do the same thing; I’m currently working on a week in 2050.
Brian Garrison is another Flurb repeater. I find Brian’s SF poems irresistible. They're a fabulous mix of scientific thinking and modernist style.
Cody Goodfellow is a newer writer, who brings us a totally gnarly tale, "The Squonk Hunt," from the subsubgenre of hillbilly SF. I can see this one as a movie...almost.
Robert Guffey’s story “Initiation” has a fine Lovecraftian feel with a nice twist at the end. What is reality? Guffey knows.
Alex Hardison is a man of the future, in that he prefers publishing in webzines to publishing on paper. “Clouds in the Night” is his second Flurb appearance, and every bit as accomplished as his first.
My old Freestyle running buddy Richard Kadrey brings us a black tale of spacers, with a truly ill slant that I’ve never seen before. "Tembling Blue Stars" sticks in the mind
The writer known as Kek-w is here with a delightfully cyberpunk love story, "Cobalt Imperium," and Simon Logan’s “And They Will Not Be Stopped,” is a classic cyberpunk feed as well. It’s great to see our new writers fighting against the system.
I’ve always been fascinated by the notion of a future biotech in which it’s possible to grow our buildings. Adam Rothstein’s, “Growth Industry” brings the scenario to life, with a wicked twist involving intellectual property.
Finally, we have a collaboration, “All Hangy” by John Shirley and me. John got the idea for this story in a dream, and he emailed me about the dream the morning after he had it. I thought things over, and saw a way to make it into a tale—with an uplifting moment of transcendence at the end.
If you enjoy this issue, please favor us with a friendly note at the comments link, which lives on Rudy's Blog.
Flurb #8 is scheduled for fall, 2009, and I'll be reading for the issue in late August and early September, 2009. Check the first entry of the comments link for further details.
---Rudy Rucker
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