editorial by Shaun Lawton
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Welcome to yet another issue of the Freezine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, this edition being our annual traditional homage to the Samhain season, which usually streams here on blogger every October.
This year we are pleased to present four outstanding talents in the field of speculative poetry and fiction: Marge Simon, Jeffrey Thomas, Bruce Boston, and A. A. Attanasio. Let's deliver a hearty round of applause for them.
I began this online periodical in the summer of 2009 as an homage to all the fanzines that used to flourish in the scene way back during the golden age of science fiction. Here we are after fifteen years, still going strong.
The Freezine (as it's been referred to often) aims to showcase short stories, flash fiction, poetry and fantastical artwork by both aspiring and established writers and artists, as a self promotional tool without corporate sponsorship.
It began after the regulars chatting over on the John Shirley message board (formerly at darkecho.com, then known as "The Board With A Nail In It") helped me hash it all out, all those long gone summers ago.
Since then we have put together over forty issues of the Freezine, and have archived many serializations. Needless to say, this digital endeavor would never have manifested without the help of its long list of contributors.
So without further ado, let's celebrate Halloween this year with the following contributions for this, the hallowed Fractal Blood Issue, now archived for posterity as our forty-first monthly installment.
Below are four fictive offerings which shine before you, thanks to this spawn of the technological singularity (the internet itself) which we've all been taking for granted without a second thought since the inception of this 21st century.
We begin with flash fiction by Marge Simon, followed by a horrific short story (for mature readers) by Jeffrey Thomas, a poem by Bruce Boston, and culminating with a startling vampire novelette by A. A. Attanasio.
Each title below (with its requisite art) hyperlinks to the story for your perusal. Just use your BCI hookup (or outmoded mouse) to click & enjoy reading in its purest form (without corporate sponsorship).
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illustrated by Marge Simon
illustrated by Shaun Lawton
illustrated by Shaun Lawton
illustrated by Shaun Lawton
We welcome for the first time the illustrious Jeffrey Thomas, as this is his debut appearance in our weyrd publication. He's well-known in the science fiction and horror community as the author of the Punktown and Hades stories, and has been nominated for both the Bram Stoker and John W. Campbell awards. Due to the graphic nature of his story The Abandoned, we have showcased it in our "extreme zine zone," which formerly serialized Vincent Daemon's epic splatterpunk novella Waiting for the End (recommended for mature readers 18+). It has been quite awhile since the Freezine received a work of fiction extreme enough to warrant being placed behind that "mature readers only" firewall, and we're all too happy to accommodate the legion of readers out there who remain starved for such bloodcurdling fare. I've felt a certain kinship with Jeffrey since getting to know him on FaceBook for years now, not to mention the fact he's from Massachusetts, where my own family hails from. Thanks so much Jeffrey for taking a chance on this obscure cyber-rag, we are all the richer for it now!
I'm again delighted to welcome back another former contributor to the Freezine, the one and only Bruce Boston, who has the commendable honor of having won the Rhysling Award for Speculative Poetry seven times, along with many other awards for his achievements as an exemplary scribe and author. The Freezine has featured his unique lyrical style of writing in a few issues over the course of the past several years, and it's with genuine enthusiasm that we get to have him onboard our ragtag literary ship once again. You can always count on Bruce's choice of wording to carry you to the quick of the matter. Thanks again my friend, your willingness to participate in this admittedly amateur undertaking is greatly appreciated.
Which brings us to the inimitable A. A. Attanasio, a writer who has landed on the NY Times Bestseller list and remains in possession of the rights to a startling succession of wonderful novels and short stories that could only have come from his singular and often astonishing brain. His debut novel Radix was nominated for the prestigious Nebula award in 1982, and he's also been nominated for both the World Fantasy Award (best novel nominee for Hunting the Ghost Dancer, 1992; and the British Fantasy Award (best novel nominee for Arthor, 1995). In all my years as an avid reader plumbing the depths of fantastical literature, I have stumbled upon very few writers with minds or personalities as incandescent as his. If you've followed his blog entries over the course of the past few decades, you know exactly what I mean. This is a fellow whose short bio on the back cover of his many paperbacks stated "A. A. Attanasio lives off his imagination somewhere in Hawaii," and if that's not the most enviable blurb summing up a professional author, I don't know what is. We are blessed with his return to our merry undertaking this month after he granted me permission to run his breathtaking vampire novelette, Investigations of the Fractal Blood Soul, from which this issue takes its name. I took the liberty of presenting all eight of its parts in traditional Freezine form, replete with an original work of synthographic art to complement each section, and uploaded all of them at once so that our devoted readers could binge the whole thing. Al, thank you so much for your generosity of spirit and your continued interest in remaining an ongoing part of our creative project. I first read your refulgent vampire story in the 2006 collection Twice Dead Things, published then by what appears to be the now defunct Elder Signs Press. I was lucky enough to have acquired for myself one of the limited, signed hardcovers (only 200 in print) which now takes its spot on the highest shelf of books that I own. Your lyrical and evocative style of writing has always set a high bar for me as an aspiring writer of strange and alluring prose. I'm really happy with the digital art I rendered for this tale, a small labor of love undertaken with the hope I could present this serialization in a provocative manner. As far as I'm concerned, this chilling novelette is the perfect capstone to yet another successful issue of our little digital fanzine.
Well, that's another wrap. Stay tuned to the near future, while I await a new slurry of orders from our mysterious benefactors, the nanoFleet (or bloodHost or microHorde, as they've also come to be known), those emissaries from the future who apparently have been dispatched on an enigmatic mission to repair an interim of our developing history for the advancement of our species. You all wouldn't believe the recent spate of missives I've received from them. I have always sensed they are on the side of humanity, yet there still remains a lot of questions as to not just their veracity per se, but how did they come to be sent back in time (from the year 2045 to the year 2009, apparently) by an isolated group of astronauts working for Tesla, Inc. trapped on a space station in orbit about Ceres? This has been the ongoing question growing in my own mind ever since their presence was detected.
You think that's weird... you ain't seen nothing yet. Until the next issue, friends and freaks. This has been your attentive neighborhood editor in chief, signing off for yet another night of tricks and treats. Watch out for those ghouls and ghosts, and remember, beware the moon.
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only on the Freezine of
Fantasy and Science
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