Review - AC-Mag Fall 2009

Alternative Coordinates (AC-Mag) a production of Zefram Media LLC and edited by Jeff Cochran, published the Fall 09 issue recently. I was very happy to read through the many fine stories published in this issue. My two favorites are "The Ferryman" by Tom Brennan and "A Good Boy" by Desmond Warzel.

I have mentioned before here on my blog, that the online e-zine world is here we will find the next Robert Howard, Robert Heinlein or Isaac Asimov. I haven?t found an author of that caliber yet, but we are getting close and with this issue of AC-Mag we are coming even closer to finding a name that will lite the fantasy and science fiction world on fire.

If you haven't yet picked up this issue, do so, and enjoy the stories. Following are my reviews, and yes these are my opinions so if you like one story over another, and think my reviews are lousy. Feel free to start your own blog, they?re free.

The search for the next big name in SciFi and Fantasy is still on, so good hunting. But for now the big name in bringing SciFi and Fantasy to us is AC-Mag. I can't say enough fro this e-zine, this is where the pulps of yesteryear are here today.

Child of the Pact by C.L. Holland

This is an interesting story about a boys struggle with becoming who and what he is destined to become. It is a fantasy story told from a first person point of view, that flows easily and reads quickly. It is evident that the classic hero?s journey is effortlessly used to tell this story.

I enjoyed the ease of reading this story and the authors writing, but it didn?t grab me until the last few pages and the ending was rather abrupt. Basically the hero laid out his two choices and picked one, all in about two sentences.

The Ferryman by Tom Brennan

A very good story, that tells about a Ferryman that takes travelers to an alien craft, for what we believe is their final journey. It is never stated in the story that this is the journey between life and death, but it is alluded to. The story is about the Ferryman his struggle with doing his job, and his struggle with going back to his previous life or taking the trip across the lagoon to the alien ship him self. In the end he is tempted by a passenger to leave his gondola and go on the alien ship.

The Ferryman is a great model of someone stuck in between, and a good allegory to purgatory.

I enjoyed the writing and it read very easily and caught my interest within the first page or so. It did leave me wanting to know more about he main character, but then I guess that is the mark of a good story.

Gate Weaver by Z.S. Adani

This story never grabbed me, and I have to say that I liked it the least of the stories in this issue. The story is full of fluffy writing that shows a lot, but I was always asking myself, where is this story going.

The Alien Embrace - pt. 2 by Frances Pauli

I enjoyed this story and the authors ability to write and to tell a story. I was a bit put off by the "Humans are an evil world destroying race," point of view that seems to be overly present in a lot of writing and movies these days. But none the less the author can write a captivating story.

I would definitely recommend this for most readers, and hope to see other material by Pauli, just keep the hidden agenda out of it and tell a story.

A Good Boy by Desmond Warzel

This is a very interesting story, and in my opinion the strongest of the stories in this issue of AC Mag. It is about a man that has recovered a runaway boy is in a hotel room waiting to deliver the boy to his parents. Both characters are very well developed and the writing is very good. Some of the back story is easily woven into the tale and provides enough depth for the reader to come to the conclusion at the end of the story.

If anything is missing in this story is that I think Warzel told a very easy story, and is capable of much more. I look forward to seeing more from this author.

A Quiet Corner of Time by Paula R. Stiles

This is another very strong story for this issue of AC Mag. It has been a while since I have read a good time travel story, and this certainly qualifies as a good one.

The story is about a girl, Moira, in the distant future which is attempting to finish her PhD. She has already been in the past to do research, and is now trying to find a quiet place to finish her thesis. Along the way we learn that she escorted some time travelers from the past (actually they are actors traveling around different times to make movies) that basically turned her in to her supervising professor for doing unauthorized research in the past. Moira lands a plumb job as a temporal park ranger in the Paleozoic era where she has all the time she needs to finish her thesis and in the end dispatch the actors that have been popping in and out of her life.

News Flash ---- Alternative Coordinates Publishes Summer 2009 edition

Alternative Coordinates


Here is a quick blast to let you know that one of the best Science Fiction E-zines has published their second issue. Alternative Coordinates released Summer 2009 issue a few days ago. As I have said before and I will say again, this is the fertile ground which will produce the next generation of authors to go down in history. In these fledgling e-zines that take risks and are not biased towards publishing in large part, "established authors", will discover the next Robert E. Howard's, Heinleins, Asimov's and such.

Here is the list of who they have to offer this time;
Tomb by Z. S. Adani
The London Incident by Jennifer R. Povey
The Heart Of The Dragon by Brian Dolton
The Alien Embrace - part 1 by Frances Pauli
A Hissing Sound by Neil James Hudson
Atlantic in Shadow by Benjamin Farthing

A new aspect to the E-zine is that the editor Jeff Cochran has added the ability to download the issue in PDF format, I'm a huge fan of this and really enjoy the ability to print or not to print. Additionally the cover can be down loaded as wall paper, in several different formats.

I'll review as I get the chance to read.

Alternative Coordinates Review

I posted a blog recently http://scifiwriter.blogspot.com/2009/03/alternative-coordinates-publishes-first.html Where I introduced a new E-zine called Alternative coordinates. I have finally made it through the stories in the issue and the following comments. If it appears that I don?t give a lot of detail, well, that?s because I?m not. I want you to go to the website and pick up an issue. It?s only two bucks, and well worth it.

Bedbugs by Edward McKeown - A bug fight on an unexplored planet with a love story. Good character development and depiction of the planet. I struggled with some of the uses of Earth historical references, but enjoyed the read.

Before the End by Abby "Merc" Rustad - This is the story about a father and his daughter on his last day. An average story, I never felt connected with the story and its characters.

Displaced by Doug Hewitt - A man disbelieves religion and finds that parts of his reality are disappearing, he openly discourages his daughter from anything religious or metaphysical. A good story, the end still has me trying to figure out what was the message intended by the author.

The Pressure of Ectasy by T.D. Edge - a new virtual reality system. A good story.

The Sentinels by T.M. Crane ? This is a bug war story with a twist through out, and a surprise ending. I enjoyed the story for its pulp appeal.

City of the Gods by Aliette de Bodard ? This is a fantasy quest story. The style is very readable. This was my favorite of the E-zine.

Mirror of My Mind by Z.S. Adani - An intrusive government, cloning and space colonization. Good world and character building. This is another very good story that lends itself to further adventures in the setting.

Alternative Coordinates publishes first issue

Another resource for new, exciting science fiction, fantasy, horror and speculative fiction, has recently hit the ether.

The name of the e-zine is Alternative Coordinates edited by Jeff Cochran. Its website is www.ac-mag.com (I also have a banner add to the right that you can click on and follow.)

The site is easy to work with, first off you need to register, which is as simple as clicking on register and filling in the spaces. Once that is done you can access the free story ?Bedbugs?, by Edward McKeown. You can pay $2.00 and receive all the stories in the issue. Two bucks is pretty cheap for good Sci-Fi that hasn?t gone through the old media sausage grinder, just to spit out stories that surprisingly sound alike or at least have the same underlying theme.

I like this site, already have the first issue, and I?m currently making my way through the stories.

If you want to know when new issues come out, you can hover over the Magazine Information button, and click on updates in the drop down box that appears. Also if you are a writer you can follow the same drop down box in order to access the submission information page.

I?m ecstatic to see websites like this appear, it harkens back to the old days of the pulps, where the masters of Science fiction speculated on what the future held, Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke, Bester and many others. Robert E. Howard gave us Conan the Barbarian, and he almost exclusively published in the pulps. E-zines are the new pulps and it is here that we will see the emergence of science fiction and fantasy, and it is here we will see the birth of the new Superstar Authors that will give us a fantastic and awesome future.

Best of luck to Alternative Coordinates, I look forward to seeing more issues.