Number 19, December 2004

Cover illustration by Matt Stawicki

Honourable Mention

E. L. Chen's "Tickling the Siroko's Chin" gained an honourable mention in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Eighteenth Annual Collection edited by Ellen Datlow and Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant.

Reviews

Rich Horton reviews this issue in Locus (February 2005, Issue 529). He mentions three of the six stories, and you can read the entire review here.

G. W. Thomas, on SF Crowsnest, says "Challenging Destiny #19 is a wonderful mix of Science Fiction and fantasy... It's an entertaining and well-written magazine and well worth picking up a copy." You can read the entire review here.

Eric Joel Bresin, on Tangent Online, says "Without doubt, the two best stories offered in Challenging Destiny are S. Evan's 'Ex Libris' and Marissa K. Lingen's 'Anna's Implants.' In the former, S. Evans presents a tale blending together one part pastiche of the old burly detective stories, one part Harry Potter, and a whole lot of creativity. This had to be the most fun story in the issue." You can read the entire review here.

Here are some sneak previews of the stories you'll find in the nineteenth issue of Challenging Destiny:

Tickling the Siroko's Chin by E. L. Chen	Isemi used to dive all the time for sea urchins, shellfish, and abalone. Now she was too afraid, because her stepmother and sister had disappeared into the water. What if the stories of the siroko were true? But her father was ill, and the lord's tax was due soon…
Granvort the Discount Wizard by R. E. Mendel	The King of Thysland wanted a court wizard, after learning his arch-rival the Monarch of Thaghtland had recently acquired one. His cabinet had trouble figuring out how they were going to pay for the wizard, until they realized the King hadn't said anything about a competent wizard...
Last Request by Steven Mohan, Jr.	Katya was in the mood for sushi. So she grabbed her neighbour Amy, whose husband had recently left her to join an apocalyptic cult, and went to the Red Dragon. It was a place you could get "special" items that weren't on the menu, and maybe find a man or two...
Dirt Roads and Robots by Will McIntosh	One day a robot came along and started helping Tommy and his son Wayne fix up an old-style airplane -- which was surprising since robots cost thousands of dollars. Then another robot came along and started cleaning their house, leaving his wife Jacklyn to watch TV -- which is what she did anyway. Things were looking good, but the robots kept coming...
Ex Libris by S. Evans	Henry Champe's former master -- the famous wizard Cassius Jenson -- had died and left him his Library. But Henry had been far away at the time of the death, and now the Library was nowhere to be found. Most of Cassius's possessions had been sold at auction so it will be difficult to track the Library down, but Henry is willing to pay so William Littlejohn, P.I. will take the case...
Anna's Implants by Marissa K. Lingen	Jackie's sister Anna was just finishing up her citizenship class, and soon would get her implants. She was worried about Anna, because she knew all too well what could go wrong. Her other sister Julia had gone crazy after getting Vincent van Gogh's personality implanted in her head...
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The SF of Ursula K. Le Guin review by James Schellenberg	James says, "Le Guin demonstrates that SF can have intelligence, immersiveness, sophisticated prose, and all in perfect balance." He reviews the novels The Dispossessed, Always Coming Home, and The Telling. He also reviews The Language of the Night, a nonfiction book about fantasy and SF.
Interview with Peter Watts interview by James Schellenberg & David M. Switzer	Peter Watts spent 15 years doing marine mammal research and undergraduate teaching. He has a short story collection from Tesseract Books, Ten Monkeys, Ten Minutes. Recently published is a new novel from Tor, βehemoth, Book One: β-Max, which follows his previous novels Starfish and Maelstrom.
How Do You Get the Job You Want? editorial by David M. Switzer	Searching for a job can be a frustrating process. Dave shares some tips he's learned from various sources, including the excellent book What Color Is Your Parachute? He asserts that you'll increase your chances of finding a job sooner rather than later if you read that book. Dave includes tips on resumes, cover letters, interviews, and more.

Last modified: August 2, 2005

Copyright © 2004 by Crystalline Sphere Publishing