Number 3, July 1998

Cover photograph by David M. Switzer

Reviews

Michael H. Payne reviews this issue on the Tangent web site. His favourite story is "The Eighteenth Vow" by Bonnie Blake, and he says "This is Buddhist SF with footnotes quoting appropriate portions of the sutras and everything. An interesting story, too."

Ken M. Ellison reviews this issue on the New Hope International Review web site. You can read the entire review here.

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

The Eighteenth Vow by Bonnie Blake illustrated by Stefan Valent	Mara chooses seven to participate in the seven tests. The winner will take all. So it has always been, and Mara has always been the winner. But this time one of the competitors is not what she seems...
illustration for The Eighteenth Vow by Stefan Valent
Progeny by Tom Olbert illustrated by Chris Jouan	Humans, at least the rich ones, have left Earth behind. The poor are struggling to survive, but it's hard to avoid the ultimate predator--dragons. Dragons have been genetically engineered to bear the children of the rich. But no one has asked the dragons how they feel about this...
The Cross-Genre Police by Hans Albanese illustrated by Screamer	Goldi, formerly known as Goldilocks, and Daneiko, the tiger from "Little Black Sambo," are members of the Cross-Genre Police. Their mission: apprehend a dragon who has illegally kidnapped a princess from another genre. Seems straightforward enough, but when genres get mixed up anything can happen...
illustration for The Cross-Genre Police by Screamer
Atlas and the Alchemist by Robert Vanderwoude illustrated by Alton Lawson	Reintz de Ruijter is captain of a ruthless company of mercenaries. But he leaves his campaign behind to rescue the woman he loves, Saskia, who has been accused of murdering her husband. Reintz vows to figure out what really happened, but one way or another he will free Saskia...
The Way of the World (Part 1 of 2) by Erik Allen Elness illustrated by Hal Hefner	The world is not what is once seemed. Preston's uncle Randall has opened a whole new world to him--a world of magic. Preston eagerly becomes Randall's apprentice. But in this world where unicorns, shapeshifters, and dragons exist, Preston isn't sure who to trust...
plus
Stanislaw Lem in Print and Film review by James Schellenberg	Here's how John Clute, in his Science Fiction Encyclopedia, describes Stanislaw Lem: "ferociously intelligent, deeply contemptuous of almost any American SF novel ever written, and probably the best (and certainly the most famous) single SF author of the late 20th century not to write in English." James reviews several of Lem's novels, a collection, and the movie version of Solaris.
James Alan Gardner Explains Himself to the World at Large interview by James Schellenberg & David M. Switzer	James Alan Gardner is a technical writer, a kung fu artist, and a pianist. He also writes science fiction and fantasy. He's written a number of short stories, including the hilarious "Muffin Explains Teleology to the World at Large." His first two novels, Expendable and Commitment Hour, have recently been published by Avon.
What Can We Learn From Star Trek? editorial by David M. Switzer	A future in which humans are still around -- but more than that, we've solved many of the problems that plagued us in the twenty-first century. Dave examines some of the things in Star Trek that point to how to get to a future like that, and he also examines some things that aren't so great about the world of Star Trek.

Last modified: December 2, 2001

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