Welcome!

I'm proud to present a record six compelling stories for your entertainment! I've never seen quite this level of enthusiasm surrounding a group of stories from our volunteer advisers. I'm also happy to say that fully half of these stories are debuts by new authors — thanks for supporting them! The issue begins with "Floaters Can't Float", an impressive debut story by Pip Coen. An unexpected artifact of time travel causes a zone of New York to become unlivable, and an old archiver guides a reporter through the zone. This is one of those stories that is difficult to capture with a brief synopsis, but it is both poignant and novel (6400 words). The second story in our line-up, Deborah L. Davitt's "Demeter's Regard," is a moving story about a generation ship and the deep relationship that springs up between the ship AI and a man born several generations into the voyage. (5000 words). Our third story (another debut), "Quantum Coursework" by Marcus Holm, is a very fun, technical story about a recursive universe simulation. It's a story that is hard to hold in your head but entertaining to discuss (2889 words)! Next we have "Samaritan" by Karl K. Gallagher, a coming of age story about a boy raised on an Amish-like moon colony. It's a feel-good journey of personal discovery (5600 words). Our fifth story is a near-future tale, "Aspiration Value" by Mike Reeves-McMillan. The story follows a social media model as she navigates a world where her livelihood depends on maintaining a polished veneer in nearly every aspect of her life (2900 words). In our final story, Matt Raviner has crafted a quick, interesting time travel debut in the form of "The Meta Traveler." It's a short work about a brilliant and power-hungry would-be despot who uses time travel as a weapon (1959 words).

One last thing: I'd like to hire a part-time editor to help get more stories out on a more frequent basis, but the magazine currently just barely covers the cost of publication rights that we pay to our authors. If you enjoy the magazine, please help us spread the word online and consider supporting us on Patreon (if you don't already). Your patronage keeps the magazine alive and stimulates the creation of great science fiction. We'll be back with more stories in June!

Take care my friends,

Joe Stech
Editor

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P.S. You can also buy issue 1, issue 2, issue 3, issue 4, issue 5, or issue 6 from the Kindle Store.

Compelling Issue 6

April/May 2017

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