Amazing Stories Announces Special 88th Anniversary Issue

Good news everyone! For those who follow my work over at Amazing Stories (my most recent article on alternate Israels was the third most viewed article last week, so thank you for that) I have an important announcement. The world’s first science fiction magazine makes a triumphant return today with a special 88th anniversary issue.

The anniversary issue will be rolled out on the website under the MAGAZINE tab and will feature a classic reprint in association with FuturesPastEditions as well as thirteen other new and reprinted stories accompanied by new artwork, a science feature and a review and interview with the author of The Martian, Andy Weir.

Fiction and non-fiction will be published throughout the course of the month of April with a new story or article appearing approximately every three days. At the end of April the contents will be bundled together, formatted and offered as an E-zine in a variety of formats. If reception of the new issue proves to be popular, the publishers contemplate making a special print edition available as well, so please check it out.

So while you shouldn't believe everything you hear today, I can assure this is real and you will enjoy it!

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. Check out his short fiction. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.

Review: Alt Hist 5 edited by Mark Lord

Being a sub-genre of science fiction, you tend to see an occasional alternate history short story in a SF magazine. Still it does not happen as often as I would like. Are the editors to blame? Do they reject an inordinate amount of alternate history submissions? Or are the authors to blame? Does the lack of historical knowledge among SF writers prevent a larger short fiction library? Maybe it is the audience. They just aren't reading the stories.

That is why I like Alt Hist. It is probably the only publication out there that consistently publishes alternate history. That being said, the magazine could better be described as a publisher of alternative or weird history. Along with pure alternate history, there is steampunk, historical fantasy, time travel and even regular, old historical fiction. Still for those who like their speculative fiction having a historical flavor, you should check out Alt Hist.

The most recent issue (#5) is a solid entry with a few good stories. I didn't particularly enjoy "The Stiff Heart" by Meredith Miller, a tale of post-Civil War New England. It was an odd read that is overly poetic and can be confusing when the point of view changes to second person at one point. Another story you can pass on is "AD 1929" by Douglas W. Texter where F.T. Marinetti convinces Al Capone to go into politics. The portrayal of several historical figures and the era in general was so over the top that it entered the realm of implausibility.

Despite those goose eggs, there were still several good stories you could check out. "After Mary" by Priya Sharma was a unique tale of a Frankenstein-esque character and his "monster" with enough twists and turns that the ending is unexpected. "The Bridge" by Micah Hyatt was a neat story about the construction of a suspension bridge and its connection to a biblical horror.

Then there is "Rotten Parchment Bonds", another entry in Jonathan Doering's the Battalion 202 series that appeared in the previous issue of Alt Hist. It is another story happening in the same British town under occupation by the Germans in World War II. I can already hear the plausibility hounds barking, but it is an good story about how regular people deal with extraordinary circumstances. If you can suspend some disbelief, I think you might enjoy it. One wonders how many more entries we will see and whether Doering has plans for a full novel...

Although there are a couple of stories that can be skipped, Alt Hist 5 was still an enjoyable read. Hopefully more alternate historians will support this publication so we will not need to wait so long for the next issue.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a blogger on Amazing Stories. His new short story "Road Trip" can be found in Forbidden Future: A Time Travel Anthology. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.

Amazing Stories, the world's first SF magazine, is open to the public

The day is finally here guys. I have been talking about it and linking to the beta site, but now I am pleased to announce the reintroduction of the world's most recognizable science fiction magazine – AMAZING STORIES!

Following the completion of a successful Beta Test begun on January 2nd, 2013, Amazing Stories is now open to the public.  Fans of science fiction, fantasy, and horror are invited to join and encouraged to participate in helping to bring back a cherished icon of the field.

For the past several weeks nearly sixty fans, authors, artists, editors and bloggers have been producing articles on your favorite subjects – the literature of SF/F/H, its presentations in media such as television, film, poetry, literature, games, comics and much more. If you haven't got a chance to experience it yourself stop by my author page or read one of my articles. Tomorrow you can see my article on the break down of balkanized North Americas in literature.

All contents of Amazing Stories are free to the general public.  Membership is also free – and entitles members to participate in the discussion, share information and engage in many other familiar social networking activities. Membership also represents a stake in helping Amazing Stories return to publication.  The more members the site acquires, the faster Amazing Stories can become a paying market for short fiction...and it means yours truly finally gets a real paycheck for blogging so hurry up and join already.

Every genre fan now has a chance to help support the creation of a new market for the stories, artwork and articles they all love so much. To visit the site and obtain your free membership, go to Amazing Stories, and don't forget to invite your friends too!

O one more thing. All of the articles I have been posting about from development site should be off-line now. I will try to replace all of them but if I missed a few let me know at ahwupdate at gmail dot com.

What are you still here for? Go and read Amazing Stories. You heard me. Get out!

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update, a blogger on Amazing Stories and a volunteer editor for Alt Hist magazine. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly and The Were-Traveler. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.

Amazing Stories, the world's first science fiction magazine, opens for Beta Testing of Phase 1 on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013

The Experimenter Publishing Company is pleased to announce the  reintroduction of the world's most recognizable science fiction magazine – AMAZING STORIES! Set to relaunch with a Beta Test of its new Social Magazine Platform, Amazing Stories will feature content from 50+ bloggers, covering an enormous array of subjects of interest to genre fans. As a contributor, I am happy to share with you all of the news and updates on this project. The new Social Magazine platform is designed to create an interactive environment that will be familiar to fans with blog content designed to encourage discussion  and take things beyond the usual user-generated content model for social networks.

Originally published in 1926 by the father of science fiction, Hugo Gernsback, Amazing Stories helped to launch both the science fiction genre and its most enduring feature, science fiction fandom.  The magazine is well known for its Frank R. Paul covers and for publishing the first stories by many iconic authors such as Isaac Asimov, Jack Williamson and Ursula Le Guin.  Published continuously from 1926 until 1995, followed by two brief resurrections from 1998 till 2000 and again from 2004 through 2005.  In 2008 Hasbro, the then current owner, allowed the trademarks to lapse and publisher Steve Davidson applied for and eventually received them in 2011. The Experimenter Publishing Company was created in 2012 for the purpose of returning Amazing Stories magazine to regular publication.  The company  shares the name of the original magazine's publisher as homage.

At this year's Worldcon (Chicon 7 the 70th Worldcon, Chicago), Toastmaster John Scalzi talked about what it was to be a fan and concluded by saying

“We are diverse - and we are all in this together.”

We are diverse – and we are all in this together, a sentiment that captures the very heart and soul of what it means to be a fan.  Amazing Stories aims to be a vehicle through which the diversity of fandom can come together.

“We've got authors and agents, bloggers and editors, pod casters and broadcasters; we've got gamers and game designers; artists and art collectors; pulpsters and indie authors; we've got Hugo winners, John W. Campbell Memorial Award winners, John W. Campbell Best New Writer winners, Nebula and Hugo Award winners and nominees and winners and nominees of many other awards;  people who review films, people who make films; we've got fanboys and fangirls; we've got former editors of Amazing Stories, writers who've become synonymous with the field and writers who are just getting started; comic artists, book reviewers; traditionally published authors, self-pubbed authors and authors who've done it all.  The response to my request for participation was phenomenal – it couldn't be more perfect if I had set out with a list of must-haves!” said Steve Davidson, speaking on the diversity of new blog team.

The Amazing Stories Blog Team will cover (for now – more coming!) fourteen popular topics – Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, (lit), Film, Television, Gaming, Comics and Graphic Works,  the Visual Arts, the Pulps, Audio Works,  Anime, the Business of Publishing, Science and Fandom itself.

Amazing Stories' relaunch will take place in two phases.  Those interested in participating in the Beta Test of Phase 1 should contact the publisher at steve.davidson33 at comcast dot net.  Participants will receive full access to the site with Member status and will receive on-site benefits as the project moves forward.

Phase 2 will introduce additional interactivity and user-customization to the site.  Following the completion and testing of Phase 2, the magazine, featuring both new and reprint fiction, essays, photo galleries, reviews and more will begin publication.  Readers who are interested in what the magazine will look like can read two Relaunch Prelaunch issues on line, or download them from the Amazing Stories store.  (Additional Amazing Stories themed product is also available here.)

Guys I can't begin to tell you how excited I am about this. I can't wait for you to read my first articles. I think you will find something that both alternate historians and the rest of fandom can enjoy. If you want more information, feel free to contact me at ahwupdate at gmail dot com or contact Steve Davidson via email at steve.davidson33 at comcast dot net. Or keep an eye out on my own writing blog where I will be providing more details about the upcoming launch Amazing Stories. Plus I will be sharing links to all of the Amazing Stories bloggers sites here on The Update and at my blog (where I will give more in depth coverage to my fellow bloggers).

So please contact Steve and sign up for the beta test. You won't regret it.

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Matt Mitrovich is the founder and editor of Alternate History Weekly Update and a volunteer editor for Alt Hist magazine. His fiction can be found at Echelon Press, Jake's Monthly and The Were-Traveler. When not writing he works as an attorney, enjoys life with his beautiful wife Alana and prepares for the inevitable zombie apocalypse. You can follow him on Facebook or Twitter.