Shawna McCarthy

The Mid-December 1985 issue was the last of the three year reign of Shawna McCarthy as editor of the magazine, although she had been associated with the magazine for at least twice that number of years. It was an excellent finish including stories by James Tiptree Jr, Ian Watson and others, as well as the remarkable "Lord Kelvin's Machine" by James Blaylock. When Shawna took over she turned a rather pleasant little magazine into one that mattered, and published a large number of really show more excellent stories during her tenure. She really caught my attention and got me hooked on the magazine. Gardner Dozois followed Shawna, and turned into a formidable editor in his own right, but I really think Shawna McCarthy deserves the credit for putting it on the path of excellence. My only gripe is that she published those dreadful George and Azazel stories of Asimov's, which I don't think I ever found the least bit entertaining. But just about everything else .... show less

I didn't think I was going to like Realms of Fantasy, but I did. I don't think of myself as a fantasy reader: I think of myself as a science fiction reader. I've been reading a bunch of magazines and Webzines to reintroduce myself to the field after years of no pleasure reading and trying to decide which magazines I want to read on a regular basis.

RoF is a very pretty magazine: beautiful interior art. I miss interior color art from the days of Aboriginal SF. Unlike the other magazines in show more electronic form that I've been reading, RoF in PDF keeps its art: a big plus. I also very much liked the reviews and articles. For example, I found the Graphic Novels reviews much more balanced and less gushy than the ones in Intergalactic Medicine Show. And I especially liked that they had different review sections for Graphic Novels, for YA, etc. For the most part I enjoyed the stories: I read 3 of the 5 stories: I skipped the ones with a medievally setting (I find that I simply can't read those now, and it's not just this magazine), and enjoyed them all. I found that The Swan Troika had a weak ending, but otherwise what I read was good. show less

This review and others posted over at my blog.

This book contains 17 sci-fi stories written by women. The subjects range from alien worlds, post-apocalyptic scenarios, advanced technology and adventures through space.

I initially purchased this book because my goddess Tanith Lee has a story in it and I finally picked it up thanks to Vintage Sci-fi Month. I didn’t dislike any of the stories, though I naturally preferred some over the others. I’m just going to highlight the ones I had the show more most thoughts about.

The Sidon in the Mirror by Connie Willis: This was a slightly trippy look at life in a small community on a mining planet. The world building was fairly complex considering the length, but I think I got a good taste of what Willis created. I enjoyed that characters had a local dialect. Overall it was sad and a little mysterious.

The Jarabon by Lee Killough: Killough created an interesting and compelling thief, as well as a unique form of space travel. I really loved where she went with this and would have loved for this to be a full-length novel. I wanted to know more about her badass thief-lady and her sordid past.

Belling Martha by Leigh Kennedy: This is a post-apocalyptic tale where food is scarce and winter might not end. A young girl has escaped a religious camp and made her way to the city to seek her father. This story was incredibly fucked up and a little gross, but believable. I was really into what was going on and this is another one I’d love a novel of.

La Reine Blanche by Tanith Lee: Tanith gives readers a fairy-tale-esque short about a widowed queen trapped in a tower and a magic raven who comes to see her. This had her classic atmospheric world-building and otherworldly characters, though it deals with some timey-wimey stuff so it was a tad confusing.

Miles to go Before I Sleep by Julie Stevens: Another tale set after some sort of apocalypse has hit the earth and created a divide between those who live in cities and those who fend for themselves in small towns. It had a sort of Mad Max feel because I got the feeling fuel sources were low and perhaps plant life as well? I really wanted a novel of this and I felt that just as I had an inkling of what was going on in this world, the story was over!

The Ascent of the North Face by Ursula K. Le Guin: Alright, I’m calling out this tale because I honestly don’t know what to make of it. There is a party of explorers climbing something, perhaps a mountain, except they refer to sections like the Roof and Chimney. I was confused as to whether these were tiny people scaling a normal sized house, normal sized people scaling a giant house, or if it was really just an oddly named mountain.

Blue Heart by Stephanie A. Smith: The main character in this is a sort of light house warden who can mentally connect to some sort of net that guides spaceships through her area of space. But she’s getting old and worried that she won’t be able to do her job much longer, so she’s looking into transferring her consciousness into a robot. I enjoyed the technology mentioned in this story and the general sadness it evoked.

Fire-Caller by Sydney J. Van Scyoc: This is a tale of slavery and warring peoples and a woman who can create fire from within herself when she speaks to the old gods. Another very atmospheric tale that I would have loved a full-length novel of. Just as I had an idea of what was going on and became attached to the characters, the story ended.

I’m thankful for Vintage Sci-fi Month because it prompts me to pick up some books that I probably would have left alone for who knows how long. This is a great collection for anyone looking for female voices, especially as all of these tales were written in the 80s, just as female writers were really starting to break into the genre and earn respect for their craft. show less

A very average read. No really bad stories, but nothing very exciting either. The most entertaining story was S. P. Somtow's "Dr. Rumpole" which mixes Rumpulstiltskin with Hollywood screen-writing.