IGMS Issue 26 Read online

  VAUGHN: Those are both out. I also have two Young Adult novels out, Steel and Voices of Dragons. Right now I am working on another science fiction YA. I'm not finished with it yet, so I don't want to talk much about it. I've got more Kitty books in the pipeline. I am considering doing a spinoff novel and branching out and doing more in that world. And short stories. I'm always working on short stories. One of my problems right now is that I've got lots of stuff I want to do and not enough time to do it. So I am having to pick and choose what I work on.

  SCHWEITZER: Thanks, Carrie.

  Letter From The Editor

  Issue 26 - January 2012

  by Edmund R. Schubert

  Editor, Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show

  * * *

  First of all, the long-awaited InterGalactic Awards Anthology - Vol. 1 has just been released by Spotlight Publishing. It's a collection of the winners of the 2010 IGMS InterGalactic Awards Reader's Poll (both the stories and the artwork), plus popular stories from the years before the award was launched. Edited by Orson Scott Card and yours truly (Ed Schubert), it also features an all new introduction by Peter S. Beagle.

  And speaking of the InterGalactic Awards Reader's Poll, voting for the 2011awards will begin next week. Look for the announcement when the polls open -- and remember, you're not just voting for the best stories and artwork published in IGMS in 2011; in all likelihood you're selecting the featured stories for the next anthology.

  While we're on the subject of awards, this would be a great time to mention that the current issue of IGMS proudly presents the Grand Prize winner of the 2011 Hydra Contest for the best Brazilian speculative fiction. "Story with Pictures and Conversation" was written by Brontops Baruq (the author's pseudonym) and originally published in the limited edition magazine Portal Fundação. It is an unusual science fiction story presenting the report of an unnamed official describing a child's words and hand-drawn pictures created during an interspecies war -- as well as a subtler one between her mother and father.

  Our cover story, "Remains of the Witch," by Tony Pi, tells the tale of a flying monkey, Remue, who was taken under the tutelage of the Wicked Witch, only to find that role short-lived when the witch is killed by a bucket of water. But when Remue gathers up the puddle that was once her wicked teacher, she finds the witch's power is not nearly at its end.

  "Arkmind," by Niall Francis McMahon is a powerful science fiction story set in a world where a super nova has forced mankind to fling its seeds away from earth to seek new homes. En route one of the ship's artificial intelligence achieves consciousness, but with all of the humans either dead or in very raw genetic form and still waiting to be incubated, the AI must follow its own bumpy path to understanding what consciousness actually means.

  "Contaminant Source Removed" is a fun YA fantasy about a 12-year old boy named Marco who discovers the hard way that improvising with magic spells can lead to all sorts of unexpected challenges, while "Lair of the Twelve Princesses" by Amanda Davis is a smart retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairy tale as seen from the perspective of a the female warrior and her wish-granting imp, whom she continually vexes by refusing to ask for wishes that he grant.

  Darrell Schweitzer interviews Carrie Vaughn, whose popular Kitty Norville novels have been an urban fantasy hit since their first publication in 2005. But did you know that she's written four other novels, as well as some 50 short stories? See what else you're missing in Darrell's interview.

  Last, but by no means least, we bring you a sneak peek at Orson Scott Card's forthcoming novel, Ruins, the second book in his popular Pathfinder series, due out later this year. IGMS is presenting an excerpt in this issue.

  Off with you, then. It's time to start reading the stories . . .

  Edmund R. Schubert

  Editor, Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show

  P.S. As usual, we've collected essays from the authors in this issue and will post them on our blog (www.SideShowFreaks.blogspot.com) Feel free to drop by and catch The Story Behind The Stories, where the authors talk about the creation of their tales.

  For more from Orson Scott Card's

  InterGalactic Medicine Show visit:

  http://www.InterGalacticMedicineShow.com

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