Fusion Fragment Monthly - February 2024
The Latest from Fusion Fragment HQ
The 2023 FFer "Best Of" List
You may have noticed that I'm a little late with the newsletter this month--time to show what I've spent that time putting together! There's been plenty of 2023 recommended reading lists floating around, and I wanted to compile all of the work by FFers that had appeared on these lists!
So, here it is--your official FF-endorsed 2023 "Best Of" Reading List--61 works by 36 FFers! Read away!
FF#20 Release Date: The next issue of FF is right around the corner! We here at FF are taking full advantage of the leap year, and releasing on Thursday the 29th!
Reading Period News: The first swing at an "always-open" reading period model is going well, and we've racked up over 700 submissions since opening up at the end of January. Currently, we're running at about a 5-6 day first response time and <21 days for those stories that undergo additional reads. Regular updates on where we're at in the submissions queue can be found on our Twitter and Bluesky feeds.
Pre-Order FFer Books!: Pre-orders are now available for Cavar's novel Failure to Comply, out in August from Featherproof Boooks, and for Learning to Hate Yourself as a Self-Defense Mechanism, the debut collection by Andrea Kriz (which contains her FF#8 story "Miss DELETE Myself"). It's out in May from Interstellar Flight Press.
FF Reprint Alert!: Always exciting to see an FF original out in the world as a reprint, and Avra Margariti's FF#8 story "Side Effects May Vary" appeared last month in audio form on the podcast StarShipSofa. Have a listen here!
January Published Works by FFers
Another month, another great batch of published work from FFers, who appeared in no less than 20 different magazines in January!
"01101100 01101111 01110110 01100101" by Avra Margariti in Radon Journal
"A Contract of Ink and Skin" by Angela Liu in Uncanny
"A Rabbit Hole" by Vivian Chou in Upbeat Tales
"All the Dead Girls, Singing" by Avra Margariti in Small Wonders
"Diary of the Wolf" by Adam McPhee in Old Moon Quarterly
"FAQ List for Planetary Purification" by Vivian Chou in Radon Journal
"Garlands for Your Bridal Chamber" by Fatima Taqvi in The Dark
"Just You and Me, Now" by KT Bryski in Apex Magazine
"In the Pines" by Jennifer R. Donohue in Interzone
"Mad Studies" by Cavar in khōréō
"Of a Thousand Arms and More" by Ai Jiang in The Dark
"Persistent" by AGA Wilmot in Gamut Magazine
"Slipskin" by Ava DeVries in Broken Antler
"The Cold Inside" by Vanessa Fogg in Metaphorosis
"The Draft Horse Doesn't Leave the Stable at Night Anymore" by Jason P. Burnham in Stupefying Stories
"The Machine Family" by Angela Liu in Radon Journal
"The Pieces of Her" by Lora Gray in Flash Fiction Online
"The Triennial Igneous Tri-Partite Competition" by Pauline Barmby in Stupefying Stories
"To Be a Happy Man" by Thomas Ha in Lightspeed
"We Drink Lava" by Ai Jiang in Uncanny
"We Have Made a Home Beyond Death" by Tiffany Morris in Tales to Terrify
"When It Breaks" by Hannah Greer in Radon Journal
"When We Make It To Bet-Zelem" by Louis Evans in khōréō
"Wreckless" by Malda Marlys in Andromeda Spaceways
"You Cannot Grow in Salted Earth" by Priya Chand in Clarkesworld
Recommendations from FF HQ
Read any reviews or blurbs about Monica Byrne's The Actual Star and at some point the word "ambitious" will probably come up--and here's the thing: It's exactly what you want in an ambitious SF novel. Three intertwined stories, each separated by 1000 years, in the 11th, 21st, and 31st centuries, are woven together expertly to create a satisfying story about societal change and the power of belief. This was my fave read from January.
Meanwhile, my fave movie watched in January was Polite Society. Are you up for a heartwarming story about sisterly love, with the sisters fighting against the pressure of familial and societal expectations? What if I told you it was also a martial arts movie? Did I mention there were multiple heists? And ridiculously campy SFnal twists? The whole thing is knowingly over-the-top, and hilarious throughout. I loved it.
Obligatory Photo of Associate Editor Henry
POV: Your Associate Editor attempts to faith-heal your frustration after you've read one too many AI-written articles about the history of space travel that appear in the submissions inbox.