Fusion Fragment Monthly - October 2023
The Latest from Fusion Fragment HQ
Fusion Fragment #18 Released: The latest issue of FF arrived on September 22nd! You can get your copy for free here: https://www.fusionfragment.com/issue-18/
Next Reading Period: The final reading period for 2024 is just around the corner! FF will be open to submissions for three days on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th of November. Mark those calendars!
Elgin Awards: The Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association announced the winners of its Elgin Awards at the end of last month and a pair of FFers appeared on the list! Avra Margariti (FF#1, FF#8, FF#21) received second place in the Best Full-Length Book category for The Saint of Witches, while Tiffany Morris (FF#7) tied for third place in the same category for Elegies of Rotting Stars.
September Published Works by FFers
Novels! Collections! FFers all over the place in last month's magazine releases! September was a busy month for FF alum--have a look at all the great stuff they put out:
Christi Nogle's second collection of short stories, Promise, was released by Flame Tree Press! This one just so happens to include three stories that have appeared in the pages of FF; "Substance" (FF#1), "The Orbital Bloom" (FF#6), and "Promise" (FF#13). If you loved those, you're going to want to get yourself a copy of this collection!
Speaking of Christi, September also saw the release of Wilted Pages: An Anthology of Dark Academia from Shortwave Press. Co-edited by Christi and Ai Jiang (who's set to appear in an upcoming issue of FF), this anthology includes a host of stories by FFers: "In Vast and Fecund Reaches We Will Meet Again" by Cyrus Amelia Fisher, "Those Shining Things Are Out of Reach" by Octavia Cade, and "Her Finished Wings" by Marisca Pichette.
Jo Miles released the first book of her The Gifted of Brennex series, Warped State. If you're in the mood for a queer, adventurous space opera about activists in space, go check it out!
Weird Horror #7 contained a quartet of stories by FFers: "Cretins" by Thomas Ha, "Mother's Milk" by Annika Barranti Klein, "The Mission House Guests" by Lynn Hutchinson Lee, and "The Painted Boy" by Spencer Nitkey
"A Siren's Call, A Banshee's Wail, A Grandmother's Dream" by Ai Jiang in Uncanny
"Death by Water" by Maria Haskins in Lightspeed
"Diamonds and Pearls" by JL George in PodCastle
"Instructions for the Broken Hearted" by Jordan Kurella in Lightspeed
"Just Another Door" by Alexandra Seidel in The Deadlands
"Hora Somni" by Tiffany Morris in Uncanny
"If Cooler Heads" by Sara Kate Ellis in Shoreline of Infinity
"Lightwaiting" by Cavar in *82 Review
"Simmered in Their Wealth Like the Richest of Sauces" by Jo Miles in Lightspeed
"Sitting Shiva" by Zachary Rosenberg in The Deadlands
"The Cursed Universe Inside Your Eye" by Angela Liu in Fantasy
"The Cursing of Herman Willem Daendels" by A.W. Prihandita in khōréō
"The Leaves Echo what the Body Forgets" by Marisca Pichette in Shoreline of Infinity
"The Looking Glass Pillow" by Angela Liu in Never Wake
Recommendations from FF HQ
I read a pair of amazing books last month--Mona Awad's Bunny and Natalie Zina Walschots's Hench--that just so happen to pair together really well.
Bunny mashes up Mean Girls with witchy goings-on and horror, setting it in a university writing workshop. Hench takes a workplace comedy and reframes it in a world of superheroes and supervillains. Both are often laugh-out-loud funny and show lots of heart, despite going to some very dark places.
Obligatory Photo of Associate Editor Henry
Sleepy boy is sleepy, except for the ears, which are forever on high alert in case he hears a bag of treats being opened.
Signoff Video
