Grimdark Magazine, Issue 40, September 2024

by Beth Tabler (Editor), Sarah Chorn (Editor), Scott Lynch

Grimdark Magazine presents the darker, grittier side of fantasy and science fiction. Each quarterly issue features established and new authors to take you through their hard-bitten worlds alongside articles, reviews and interviews. Our stories are grim, our worlds are dark and our morally grey protagonists and anti-heroes light the way with bloody stories of war, betrayal and action.

For our tenth anniversary edition, we've thrown the kitchen sink at this line up. Enjoy!

FICTIONLittle Mermaid, In Passing by Angela SlatterLock and Key by Wendy NikelUnholy Ghost by Mark LawrenceAll the Riches of Suffering by Ben GalleyThe Absolute by Aaron DriesUnder Furious Skies by Christopher BuehlmanThe Dreams of Wan Li by Andrea StewartThe Subtler Art by Cat RamboStones by Anna Smith SparkLocke Lamora and the Bottled Serpent by Scott Lynch (part 1 of 2)NON-FICTIONGrimdark, Home of the Other by Krystle MatarAn Interview with Shauna Lawless (Fiona Denton) Absolution by Jeff Vandermeer (John Mauro)Project Materials Engineering Challenges in Dark Science Fiction Featuring Graham McNeill, Richard Swan, and Essa Hansen by John The Devils by Joe Abercrombie (Sally Berrow)An Interview with J. Michael Straczynski by Beth The Fury of the Gods by John Gwynne (Emma Davis)Mental Health in Fantasy and Science A Changing Landscape by Aaron S. Jones

Genres: Fantasy, Anthologies

219 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 30, 2024

About the author

Beth Tabler, editor of the quarterly issues of Grimdark Magazine and resident cat-herder/jello-nailer for the Before We Go Blog, lives in Las Vegas, Nevada where she takes long-bubble baths while planning her next move to conquer the fantasy and sci-fi review world.

She enjoys whiskey and sticking up for the marginalized with deadly precision. She is on her third SPFBO, and can't wait for more. You will find her with a coffee in one hand and her iPad in the other

Reviews

[Lukasz · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great issue with great stories from Mark Lawrence, Charles Buehlman, Cat Rambo or Ben Galley. It's worth a read, and it's wonderful to see Grimdark Magazine doing reasonably well thanks to the passionate team consistently bringing quality content to each issue.

[Kaustubh Dudhane · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Grimdark survives in the hands of the reader and the writer who sees the beauty in the struggle to keep hope alive. Hope is not a clean thing; it’s hard as nails and covered in blood and wrenched from iron-hard grip of despair. And if we have to get ugly to keep hope in our grasp? So be it.
Long live the desperate hope of those of us deemed obscene.
Long live grimdark."

A fantastic collection of the short stories, interviews, non-fiction pieces and book reviews.

It's been my first experience of reading any Grimdark Magazine Issue. Although, I had a sampler earlier when I had subscribed to their mailing list, I haven't read it initially. The ezine starts with a stunning non-fiction piece by Krystle Matar and the tempo never drops!

Some of my favorite ones are the stories by Mark Lawrence, Andrea Stewart, Wendy Nikel and Angela Slatter. However, the best of the lot for me is the one by Ben Galley. Reading this ezine issue helped me rekindle my love for the gritty grimdark stories.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant mix of insightful articles, reviews, conversations, and short stories from some of the top names in dark fantasy. A worthy 10th anniversary celebration of one of the most consistently entertaining mags in the scene.

And… yo… how you gonna leave us on that cliffhanger until January. Not. Cool. Almost took a star away.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice selection of short fiction by many of the new writers of fantasy & SiFi with the grimdark fell. Recommended

[Kimbot the Destroyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes I forget that magazine short work is the purest form of SFF to inject directly into my eyeholes. I am grateful to rediscover it every few years.
I pray to whatever gods will listen that Scott Lynch continues to write.
I added three series to my tbr based on this one issue alone. Now I have to go through all the back issues.

[Zack Bowen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anna Smith Spark is worth the price of admission alone, and I had honestly forgotten just how much I enjoy Mark Lawrence's work. Krystle Matar's intro essay is fantastic as well.

Some hits, some misses, but well worth picking up for grimdark fans. I have a few new additions to the ol' TBR, and I shake my fist and curse GDM for it

[Darren · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great magazine - the highlights being the Mark Lawrence and Cat Rambo stories as well as seeing a young Locke Lamora!

[David Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

So glad to see Scott Lynch publishing a story set in the world of Locke Lamora! Cliffhanger to January is BS though.

The Christopher Buehlman story set in the world of the Black Tongue Thief was my favorite.

[Terry Rudge · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great magazine. I loved Anna Smith Sparke story and really enjoyed the prose from Buehlman, the grit from Lawrence and the flair from Galley

NGL I came here for Lynch and my gosh, that dude can fucking write!

[Shonipamp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Iv said it once and I’ll say it again million times. My favourite thing to read in between series. A beautiful palette cleanser. Gives me a fix from all my favourite authors! Love it! Can’t get enough of it. The cliffhanger at the end… chefs kiss

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this for the Scott Lynch story. Turns out it was only half a story, so I’ll reserve judgement on that until it finishes. But it was nice to see Locke again!

The Mark Lawrence story, Unholy Ghost, was one of my favorites for the extensive worldbuilding for a short story. I looked but it doesn’t look like there is anything long form in this universe.

The Subtler Art by Cat Tambo was cute and made me think I should check out some of their other work.

But my favorite article was probably the one focusing on materials science with interviews of three sci fi authors. Interested to see more in this series.

[Ctgt · Rating 3 out of 5]

6/10

[Marcus Cokcetin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contains the short stories “Under Furious Skies” by Christopher Buehlman and “Locke Lamora & The Bottled Serpent (Part 1)” by Scott Lynch.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good collection of stories...

I purchased this with a thirst for more Locke Lamora and found myself pleasantly surprised by the other stories contained within. The different authors wove together quick tales that were vivid and rich and kept my attention.

I cannot wait for the next issue and the conclusion of Lamora's little side story. Any time in that world is time well spent.

[Joe Jungers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This magazine had a lot of good bits to it.

Most notable was Scott Lynch's Locke Lamora short story.
(I've been waiting ages for more tales from that setting.)

Good stuff, but (sadly) it's the first half of a 2-part tale.

I'll be back in January to buy the next issue of Grimdark Magazine.

[Jurjen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Logging this in replacement of Locke Lamora and the Bottled Serpent

As with all of Scott Lynch's writing: fun, funny, and sad. Really happy to see Lynch putting out new writing, and I'm excited to see more.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am officially a new Scott Lynch fan.

I just finished reading the Scott Lynch short story and it was so well written. I love his prose and his usage of dialogue and wit. I see why so many people love his books.

[Mari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grim & dark for sure

It does not bait and switch, it is consistently dark, maybe a tad less grim. No heroes here, except for the anti- types ... but if you didn't expect that, you must really not judge a book by it's cover

[Sanoo]

I read this mainly for Locke Lamora and the Bottled Serpent, and I really can't say much on this until january.

[Chris Bowman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Happy to be back in Camorr!!

[Allan Dave Martinez · Rating 5 out of 5]

*Rating just for Locke Lamora and The Bottled Serpent

[Cia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this for the Scott Lynch entry but most of these stories resonated in some way! It was a delight reading what the grimdark community is getting up to nowadays.

[Nate McBride · Rating 5 out of 5]

buehlman and lynch in one issue… boom

I bought this to read the buehlman and lynch stories but was happily surprised by the rest of the gems in here. I’m a new fan!

[Richard Kunze · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought this issue for Scott Lynch’s much-anticipated Gentleman Bastard short story “Locke Lamora and the Bottled Serpent.” It's a bummer that this is only part one of two, but aaah what's another month’s wait when the last entry in this series came out in 2013? And man was it fantastic to finally be back in the city of Camorr! Lynch’s humour, clever dialogue, and beautifully-descriptive prose are on full display here.

Besides that, this issue had some heavy hitters in the grimdark fantasy subgenre, and features stories by Mark Lawrence, Christopher Beuhlman, and more. Particularly enjoyed Beuhlman’s “Under Furious Skies” which follows a secondary character featured in his latest novel The Daughters’ War.