Keystone Chronicles: Fall/Winter 2016

by Juliana Rew (Editor), Marilyn K. Martin, A.P. Sessler

Third Flatiron Anthologies presents "Keystone Chronicles," 19 fresh science fiction and fantasy stories exploring the theme of keystone events. What is a keystone? It's the central stone at the summit of an arch, locking the whole together, something on which other things depend for support, the heart or core of something, the crux. In
storytelling, it is the pivotal message or character who makes it all happen.

The international group of contributors to "Keystone Chronicles" make this a unique and varied collection that is sure to please fans of speculative fiction. And as usual, our "Grins and Gurgles" humor section allows a light-hearted take on the subject.

Stories by Marilyn K. Martin, Sierra July, Brandon Crilly, Maureen Bowden, Edward Palumbo, Judith Field, Zerrin Otgur, Desmond Warzel, Gustavo Bondoni, A. P. Sessler, John Marr, Bear Kosik, John M. Campbell, Sam Muller, Sharon Diane King, Bascomb James, Larry Lefkowitz, Art Lasky, and Damian Sheridan.

Genres: Short Stories

184 pages, Paperback

Published August 20, 2016

About the author

Juliana Rew was an NCAR science and technical writer in Boulder, Colorado, and is editor at Third Flatiron Publishing, publishing SF and fantasy anthologies.

Reviews

[Sheryl Normandeau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Third Flatiron Publishing recently released another highly entertaining anthology, Keystone Chronicles, and once again, I’m delighted with the creative theme. For this volume, writers were encouraged to place a keystone object or concept at the heart of their stories and run with it – and they certainly did. Standouts for me include Marilyn K. Martin’s moon-centric opener "Our Problem Child: Langerfeld, the Moon," Brandon Crilly’s dark and brilliant take on a VR world in “Coding Human,” Maureen Bowen’s delightful mythology of the Three Fates (“Splinters”), the gut-kicking development of Edward Palumbo’s “Desol8,” and Bascomb James’ “TANSTAFFL,” in which there are serious repercussions for tapping into resources of unknown origin. As always, the humorous flash fiction pieces that are included with every anthology are a treat; I especially got a good chuckle out of Larry Lefkowitz’ “Rejection” (the scourge of writers everywhere), and Damian Sheridan’s “Remembrance of Saint Urho” was laugh-out-loud fun. The diversity of style and voice and the solid talent of all of the writers involved makes for a fantastic read.

[Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice collection of sci-fi & fantasy stories. I particularly liked 'Our Problem Child: Langerfeld the Moon', 'The White Picket Fence', 'How Far Away the Stars', 'TANSTAAFL' and 'I Should've Known Better' :)

[Arthur Lasky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of speculative fiction all centered around the idea of Keystones.