The Best of Beneath Ceaseless Skies Online Magazine, Year One

by Scott H. Andrews (Editor), Marie Brennan, Richard Parks

Fourteen short stories of literary adventure fantasy from _Beneath Ceaseless Skies_, the pro-rate online magazine Rich Horton calls "a really important source of fantasy."

Features authors including Marie Brennan, Richard Parks, Chris Willrich, and 2009 Campbell Award finalist Aliette de Bodard. Includes “Thieves of Silence” by Holly Phillips, named to Locus's 2009 Recommended Reading List, and “Father's Kill” by Christopher Green, winner of the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Short Story of 2009.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Fiction

341 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 10, 2010

About the author

Scott H. Andrews is a writer of science fiction. He teaches college chemistry. He is Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of the fantasy magazine Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

Andrews's short stories have appeared in Weird Tales, Space and Time, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, On Spec, Crossed Genres, and M-Brane SF.

Reviews

[Esther · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back when Beneath Ceaseless Skies first launched I used to read the online stories fairly regularly. Over time, work plus not wanting to read so much on-screen meant that I lost track of the publication.

Reading this anthology reconnected me with the publication and I'm really glad it did. I remember stories like Marie Brennan's "Driftwood" and "The Tinyman and Caroline" with great fondness. Most of the stories were new to me and I pretty much enjoyed all of them. A particular stand-out would have to be Christopher Green's "Father's Kill".

I'm so glad to have made this (re-)discovery and I will definitely continue reading these "best of" collections.

[Also, the anthology was a great length. Enough material to be satisfying, but not so much as to be overwhelming]

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a few good stories, but also a few that should have been left out of this "Best of" anthology. "Thieves of Silence", "The Tinyman and Caroline", and "The Sword of Loving Kindness" are excellent. "Blighted Heart", "Dragon's Eyes", "Driftwood", "The Mansion of Bones," "Silk and Shadow" and "The Alchemist's Feather" were quite good. "Kreisler's Automata" was pretentious and "The Mathematics of Faith" was poorly crafted.

[Sue Chant · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mixed bag of mostly dull fantasy. Ailiette de Bodard was quite good but the rest, meh!

[Fantasy Literature]

Issue 131 is the fifth anniversary issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and it has five extraordinary tales. The first is “Cherry Blossoms on the River of Souls” by Richard Parks. Parks’ tales, usually set in an unnamed Asian country that bears a close resemblance to Japan, often deal with characters who need to find themselves. This tale is no different. Hiroshi, a boy, tends to stare down a dry well in much of his free time, for to him the well is full of music. No one else can hear it, though. Hiroshi’s uncle tries to dissuade him from listening to the well, instead encouraging him to engage in usual childhood pursuits, but Hiroshi finds the games of children tedious, unchanging and, well, childish. Hiroshi finally decides to go into the well to find out what is there. His experiences can be summed up in a thought he has again and again: “This is a very strange cave.” There is much for him to learn there, however, and we learn those ... Read More:
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/maga...

[Dan Smyth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gave up on reading this anthology after about halfway through. It was just way too literary for me. Tons of stuff that doesn't make sense. Loads of stories that don't have endings. It just wasn't for me.

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

This anthology has a lot of excellent stories in it, and there are a few where I'd be very interested in reading more set in the same universe.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just read it. Then read the magazine. Then wonder how they can bear the pain of selecting the best of such good work. They're all this good. I'll have to put year two on my to read list.

[Judi Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Especially the opening story by Chris Willrich.