Coming Shortly
Black Static #59 is being uploaded to the printer even as I write and so I'm nipping in quickly to tell everybody about the Case Notes section of the magazine before Andy shows up and steals my thunder with his full inventory of the magazine's contents.
Here's what we've got for you this time around:-
WEIRD WANDERINGS: GWENDOLYN KISTE
An in-depth review of Gwendolyn Kiste's debut collection And Her Smile Will Untether the Universe, plus an interview with the author.
KAIJU REVISITED
Reviews of four titles from Apokrupha:- Marta Martinez Saves the World by Victorya Chase, Home Birth by Jessica McHugh, Ghost in the Machine by K.H. Koehler, and The Thing in the Ice by E. Catherine Tobler.
JOYCE CAROL OATES: 13 STORIES IN 2 BOOKS
Reviews of JCO's latest short story collections, The Doll-Master and Other Tales of Terror and Dis Mem Ber and Other Stories of Mystery and Suspense.
GRAB 'EM WHILE THEY'RE YOUNG
Reviews of two Young Adult novels:- Fir by Sharon Gosling and In the Dark, In the Woods by Eliza Wass.
SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS: TWO TO GO
Reviews of two short story collections:- Nights of Blood Wine by Freda Warrington and Singing With All My Skin and Bone by Sunny Moraine.
SIX NOVELS
Reviews of six novels:- Evil Games by Angela Marsons, Rawblood by Catriona Ward, Thin Air by Michelle Paver, The River at Night by Erica Ferencik, The Last One by Alexandra Oliva, and Aletheia by J. S. Breukelaar.
That's seventeen titles reviewed this issue, all of them written by women, which takes our tally for the year so far to fifty eight titles reviewed and twenty six of them either written or edited by women (45%).
Last time I checked, the corresponding figures for books received was eighty eight titles, thirty of them with a female by-line (35%).
A couple of months back, when announcing the contents of #58, I noticed that the gender balance needed adjusting to maintain fairness, and said "I aim to have the next issue focus on the work of female writers, and to make it even more interesting/challenging, they'll be writers I've never reviewed before".
I'm happy to say I hit my target for once, and indeed it appears I may have overcompensated a tad.
Oh well!
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