Writing Shift

The Magazine of Speculative Fiction

Winter 2010

There’s a certain time of year, month, or day that seems to be anti-creative as far as writing goes. For me, early winter is reading weather. If I can't motivate myself to write (easily done when the sun is shining and the air is hot), then I can at least recharge my creative batteries with a good story, or book. And that brings me to the following four tales.

Each of them thought provoking, all of them the best of the bunch. I thought I would have a problem choosing the right ones to publish, and though I received many, I had no problem plucking these from the slush. They were like warm coals that called to me from the autumn cold. And now that it's winter, they are still warm, still bright, and still just as good as before.

For those who have been here before, you'll notice that this issue doesn't have an author interview. In its stead are two book reviews of two very interesting, yet very different, books on the craft of writing. I've also included three links to websites dealing with either reading, or writing. The writing site is a grammar book in html. The two reading sites are, one, a charity I've given to in the past and would hope that you, if you've enjoyed this website, will decide to give to in the future; and two, an online library that I have found to be a very enlightening resource.

I've made these changes because I felt that Writing Shift had begun to go through its own winter. It had grown stagnant for me and I desperately needed to reinvent, reimagine, and recreate. I needed to put new leaves on the old trees, if you will. I hope that what I've done is, to you, informative and enticing. If I've added one thing to this fifth edition that pushes you out of your own winter, or into a brighter summer—one thing that helps you look at writing and reading in a new way—then I'm satisfied that I've done my job.

Enjoy!

     A Human Failing by Richard Zwicker

The Ley of the Land by Sandi Reed-Chan