Galaxy's Edge #1 by Mike Resnick
A review by Sandra Scholes
Galaxy's Edge is a new science fiction magazine that will be coming out every two months and mixes new stories, reprints, reviews and columns. Of the reprints, they will be written by well-known authors, just as the new fiction will be penned by the not so well known writers. As would be expected, these authors have the same level of talent no matter how well-known or not well known they are. Mike Resnick's The Editor's Word takes readers into the intricate world of the science fiction magazine, starting with Amazing Stories back in 1938 which had published many of the science fiction greats; Heinlein, Vogt, de Camp, Simak and Sturgeon. His seven pages make interesting reading, especially if you do not know the history of some of the best magazines in their early days.
Paul Cook writes the book reviews and also being a writer of eight books of sci fi, and an instructor and editor of the Phoenix Pick Science Fiction Classics Line, he has plenty to take up his time. In the first issue, of Galaxy's Edge # 1, he gets to review Count to A Trillion by John C. Wright, Firebird (An Alex Benedict Novel by Jack Mc Dewitt, The Big Book of Adventure Stories by Otto Penzler, Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey, Ready Player One by Earnest Cline, and After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Kress. There is one thing to consider with this magazine, that while most in the field accept submissions from outside the magazine, this one does not. It is an invite only magazine.
In Something Different by Horace E. Cocroft, he discusses the economics in science fiction and fantasy as there are economic conditions in many famous books such as The Great Gatsby, The Grapes of Wrath and Lord of the Rings. With a good sense of humour and of course comic timing he is able to question how characters earned their money, supporting them in a world where the economic climate was at best primitive. Topics that are under scrutiny are Bilbo's monetary wealth before Smaug's loot was stolen from him, paying for drinks at Quark's Bar in Deep Space Nine.
As far as the stories are concerned, there are many that are suitably memorable, including this one, "Just a Second," by Lou J. Berger where Frederick Thomas sees a sign outside a shop that says "Buy a Second!" Most people who pass by don't understand what the sign means, but he walks in and the shop owner tells him what she sells. This story acts as a cautionary tale as Frederick is the sort of man who is never satisfied with what he has, whether it’s women, money or anything else. He is the one whose cup is always half empty and he only wants more. Frederick wants to get ahead of everyone else as he has a high opinion of his own abilities when he is at work and uses women for his one-night stands, then discards them like trash when he gets bored. Don’t worry though; he does get his comeuppance as well he should right at the end.
"The Bright Seas of Venus, " by Stephen Leigh isn’t the kind of story you would expect to be featured in here as it stands out as one of the best in this issue. The title is deceptive as much as it is amusing and the entire short story (one of the shortest in here) is taken from the point of view of the writer, Stephen Leigh. I felt I had to pick out my two favourites from this first issue, and these were the ones that stood out for me, but there will be many who think differently.
