So I don't have the issue yet, but I've learned its TOC:

--Afghan Buddha Payback by David Pinault

--Companions to the Moon by Charles de Lint

--The Hotel Astarte by M.K. Hobson

--Pennsylvania Dragon by Stephen Chambers

--Princess Lucinda and the Hound of the Moon by Theodora Goss


I need to say a few things about this TOC:

1) First, it's very cool to see stories in here from my friends, Stephen Chambers & Theodora Goss. Like me, they both attended the Odyssey Fantasy & Science Fiction Writing Workshop, so it's nice to see our alumni so solidly represented in this issue.

2) "Afghan Buddha Payback" by David Pinault is another slush survivor story plucked from the piles by yours truly. It's very different from anything I've seen before, and I take pride in the fact that David has no previous fiction credits whatsoever (I confirmed this with him). It's a helluva way for him to break in, so kudos to the author. He's my first "pure" discovery, so kudos to me too. :)

3) "The Hotel Astarte" by M. K. Hobson is a story you NEED to make a point to read. It's utterly brilliant (and Shawna said something to similar effect when we swapped some emails about this tale), and when the award nominations and year's best anthologies come out next year, this story deserves SERIOUS consideration. M. K. is not one of my slush survivors, so I have no ulterior motive here. She just happened to write a KICK-ASS story and it deserves attention. So I'm opening my e-mouth now. READ THIS STORY AND SPREAD THE WORD SO OTHERS DO TOO. If this story doesn't at least receive consideration next year then the world consists of nothing but a bunch of crackheads. I haven't made any sort of post like this regarding a story at ROF before, and it's not something I do lightly. There are lots of brilliant stories I've read since coming aboard to Realms, so no disrespect is intended to any of our authors. But this story ...just read it. There may be another story I spout off about some months from now too. First Shawna has to buy it though, so in the off chance she doesn't I won't make a fool of myself now in talking about it. But the point is you need to read "Hostel Astarte" or it's your loss.

4) Oh, yeah. We also have a story by Charles de Lint. :)