We’ve already announced the poetry, but let’s announce it again, because good news never gets old:

My Planet / Silence and Noise, by Bogi Takács
Song For a Spider, by Kimberlee Smith
When the Core Died, by David C. Kopaska-Merkel & Kurt MacPhearson
White Man’s Burden Redux, by Day Al-Mohamed

And the fiction line-up is (final TOC order is yet to be determined):

Heads You Win, by Lydia S Gray
Wyoming, by Grant Stone
Feed the Meter, by Nicole Feldringer
The Battery, by Conor Powers-Smith
Dead on Departure, by David Wesley Hill
Brothers, by Igor Teper
Oak Openings, by M. Bennardo
The Dead Pilot, by Gary Cuba
Addiction, by Tsana Dolichva

And of course, our cover art is from the fine L.E. Badillo.

As you might’ve noticed, this TOC is a lot smaller than the issue #2 TOC. That’s due to some unexpected budget constraints (which really means Sam is suddenly earning a lot less from the day job than he was).

These budget constraints are also going to affect the zine moving forward. We’re thinking of adopting a one (perhaps two if they’re short) story, one poem a month policy. However, we’re still considering options, and aren’t going to rush into making a decision one way or the other. If you have any ideas, let us know! Until we have decided on how to take the zine forward, submissions will remain closed. We’ll post an announcement here on the blog, and on facebook and twitter when we reopen.

Back to the here and now: you might also notice a few repeat contributors in this issue. Lydia S Gray, M. Bennardo and Gary Cuba all graced issue #2 with their presence, and are gracing issue #3 also. There’s a fun tale to tell about Lydia’s story, but we’ll wait until after it’s published to regale you with it.

The other major change this issue is that there’ll be no ebook. The stories and poems will be released weekly on the site, as per the last two issues, but we won’t be providing an ebook option. This is due to time rather than money. We may provide a pdf option for free download.

We’re still hoping to launch the first story of issue #3 on May 1, so keep tuned to this station!

You’re probably wondering how issue #3 is coming along. Pretty well, thanks. Other Life Stuff has gotten in the way a bit over the last couple months, though, so we are going to have to push the issue #3 launch date back from 1 April to 1 May.

With that in mind, we’re closing to fiction subs a week from today. There are still plenty of open fiction slots, so if you’ve got a story you think we’ll like, send it in. For those of you who’ve been sitting in our sub pile from mid-Jan (the oldest sub we’re considering was sent in on the 13/01/12), don’t worry, we haven’t lost your stories (and we’re considering them with much thoughtfulness). We’ll be getting back to you with a yea or nay shortly.

You might have noticed we’re already closed to poetry subs. That’s because we’ve filled our issue #2 poetry slots. Four fine poems from four very fine poets. Keen to know who? Good, because we’re raring to tell you.

Issue #3 will feature the following poems (though their order in the TOC won’t be determined until we’ve got the issue filled):

My Planet / Silence and Noise, by Bogi Takacs
Song For a Spider, by Kimberlee Smith, by Kimberlee Smith
When the Core Died, by David C. Kopaska-Merkel & Kurt MacPhearson
White Man’s Burden Redux, by Day Al-Mohamed

And, finally, we’ve received the finished issue #3 cover art from L.E. Badillo. It is superb. We thought about dishing out bite-sized preview chunks over the next few weeks, but it’s too good to hold back. So here it is. Feast for the eyes:

Awesome, right? Once we have the short story side of the issue sorted we’ll be back with a TOC. In the meantime, why not enjoy this week’s story releases?

So, if you haven’t already noticed, we’re here to tell you that we’ve reopened to fiction and poetry subs. On top of that, we’ve increased our maximum accepted word counts to 10,000 across all genres. 2-5k is still our sweet spot and the longer a story is the more it’ll have to do to win us over, but the nuts and bolts is we’ve upped the max word counts.

We look forward to reading your submissions soon!

Like with last issue, we’ve got three formats available in our shop. .mobi (for Kindle), .epub (for Nook, Kobo, iReader, Sony), and .pdf (for pretty much everything, especially your PC).

If you’d prefer to get your Kindle copy through Amazon, you can (though we get more of the money pie if you buy through us).

Within the next few days .epub versions should be available through Barnes and Noble, Apple and other .epub retailers, and are already available at Smashwords.

Get in there, why doncha? We’re sure you won’t be disappointed.

As an aside, if you’re a writer and/or a poet, we’re reopening for subs within the next 24 hours.

Buy Comets and Criminals #2. Tell your friends to as well. It’ll be a great way to start the new year!

Nayani is the title, and here’s a sample to whet your appetite:

Dr. Elizabeth Lerner-Saint David burst into my office as if it were her own. I didn’t have to look up from my motley to confirm her intrusion. Everyone else aboard Vero-Avalon Station had the decency to knock first.

“Mahesh,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “It’s the baby.”

Here it is. We’ll discuss it a bit below.

Issue #2 TOC

The Case of the River Monkey Taxidermist, by George S. Walker
Two for the Starry Night, by Suzanne Palmer
A Killer on the Quirinal, by Owen Dando
Defenestrated, by WC Roberts
Mayflies, by Lydia S Gray
Night Train to Pellucidar, by Josh Wolf
#55: orson wilders whirl of the words, by KC Wilder
Sheriff Blaine and the Four-Armed Desperado, by Jack Skelter
Authority, by Shane M. Gavin
e-book only release Garrote, by M. Bennardo
Anezka, by Bruce Durham
The Aubergine Wok, by Nicky Drayden
The Emperor’s Grandson, by Jennifer R. Povey
Photographing Minnesota Pete, by Gary Cuba
Dark Steel, by Jonas David
The Cold, by Robert Raven
The Forty Elephants, by Nancy Charley
Star of St. Diable, by Rob Rogers

#

Damn, that looks like a good lineup. And we should know, seeing as we’ve already read the stories. We’ve got some great genre mixes in this issue, folks, together with some just as great mono-genre stories. We’ve got historical detective tales (some of which might involve aliens), historical space opera stories, space detective stories, spec-fic detective tales, western stories, historical stories and poems, science-fiction tales, and others that struggle to be classified as anything other than ‘really, really good.’ We’ve got robots and aliens and shapeshifters and cowboys and superheroes and cops and historical figures, and mice wearing spectacles.

You might notice some familiar names in that lineup (including authors who appear in issue #1 of C&C), as well as some names not so familiar. The balance we have between experienced writers (in terms of sales) and those not-quite-so is something else that makes us feel this issue is very special.

You might notice that M. Bennardo’s story, Garrote, has a wee note next to it that states ‘e-book release only.’ We’re trying something a little different this issue. Those who buy the full ebook get Garrote as an easter egg. Believe me, buying the issue will be well worth it for that story alone (actually, buying the issue would be well worth it for any of the stories and poems in that ToC).

Some of you may be familiar with M. Bennardo’s work editing the best-selling Machine of Death series (MoD2 is arriving soon). Well, he was kind enough to send a MoD-themed story of his own our way. While this story uses the MoD concept, it’s completely exclusive to Comets and Criminals. As a testimony to the quality of M. Bennardo’s writing, his fiction has appeared in Asimov’s and Strange Horizons, among other places. We’re excited to be able to offer this story to those who purchase issue #2.

That, really, is the icing on the cake. We think all the stories and poems that will appear in issue #2 of Comets and Criminals are absolutely excellent and we can’t wait to unleash this bad boy on you all. Bring on Jan 1, 2012! Be here!

KAPOW!

It’s pretty great. Lou Badillo captured the mood and setting we wanted perfectly. Perhaps even better than perfectly. It’s based on the zine’s opening story (yes, a complete ToC, in order, will be released in a day or two), and gives us Goosebumps of Anticipation! every time we look at it.

And, without further ado (because we’ve ado’d a fair bit, really), here it is:

Stay tuned for the full ToC, folks. This issue will be full-on fantastic from front to finish.

I really didn’t want to do it, not on a night like that. It was cold, late, and I could practically smell the steam from Zelma’s casserole wafting into the narrow hallway of our apartment, where it would linger like a promise of good things to come. In my mind’s eye, I was already kicking off my shoes and swinging little Toby, the four-legged surrogate for the kid we’ve been talking about these past months, into my arms.

But instead here’s me: Captain’s Orders, parked across the street from the Grand Hotel, watching everything get wet. The rain, it just came down. It slapped awnings, window sills and passing cabs, reflected colourful neon trim from the gutters. Somewhere behind one of those lighted third-floor rectangles, a freshly-minted widow, unaware of her newfound marital status, was ironing her deceased husband’s shirt; chatting to her sister in Poughkeepsie on the telephone; waiting for the tell-tale ratchet of a key in a lock … later than usual tonight, perhaps, but probably not by much. Maybe she hadn’t noticed it yet.

Read more…

The story is entitled Rabbits and Americans in the Town of Yam, written by RJ Astruc.

The rabbits are in the Salinger today.

“Hullo there, little lady,” says Aryan, and the rabbit keens to him, purring like a cat. “Welcome to the end of the world.”

The poem is entitled Okeanos, and is written by Maude Larke. Go read it. It’s very good.

In my experience, those who beg for mercy seldom deserve it. I deserved it so I didn’t beg. My mother let up anyway after a few seconds and said, “Stephen, when are you going to learn to comb your hair before you come down for breakfast? I’m sick of having to do it for you.”

I watched my mother fight her way into a coat that was too thin for the weather, and went back to my room to think about last night.