Three of our contributing editors brought in amazing tales. Barb Goffman presents Jason’s Half’s “The Last Ferry,” Cynthia Ward brings us “Quinn’s Deal,” by L. Timmel Duchamp, and Michael Bracken offers “A Reasonable Expectation of Privacy,” by N.M. Cedeño. Two are mysteries and two are science fiction. I leave it to you to figure out which is which. (No cheating and checking the list of stories below…unless you absolutely can’t help yourself!) We have three fantasies this time, too—Larry Tritten returns with a story featuring a djinn and a man with a hankering for travel. Everil Worrell has a date with Death. And in Curios, a short story collection by Richard Marsh, we find 7 short stories featuring a pair of rival curio collectors—with some most unusual items! And, of course, there are some classic tales—A Sharper’s Downfall is a mystery novel featuring Nick Carter, Stephen Wasylyk has a vintage mystery short, and we have rip-roaring science fiction tales from Paul W. Fairman and Malcolm Jameson. And of course we couldn’t forget a solve-it-yourself puzzler from Hal Charles. (Yes, it’s a Halloween solve-it-yourself. I should have included it in one of the October issues, but messed up. Doh! You’ll just have to live with it.) Here is the complete lineup: Mysteries / Suspense: “The Halloween Costume Caper,” by Hal Charles [Solve-It-Yourself Mystery] “Ten Dollar$ a Week,” by Stephen Wasylyk [short story] "A Reasonable Expectation of Privacy," by N.M. Cedeñov [short story] "The Last Ferry," by Jason Half [Barb Goffman Presents short story] A Sharper’s Downfall, by Nicholas Carter [novel] Curios, by Richard Marsh [fantasy and mystery collection] Science Fiction & Fantasy: Curios, by Richard Marsh [fantasy and mystery collection] “Leonora,” by Everil Worrell [fantasy short story] “Travels With Harry,” by Larry Tritten [fantasy short story] "A Reasonable Expectation of Privacy," by N.M. Cedeñov [science fiction short story] “Quinn’s Deal,” by L. Timmel Duchamp [Cynthia Ward Presents science fiction novelet] “Traitor’s Choice,” by Paul W. Fairman [science fiction short story] “Blockade Runner,” by Malcolm Jameson [science fiction short story]

"Humans have been struggling to live on Frogmore for almost five centuries, adapting themselves to punishing gravity and the deadly mistflowers that dominate its ecology. Financier Inez Gauthier, patron of the arts and daughter of the general commanding the planet's occupation forces, dreams of eliminating the mistflowers that make exploitation of the planet's natural wealth so difficult and impede her father's efforts to crush the native insurgency. Fascinated by the new art-form of waterdancing created by Solstice Balalzalar celebrating the planet's indigenous lifeforms, Inez assumes that patronage will be enough to sustain Solstice's art even as she ruthlessly pursues windfall profits at the expense of all that has made waterdancing possible."--

Florentine would flee the art planet Blue Downs with her gorgeous new lover, for a universe where Alain needn't pay a profound price to perform music--but obstacles to a happy union may prove more complex and subtle than Florentine can imagine...or oppose!

In the dog-eat-dog, deal-or-die future, desperate laborer Quinn makes the deal of a lifetime—but is it enough?

Plugged In features two stories of feminist science fiction by WisCon 32 Guests of Honor L. Timmel Duchamp and Maureen McHugh. In "Kingdom of the Blind," Sydney, one of the codemonekys who maintain DMS, the software system that keeps the physical plants of the Benevola Health Network running, suspects the recent outages in the system may be a sign of the system¿s sentience rather than due to simple corruption of its code. Her fellow geeks view the reset button as a possible if drastic solution for restoring the system¿s integrity, but Sydney fears it might be a much too Final Solution. In L. Timmel Duchamp¿s "The Man Who Plugged In," Howard Nies becomes the first male to plug into a Siemens Carapace. And as an ad in the February 2013 issue of The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology notes, the Siemens Carapace is "a prenatal cradle of caring" at the cutting edge of technology, "made of the finest, strongest, most lightweight materials ever produced. Its clean, round lines and soft, silvery matte finish can¿t fail to reassure both the parents and the gestational carrier who wears it that the child within is getting better care and protection than any naturally gestated child."

/Blood in the Fruit/, the hard-hitting fourth volume of the five-novel Marq¿ssan Cycle, focuses sharp, analytical attention on human rights issues. The novel opens in October 2086. After ten years¿ absence, the Marq¿ssan Fleet returns to Earth to determine whether humans should be quarantined, and a young alien, unprepared for the shock of human culture, becomes a dangerous loose cannon taking violent, unilateral action. In the Free Zone, a flood of renegades led by Elizabeth Weatherall establish a fortress; even Hazel Bell, Weatherall¿s lover, doesn¿t know what they¿re up to. In the US, when the government responds to increasing dissent and civil disorder by ratcheting up its repressive tactics, brave and dedicated human rights activists like Celia Espin join forces with the Free Zones in a global challenge that threatens to undermine governments around the world. /Blood in the Fruit/ offers a grand, sweeping story through the eyes of four individuals with markedly contrasting perspectives and experience.

Stretto, the grand finale of the Marqssan Cycle, weaves together the major threads of the Marqssan story and encourages readers, as feminist theorist Joan Haran says, to write beyond the ending. The novel, like the series as a whole, inquires Whose world is it? and shows several possible ways of answering the question through the respective perceptions and perspectives of the novels five viewpoint characters: Alexandra Sedgewick, heir to the Sedgewick estate; Anne Hawthorne, Security operative; Hazel Bell, subversive activist; Celia Espin, human rights lawyer; and Emily Madden, star pupil of the maverick Marqssan, Astrea l Betut san Imu. As always, never predictable, never finished, the consequences of all that has gone before continues to play out. The final volume in the Marqssan series will encourage its readers to write beyond the ending. There are no gift-wrapped resolutions or easy redemptions on offer, rather there is a clear-sighted focus on the always-unfolding consequencesintended and unintendedof personal and political action taken. This is a series that is deeply invested in social transformation while resisting any temptation to consolation. As a resolute utopian, I see this as a hopeful strategy.Joan Haran, author of Human Cloning in the Media