Space Is Just a Starry Night

by Tanith Lee

Lee's powerful science fiction collection assembles 12 tales published between 1979 and 2011, plus two originals. All of them showcase her strong, entertaining, and often gorgeous writing. “The Beautiful Biting Machine” packs an irresistible wallop as it describes a sensuous sideshow at the Nightfair, a sort of giant carnival of dark desires. The werewolf myth takes on a deep space element in “Moon Wolf,” in which Lee's prose is lovely: “The ocean came in, sigh on sigh, quintessential sea, to solace the onyx shore, under the solar light that did not glare any more but was smooth as the taste of cream.” The intriguing “With a Flaming Sword” puts an unusual spin on the story of Adam and Eve (in a manner that might fluster Biblical literalists). “Written in Water” also tackles creation myths, with a far grimmer outcome. This is a solid grouping of stories that deserves a broad audience.
  —Publishers Weekly May 6, 2013.

Squaring the Circle

by Gheorghe Săsărman
translated and selected by
Ursula K. Le Guin

These trippy, cutting 24 stories, chosen by SF/F grande dame Le Guin from a collection of 36 originally published in Romanian in 1975, inevitably draw comparisons to Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities. Both explore society and human psyche through architectural descriptions of imaginary cities, but Săsărman's masterfully crafted prose poems feel more immediate, serving as spellbinding descriptions of architectural impossibilities as well as slyly subversive social commentary.
  —Publishers Weekly March 11, 2013.

The Queen, the Cambion, and Seven Others
Conversation Pieces, Volume 35

short stories by Richard Bowes

Richard Bowes' collection of modern Fairy Tales, their Fantasy offspring, and their legendary ancestors presents eight of his stories including “The Lady of Wands,” in which a Fey cop tells her story, that appears here for the first time. Also original to this book is Bowes’ afterword, “A Secret History of Small Books,” which traces the path of Fairy Tales as a refuge for women, gay/lesbian writers, and LGBT readers from the 17th century on.

News from Aqueduct Press Ancient, Ancient by Kiini Ibura Salaam is a co-winner of the James Tiptree, Jr. Award for 2012. The short story "The Receptionist" (in The Receptionist and Other Tales) by Lesley Wheeler is on the Tiptree Award Honor List for 2012. Cascadia Subduction Zone The April issue of Cascadia Subduction Zone: is now available. New e-books from Aqueduct Press! Space Is Just a Starry Night by Tanith Lee Squaring the Circle by Gheorghe Săsărman Necessary Ill by Deb Taber Gaia's Toys by Rebecca Ore The Queen, the Cambion, and Seven Others by Richard Bowes

Necessary Ill

by Deb Taber

Taber's debut novel presents an all-too-credible dystopic future world and, in Jin, a complex character whose mind approaches the world and its priorities in a very different way. The characterization of truly genderless individuals—not androgynes or hermaphrodites—and the portrayal of an approach to the world that is both ruthless and compassionate make this an excellent candidate for book discussion groups and provide strong evidence for the availability of significant genre literature. Highly recommended.
  —Library Journal, starred review, March 15, 2013