This is the home page for Boundary Shock Quarterly. We are a Syndicate of over a dozen speculative fiction authors, putting out a quarterly magazine of stories all inspired around a single theme.
As we are in the process of launching, not everything is done, and there will be more stuff coming visible as we get it all done. For regular news, I suggest you sign up for the newsletter. As a rule, those will come out a few weeks after each issue, as a reminder to people that the issue is out, and to teaser/preview the next issue.
Our issue schedule looks like this:
- 004 – Robots, Androids, Cyborgs, Oh My (Fall 2018)
- 003 – Grand Theft Starship (Summer 2018)
- 002 – Tuesday After Next (Spring 2018)
- 001 – Captain’s Log (Winter 2018)
There will also be interviews with Syndicate members, answering questions like “Why this story?” and such.
Starting Year Two (Issue 005), we have also begun to invite Special Guest Authors to participate on a one-time basis. Partly, this is so we can try them out for future openings in the Syndicate, as I expect authors to come and go over time. Life happens. Best plan ahead.
So what is Boundary Shock?
Each issue has a theme. Let’s take Issue 001 as an example. As the editor, I challenged all of my authors with this topic:
-
- For many of us, those opening words “Captain’s Log…” were our introduction to our science fiction dreams. Voyages to explore strange, new worlds, seek out new life, and boldly go. What will we find out there, when we go? What dangers will we confront? Who will survive?
The result was 70,000 words of exciting fiction, ranging across the spectrum of ideas, from serious to silly. From Horror to Heart.
Also, as editor, I am not fulfilling the traditional role. The members of the Syndicate send me their story as they want it published. My job is to read them all, organize them, and publish the issue, with fantastic covers by the Fabulous Publisher Babe(tm). Because we are a closed Syndicate, I don’t have to read slush, and the stories I get will hopefully be good.
We are working on the royalty-share model here. And the egalitarian version, at that. The editor gets a share of every dollar that comes in the door, but authors share the rest. Many others setups don’t start to pay authors until the up-front costs are recouped, but we have a model here where my costs are relatively low, and I’m not trying to make a living from the magazine, as I have more than a dozen novels out myself and make a living from my own science fiction.
So what will you get? Speculative fiction from a vast mix of mindsets and opinions. Eventually, Guest Authors. Hopefully, one of these days, graphic art and maybe a poet or songwriter, so I can have a space rock-opera. Who knows.
But stay tuned. This will be a grand adventure, and we’re going to have fun.