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BCS #456 ebook is out early today at @WeightlessBooks & Kindle Store and for subscribers, featuring stories of art and society by returning BCS authors Alma Alexander and Tamara Vardomskaya, behind new cover art by Anthony Avon.
https://weightlessbooks.com/fiction/beneath-ceaseless-skies-issue-456/
https://www.amazon.com/Beneath-Ceaseless-Skies-Issue-456-ebook/dp/B0GXQG1RXJ/
#fantasy #sff #shortstory #litmag #ebook
From the BCS Archives, especially for our readers in Virginia today:
"A Manslaughter of Crows" by Chris Willrich, BCS #341.
As I recalled, the original such mainmast, rising somewhere in the city, was from Pirate Empress Zayne’s flame-adorned flagship the Salamander. On that account, the business of drawing the Hulls across the city's quarters was sometimes called Salamandering.
https://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/a-manslaughter-of-crows/
#fantasy #sff #vote
The moth-eaten republican institutions of ancient Eldshore had been re-tailored with egalitarian trappings by Pirate Empress Zayne fifty years ago, and officials were now Chosen every year by a thin slice of citizens. Zayne had labeled those who were eligible to stand for office, and to participate in the Choosing of the officers, the Free Brethren, in model of the Spiral Sea corsairs she’d dallied with in exile. She’d still been firmly in charge, but many decisions had been left to a consensus of the officers in much the manner of corsairs choosing their captains, or their targets.
Live in BCS #455: "The Long Weeping Arms of the Parasitic Horde" by Bee Hyland.
"Jain Balsam is a hero. All of the stories say so! She protects the weak, she slays wicked Beasts and all assorted evildoers with strength unrivaled. ADDENDUM 4: Her hair, untied from its usual braid (a remarkably beautiful sight in and of itself), must bellow in the wind as she removes her helm to brood while she stares at the twilit sky."
https://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/the-long-weeping-arms-of-the-parasitic-horde/
#fantasy #sff #shortstory
Jain Balsam is a hero. All of the stories say so! She protects the weak, she slays wicked Beasts and all assorted evildoers with strength unrivaled. ADDENDUM 4: The knight-of-Syl must do the following: save those who suffer, destroy evil, and be strong. Her hair, untied from its usual braid (a remarkably beautiful sight in and of itself), must bellow in the wind as she removes her helm to brood while she stares at the twilit sky.
New Issue: BCS #455 out today, featuring stories stories of odd quests and identity by Alex Irvine and Bee Hyland, behind cover art by Silas Goewey.
https://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/issues/issue-455/
#fantasy #sff #shortstory
From the Archives "The Sweetness of Honey and Rot" by @mercwolfmoor , from BCS #254, who has a new story in BCS #454 right now.
"Jiteh remembers when Gurteh, father of the spring's tithe, broke down sobbing and refused to drink. The sloths skinned him as they had the tithe and added his flesh to the broth. Each villager was then made to drink two spoonfuls. No one has refused since."
https://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/the-sweetness-of-honey-and-rot/
#fantasy #sff #shortstory
Jiteh remembers when Gurteh, father of the spring's tithe, broke down sobbing and refused to drink. The sloths skinned him as they had the tithe and added his flesh to the broth. Each villager was then made to drink two spoonfuls. No one has refused since.
From the Archives w BCS #454: "Let the Gods Drown With Us" by R.K. Duncan, from BCS #434.
"Tyffan sees now, in the bitter clarity of her poisoned insight, that she could never have saved Gwyn then. The gods would not release him until he was used up as their instrument. They would have found some way to keep Gwyn on the narrow shore until the end. So that his death could be another spur to make her carry the gods and their vengeance."
https://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/let-the-gods-drown-with-us/
#fantasy #sff #shortstory
Tyffan sees now, in the bitter clarity of her poisoned insight, that she could never have saved Gwyn then. The gods would not release him until he was used up as their instrument. Even if Carag had cared for him enough to try, they would have found some way to keep Gwyn on the narrow shore until the end. So that his death could be another spur to make her carry the gods and their vengeance.
BCS #455 ebook out early today @WeightlessBooks & Kindle Store and for subscribers, featuring stories of odd quests and identity by Alex Irvine and Bee Hyland, cover art by Silas Goewey.
(Buying BCS ebooks or an ebook subscription at Weightless Books gets you BCS stories a week early on your e-reader and helps us pay our authors a pro rate and our First Readers an honorarium. Thank you!)
https://weightlessbooks.com/fiction/beneath-ceaseless-skies-issue-455/
https://www.amazon.com/Beneath-Ceaseless-Skies-Issue-455-ebook/dp/B0G8KJR7KF/
#fantasy #sff #litmag #ebook
Live in BCS #454: "Under White Air" by @jonolfert.bsky.social , featuring the same protagonist as “A Forcible Calm” in BCS #375 and BCS Audio Fiction Podcast 308.
"Half the clustered homes had collapsed with people and sheep inside. Ice and slate had crushed flesh and bone like laughing jackals. Twistfinger found herself alongside half-familiar faces, who'd been witnesses to her old feud and its conclusion."
https://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/under-white-air/
#fantasy #sff #shortstory
The rest of the night was a mindless panic of bloody work. Half the clustered homes had collapsed with people and sheep inside. Ice and slate had crushed flesh and bone like laughing jackals. Twistfinger found herself alongside half-familiar faces, who'd been witnesses to her old feud and its conclusion. She met the eyes of Shavag's son as they hauled the sorcerer's thin body from the wreckage of the hut and found no anger there; only desolation, brokenness, the confusion of youth.
New Issue: BCS #454 out today, featuring stories of outsiders experiencing community conflict amid epic events by returning BCS authors @mercwolfmoor and @jonolfert.bsky.social , behind cover art by Silas Goewey.
https://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/issues/issue-454/
#fantasy #sff #shortstory #litmag
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