Author Description

This week’s issue features two classic novels. First up: Feathers Left Around, by Carolyn Wells, a classic Fleming Stone mystery. When a woman is found dead after a séance, clues point in strange directions—feathers, fingerprints, and ghostly warnings—but the truth is firmly grounded in the logic of a clever killer. For fantasy fans, we have Marigold, by Edith Allonby, a followup to last issue’s Jewel Sowers. Originally published in 1905, Marigold a bold fantasy-satire. The story follows a schoolteacher transported to the planet Lucifram, where she encounters a bizarre society that mirrors and mocks our own. This week’s short stories are just as diverse. Robert Lopresti’s “The Trouble with Lucy” is a quiet, devastating tale of choices, consequences, and the price of guilt. Celebrating National Ice Cream Day (the third Sunday in July), John M. Floyd’s “Brain Food” has Sheriff Lucy Valentine juggling fugitives, cranky townsfolk, and her meddling mother—with the help of some ice cream and sharp wits. Michael Bracken’s “Schrödinger’s Blonde” is a noir-tinged mystery with a haunting hook: a decades-old photo of a vanished girl—and the detective hired to learn the truth. Larry Hodges gives us “Thirty-five Genie Heads on a Wall,” a wildly inventive story about revenge, responsibility, and the consequences of wish-granting gone wrong. In Hannah Shearer’s “Here Be Dragons,” an aging actress is caught between fantasy and reality, unsure whether the dragons she sees are symptoms—or salvation. “The Immortality Shot” by Andrew Kozma is a quietly unsettling piece about scientific ambition and human frailty. And E.C. Tubb’s “Upstairs” is a heartbreaking tale of space-school ambition and personal failure—where the real tragedy isn’t who fails to graduate, but why they were expected to succeed. Here’s the complete lineup— Cover Art: Ron Miller NOVELS Feathers Left Around, by Carolyn Wells [Fleming Stone series] A baffling murder at a séance challenges detective Fleming Stone’s skill