Spectra Magazine - Issue 3: Sci-fi, Fantasy and Horror Short Fiction

By Paul Andrews

Spectra is the new digital magazine bringing you the best in new sci-fi, horror and fantasy short fiction, news and reviews. With four new stories from established writers and rising talent every issue, Spectra Magazine delivers the cutting edge of digital fiction direct to your favourite eBook platform. Spectra Magazine is the first science fiction, fantasy and horror short fiction publication dedicated to digital reading, delivering the best in genre-based literary entertainment. Each month, four brand new short stories are curated from award-winning genre writers and new talent alike, bringing you electrifying fiction in a host of different styles. We believe that sci-fi, fantasy and short fiction should dazzle and excite even the most seasoned reader, and we only select authors who are sure to blow your mind, ignite your imagination or turn your dreams into nightmares. Written and designed specifically for the e-book generation and e-reader technology, Spectra Magazine is essential for everyone with a passion for science fiction, fantasy, horror, or anyone looking for something fresh and exciting to bring their e-Reader to life. The future of short fiction is here.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Spectra
• Release date: Nov 15, 2010
• ISBN: 9781849892254

Paul Andrews

Paul Andrews has been creating novels, novellas and short stories for over twenty years. Though his heart lies with historical fiction, he also dabbles in science fiction, horror, and even a little romance. The "The Man Who Would Not Die," based on the life of Count Saint-Germain, was first novel. He also writes a popular Blog on his website, on Lost and Forgotten History still relevant today. Paul has a graduate degree from Rutgers University and spent many successful years in his 'day job' as a biotech R&D project manager. After working for a time in the ivory towers of Manhattan and Washington D.C, he slowly migrated south to warmer climes and a slower pace of life. He now works, lives and writes in North Carolina with his wife and two cats.

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NEWS FROM ACROSS THE SCI-FI, HORROR AND FANTASY SPECTRA

HARRY POTTER 3D RELEASE SCRAPPED

WIZARDS TO REMAIN TWO DIMENSIONAL CHARACTERS

Would it be overly cynical to suggest that the Harry Potter franchise has never had characters with more than two dimensions anyway? Probably, but it’s still an adequate joke to link us into the announcement that Warner Bros. has scrapped the 3D release of the latest Harry Potter flick.

The problems, apparently, are down to time constraints, as the studio doesn’t want to delay the standard cinematic release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. The time taken to convert it from two to three dimensions would cause the box office to miss the pre-Christmas launch window.

This decision, which we completely support, underscores the fact that Warner Bros. has always put quality first, director David Yates tells THR, attempting to put a positive spin on the subject.

Although Warner insists next year’s Part 2 will still see a simultaneous 2D and 3D release, the ease with which it dropped the three dimensional version of Deathly Hallows suggests the cinematic novelty is wearing off.

And about time, too.

NEWS FROM ACROSS THE SCI-FI, HORROR AND FANTASY SPECTRA

MARTY MCFLY’S POWER SHOES UP FOR SALE

WHEN EVEN VELCRO IS TOO MUCH EFFORT

It won’t be long before 2015 actually rolls around, so the brains and boffins at consumer technology companies had better get working on flying cars, hover boards, dust repellant paper and power clothes.

Remember how Doc Brown kitted Marty out in a self-adjusting jacket and power Nike’s? Well, according to DVICE those self-lacing shoes are going up for auction, and are expected to fetch between $12,000 and $15,000.

Regrettably, like most props, these power Nikes don’t actually work. Although they’re appropriately branded, up close they look pretty cheap and ugly, but that’s not why you’re bidding on them. Iconic pieces of sci-fi movie history like this don’t come along every day.

And don’t worry. If you lose the bidding, just invent a time machine and go back to place a higher reserve. Just make sure your mother doesn’t get a crush on you while you’re doing it.

NEWS FROM ACROSS THE SCI-FI, HORROR AND FANTASY SPECTRA

THE THING PREQUEL REVEALED

AND ANOTHER THING...

The first images from the prequel to John Carpenter’s sensational sci-fi horror, The Thing, have been cropping up online, showing off set pieces and characters from the Norwegian scientific expedition.

The film follows the events immediately preceding the 1982 movie, where all those burning questions about what happened prior to R.J. Macready’s heroic arrival. The initial unearthing of the space ship and its shape-shifting passenger is investigated by a paleontologist and a helicopter pilot at the remote outpost, in what sounds very much like it’s going to be a loose remake.

This is perhaps no bad thing (no pun intended) since John Carpenter’s film is itself a remake of 1951’s The Thing from Another World, which is a less-than-faithful adaptation of John Campbell Jr.’s novella Who Goes There?. Quite fitting those entertainment mediums keep mimicking the same entity, eh?

The Thing prequel is currently slated for an April 2011 release. No Kurt Russell this time, sadly.

NEWS FROM ACROSS THE SCI-FI, HORROR AND FANTASY SPECTRA

FIRST AMERICAN SPUTNIK NEWSREEL RELEASE ONLINE

REDS LAUNCH FIRST SPACE SATELLITE!

Almost 53 years to the day that the Russians put the first man-made object into orbit, the first American newsreel footage recorded for the launch of the Sputnik satellite has been released online.

Although it was a tense diplomatic time, the newsreel is handled with reasonable delicacy. Universal-International News reported on the Russian launch, which won the first leg of the space race (though it’s still debatable whether the US won anything, depending on whether you believe in the moon landings or not) and shows a quick and simple breakdown of the events through an animated reconstruction.

One of the great scientific feats of the age! proclaims narrator Ed Herlihy, showing genuine admiration for the Russian’s accomplishment. Head on over to YouTube to check the footage out: http://goo.gl/R4tH

Oh, and pay attention to the IBM computers the Russians apparently used at their space command!

ROGUE ENTANGLEMENT

BY

DAVID STIER

Dona, have you beta tested those files? Olson, Karen, Federal Employee #4378 asked.

I’ll send them as soon as I finish this line of code, said an obviously annoyed, Faggini, Dona, FE9061.

Sounds like someone’s having a bad day, thought Domestic Surveillance Officer Len Gerrit. He scrutinized the two unsuspecting FBI software techs with a faint sense of distaste. Working in the quantum reality of Boston-Hub’s surveillance web was a mostly rewarding gig - except for random scans like this, anyway. With a resigned shrug, DSO Gerrit activated his implant.

Someone passed through Gerrit’s QR body construct, causing a brief flash of pain, like a moderate electrical shock. He studied the retreating back of a white male - probably the manager - then the twenty-one high security programmers working in cubicles.

Oblivious to Gerrit’s presence, the white male turned a corner and the programmers continued punching code. A door opened then closed. The base of Gerrit’s skull began to tingle.

0917, proceed to Sector E One-Niner. The Supervisor’s voice said through Gerrit’s implant: Possible DEE-GEN activity. Code red six. Abort scheduled assignment. Acknowledge.

Understood. Out.

Relieved, he blanked the probe and cancelled the insertion sub-routine. Apprehending degenerates beat random scans, 24/7.

He plotted a course to the building’s exterior, calculated a superposition vector, activated the interference firewall, and phase-shifted his body from matter to energy. During transit, his sense-collective achieved phase coherence with the government high-rise and its contents. Pain-pleasure flashes surged.

Once outside, he phase-shifted from energy back into matter. Standing on air, he took in the view, thirty-one stories above the street. Boston-Hub fanned outward, hundred story high-rises encircling the main thruway below. The citizens passing beneath his feet resembled sentient ants, scurrying from work to home and back, remaining on the sidewalks, never stepping on the well-manicured grass that separated the carbosteel structures of America’s Second City. Rule followers for the most part. It was the rule breakers that concerned Surveillance Directorate.

He swallowed the lump that formed in his throat. What was real, this virtual world construct, where he could roam unseen at will, or the real-world where he lay tied to a quantum mainframe for several hours each day?

Omnipotence, or the next-best thing.

Soon every major city in the country would be protected - or so said rumor central.