Thinking Outside the Longbox

Welcome back!

We've got another exciting issue of A Thousand Faces for you, starting with the return of two of the most popular series to grace our pages in our first year. Convict-turned-hero Fred Brand's story continues in Andrew Salmon's "Hunted," while James Mascia takes us back inside the treacherous high school cafeteria with Christine in "School Days."

That's a good issue right there, but I'm even more excited by the fact that this issue features seven - count 'em, seven - writers new to A Thousand Faces. Nathasha J. Stillman and Michael Obilade join Mascia in the teenage wasteland with "Burn Boy" and "Matchstick", respectively. And all these angst-ridden youth have to come from somewhere - Elizabeth Bennett Porco takes a look at a super-pregnancy in "Enter Hubert". Gary J. Beharry and EK Rivera take a bite out of the Big Apple with "Chaos and Hope" and "Hero in the Big City", while Jeff Parish goes in the opposite direction with a rural Texas hero in "Crank Case".

But the newcomer I'm most excited about? The pick of the litter? Be sure and check out Joshua Reynold's wonderful "Mister Brass and the Dragons of Mars" for a hero who would be right at home at the genesis of the American superhero in the pages of the old pulp magazines, alongside Doc Savage and The Shadow. Mister Brass is a Robot Pinkerton dectective assigned to President Teddy Roosevelt's protection detail as he hunts dragons on safari on the red planet of Mars. Need I say more? And if (when!) you like "Dragons of Mars", be sure to come back in the fall for Issue #6 for "Mister Brass and the Crimson Skies of Kansas" (plug!).

Our "Thousand Questions" series returns this issue with a pair of interesting conversations. First up, we talk with David J. Schwartz, author of the new novel Superpowers. Then, we chat with John McNally and Owen King, editors of the superhero fiction anthology Who Can Save Us Now? There's more and more superhero stories appearing in bookstores every day - and we do love some original superhero fiction.

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Fun postscript to Issue #4:

I trust that you all read and enjoyed Alexander Burns' "Shades of Red" as much I did, a story that mixed wall to wall superhero action with Lovecraftian mythology. We hope to see more of the Scarlet Ranger, Asta, Tenebrous and pals in the pages of A Thousand Faces very soon. Anyway, Alex celebrated his birthday in May with the publication of the story, and his lovely (and talented!) wife surprised him with this:

I almost cried when I first saw this picture. Let's take another look, shall we?

 

Well, I'm hungry. I'll leave you to your reading - pass the plates!

Frank Byrns

July 2008