Thinking Outside the Longbox

Welcome back!

Ten issues - I can hardly believe it myself. Seems like it was just yesterday that we got this whole thing rolling, then you look up and it's been two and a half years and you find yourself at Issue #10.

And what a fine issue it is. Twelve pieces of original superhuman fiction from twelve of the best and brightest writers working in the 'independent fiction' world today. (Sort of like 'indy music' or 'indy film' - right?!?) One of my favorite Thousand Faces writers (and proud new mom!) Erin M. Kinch returns to our pages for the third time with "Dinner For Three." And Matt Betts, last heard from waaaay back in Issue #1 ("Officer White Takes a Sick Day") is back with his flash fiction piece "Everyone is the Hero of Their Own Movie."

And that's it for returning favorites. I find myself very pleased to inform you that of the twelve writers in Issue #10, ten of them are publishing stories in A Thousand Faces for the very first time. Ten for ten. Or something.

Donna Farley opens Issue #10 with her seasonally-appropriate Halloween tale, "Camellia Chameleon." And while Donna's tale is the only one this issue that deals explicitly with All Hallow's Eve, there are three more stories in the Fall issue would certainly feel at home in any horror fan's collection: Orrin Grey's "The Power of the Dead," Spencer Koelle's "Chick Food", and Tom Cardamone's melancholic "River Rat."

Newcomer Russell J. Fellows takes us to Small Town, USA for a tale of super-powered survival that would make Count Zaroff proud in "Death Game."

Fans of more traditional superhero action won't be disappointed with this issue, either; Greg Boxer brings us "The Good Fight", while longtime reader Joe Sergi delivers his Thousand Faces debut, "The Return of Power Boy." KC Ball gives us The Gargoyle in "A Son of the Night", and Chad Carver introduces a hero of the Deep South, The Haymaker, in "No Hero."

And last, but certainly not least: the highly-coveted "Editor's Choice Award" returns in time to be bestowed upon Ian Thomas Healy's Golden Age tale "The Scent of Rose Petals." Read it with a dry eye. I dare you.

Go ahead. I'll wait right here.

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Issue #10 also marks the return of our periodic series of interviews with the top names in original superhero fiction. This time around, we have A Thousand Questions for Jackie Kessler, one half of the dynamic writing duo behind the new superhero novel Black and White. And if you haven't had the good fortune to pick up a copy of Black and White, here's your chance to win an autographed copy: Simply mention A Thousand Faces on your own blog/website/Facebook/wherever. Send me the link at fbyrns@thousand-faces.com. I will then take all of the entries, place them all inside my Thor helmet, and pick a winner. Easy enough, right?

Send me those links! Win some excellent (and FREE!) superhero fiction!

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Miss an issue of A Thousand Faces?

Got one of those newfangled digital reader thingies, and need something to read on it?

Then head right over to the Thousand Faces store and download a PDF copy of any back issue from our first two years for the limited-time only, low, low price of $0.99!

How's that for a Christmas deal -- $10 could get you digital copies of every word A Thousand Faces printed in 2007 and 2008!

Why are you still here?!?

 

Frank Byrns

November 2009