Grimdark Magazine Issue #33

Grimdark Magazine remains my favourite fantasy and sci-fi magazine. This issue is no different, offering a nice mix of short fiction, reviews and interviews. For this review I will focus on the short fiction.

Bargaining - Gareth Hanrahan

I am a massive fan of Hanrahan's Black Iron Legacy series so was really excited to read this one. It doesn't disappoint, following an intriguing vignette in the Godswar where a group of mercenaries undertake a mission across a wasteland where a mad god still resides. This does exactly what I want a short story in an existing world to do - taking the world and telling an intriguing secondary story.

5/5

The Last Radio God - Yaroslav Barsukov

This story plays heavily on a weird concept, of a god inhabiting the radio and someone trying to get the revenge on said god. It is decidedly odd. I didn't dislike it but it was not what I was expecting. Intriguing

3/5

Crimson Shows the Way of Joy - Eric LaRocca

I like the concept here! Diving into the psychology behind human sacrifice in a community that accepts it as necessary, both from the point of view of the volunteer victim and the executioner. Dark and weird this one landed well.

5/5

Lan Thena - Christian Cameron

Against All Gods is on my TBR so nice to get a short story introduction to the world. So far it looks fascinating and I cannot wait to dive into the main part of the story. This one gives some origin story for a couple of characters I believe will take a role in the main story. Colour me intrigued

4/5

Save, Salve, Shelter - Essa Hansen

Eco disaster provides a rich vein of dystopian fiction and this short story zooms in on someone trying to save the animals during such a disaster and their conflict with more self serving humans trying to save themselves. It plays well on the human condition and some rather Nietzschean philosophy. Very bleak, but an interesting story

4/5

The Calvary - Joao F. Silva

Regret and strange medicine. There are hints of a fascinating conflict that I kind of want to know more about. We look at a crack team saving ‘souls' from people infected by some monster. A nice but very brief story

4/5