A review by absentminded_reader
Cirsova: Heroic Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine by Kat Otis, Brian K. Lowe, Melanie Rees
4.0
An Adventurous Beginning for a New Pulp Fiction Magazine
As with most anthologies, some stories will stand out as exemplary, and others will feel less than so. I had three favorites in this magazine, and I feel the cost was worth it just for them. They were "Rose by Any Other Name" by Brian K. Lowe, an adventurous romp caused by arcane alien technology, "This Day, At Tilbury" by Kay Otis, where pyrokinesis is a gift from God against the Spanish Armada, and the surprisingly appealing "The Hour of the Rat" by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt, a crisply written ninja adventure story where a female warrior is pitted against a repulsive, yet powerful evil. Adventure fiction as a genre has fallen into disfavor in recent decades, but if the narrative voices of these three authors is any indication, we may be at the beginning of a pulp revolution.
As with most anthologies, some stories will stand out as exemplary, and others will feel less than so. I had three favorites in this magazine, and I feel the cost was worth it just for them. They were "Rose by Any Other Name" by Brian K. Lowe, an adventurous romp caused by arcane alien technology, "This Day, At Tilbury" by Kay Otis, where pyrokinesis is a gift from God against the Spanish Armada, and the surprisingly appealing "The Hour of the Rat" by Donald Jacob Uitvlugt, a crisply written ninja adventure story where a female warrior is pitted against a repulsive, yet powerful evil. Adventure fiction as a genre has fallen into disfavor in recent decades, but if the narrative voices of these three authors is any indication, we may be at the beginning of a pulp revolution.