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    Jake's Monthly- Science Fantasy Anthology
    Jake's Monthly- Science Fantasy Anthology
    Jake's Monthly- Science Fantasy Anthology
    Ebook93 pages1 hour

    Jake's Monthly- Science Fantasy Anthology

    By Jake Johnson

    ()

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    About this ebook

    This is the fourth monthly collection published by Jake's Monthly. In a change of tone from the past two collections, this month's theme has been Science Fantasy- a focus on the optomistic and the miraculous coexisting with the rational.

    Collected here are nine stories, some artistic, some action-packed, but all wonderful. Watch poor, overworked Puck try to save the world and see Tesla and Merlin fight face-to-face; read hope brought to a literally gray world, and enjoy a decidedly nontraditional Christmas Eve story. Combining science fiction and fantasy, this strange new genre offers something new beyond most regular speculative fiction.

    We hope you enjoy it.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJake Johnson
    Release dateJan 7, 2012
    ISBN9781466089631
    Jake's Monthly- Science Fantasy Anthology
    Author

    Jake Johnson

    A seventeen-year-old freelance writer and professional editor, Jake J. Johnson is not using a pseudonym. Starting to read at any early age, he built up college-level reading comprehension on a steady diet of imaginative SF and horror before entering high school. It was around this time that he discovered a talent for writing, and, shortly thereafter, another for editing. He is rather disenchanted by novels which appear in English curricula, and much prefers newer, original stories created using recent media. For example, the interactive stories told through the video games "The Stanley Parable" and "Dear Esther", the concept of the "light novel", and the community-told story of "The Fear Mythos". He much prefers looking to the future to studying the past. His favorite novel is both Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" and Lawrence Miles' "This Town Will Never Let Us Go", and his favorite short story is Isaac Asimov's "The Last Question". His ultimate goal is to become an anthology and manuscript editor at ACE, ROC, TOR, or DAW. For now, he's content with gaining a hold on the world of publishing.

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      Book preview

      Jake's Monthly- Science Fantasy Anthology - Jake Johnson

      Jake’s Monthly

      (Part 4)

      Science Fantasy Anthology

      Edited by Jake Johnson

      ***

      Table of Contents

      Copyright Page

      Preface

      Waiting for the Green-Eyed Monster to Blink by John H. Dromey

      Believers in Savannahs of Grass by Ron Koppelberger

      Tesla. Merlin. And the Buddha of Compassion by T. Fox Dunham

      Sunshine in A Can by J. Mesch

      The Hex Factor by John H. Dromey

      Cold Relief by Sanjaya Kumar Mishra

      The Night That Never Was by B. Ron Ryant

      Half-Wit Savage by Ron Koppelberger

      The Man Who Stole the Moon by Don Raymond

      Next Time

      About the Editor

      ***

      Copyright Page

      Published by Jake’s Monthly on Smashwords.

      All featured authors now receive their reprint-rights.

      ***

      Preface

      Welcome to Jake’s Monthly! For the fourth time, this project has chosen a new genre, and for the fourth time, talented writers have worked and experimented with it. We’re a third through, if there only exist twelve of these, which there might. This time, one of the most obscure and unusual subgenres was chosen- Science Fantasy. The writers in this volume tied the disparate genres of Science Fiction and Fantasy together, balancing them masterfully to create something new and wondrous.

      What follows is a brief, spoiler-free description of the stories in this collection. If you want to be surprised by these stories, please skip the following section.

      Waiting for the Green-Eyed Monster to Blink is John H. Dromey’s kickstart for this collection, and it does an amazing job of presenting a unique conflict. Medusa waits on the planet below, and all the resources in the worlds may not be enough to stop her.

      Believers in Savannahs of Grass is by Ron Koppelberger, a writer of the abstract, artistic and the minimalist. Like his previous work published here, this story is a deep, interpretive flash with a religious vibe to it. Very nice.

      Tesla. Merlin. And the Buddha of Compassion is by modern bard T. Fox Dunham, and shows what happens when science and fantasy fight for supremacy, with religion watching from its porch. Literally.

      Sunshine in A Can is a dystopian reversal by J. Mesch. The elements defy explanation, but the tone is uplifting.

      The Hex Factor is another story by John H. Dromey. Here, the supernatural and the rational come together once again to face a challenge, albeit a less threatening one.

      Cold Relief is by Sanjaya Mishra, and combines meditation with extraterrestrials. It’s a short look into a very interesting alternate world.

      The Night That Never Was is by B. Ron Ryant, and is a perfect scientific Christmas tale. This retelling of a very classic type of story triumphs in its originality and setting.

      Half-Wit Savage is by Ron Koppelberger, and like his previous story, is open to interpretation and likely deserves a book club of some sort.

      The Man Who Stole the Moon brings the collection to a strong finish. Don Raymond’s contribution combines fairies and science in an alternate universe where a poor, overworked Puck must save the Earth.

      Afterwards, check out Next Time for a glimpse of next month’s collection- quite possibly the most creative yet.

      ***

      Waiting for the Green-Eyed Monster to Blink

      By John H. Dromey

      The guidance system of the interplanetary spacecraft was set on the interstellar equivalent of cruise control. The bridge was practically deserted.

      I didn’t know Medusa had emerald eyes, Dr. Jürgen said.

      What makes you think that? Captain Stanford responded. He leaned forward and watched the other man closely as he waited for an answer.

      It’s based on something your executive officer told me.

      What exactly did my XO say?

      Karen said you’re worried about the green-eyed monster.

      The captain relaxed. Oh, that? I was concerned about ‘jealousy’ causing a breakdown in onboard discipline. Perhaps I should have said that outright instead of quoting a playwright from a millennium ago.

      Shakespeare?

      Yes.

      The doctor nodded his head. Well, that clears up that little misunderstanding, but just out of curiosity, what can you tell me about Medusa’s eyes?

      Nothing. That information is classified.

      It’s all right for you to tell me, Captain. I’m not only the ship’s doctor, but I’m also the security officer, and in that latter capacity I was fully briefed on the mission.

      Perhaps not as fully as you thought you were. Otherwise, you’d know that when the original Medusa was turned into stone by seeing her own reflection, all the pigmentation in her body was destroyed. No one knows what color her eyes were, not even Medusa herself. That was all covered in the early part of the file. You must have skipped over those pages.

      I did. I was much more interested in learning about Medusa’s living sister, or clone, or whatever it is the space pirates put on the newly-terraformed planet to keep settlers away while the crooks exploited the mineral resources. She’s a Doozy.

      I agree, but some of the details about her were rather boring, the captain said, so I can’t say I blame you for reading ahead. I did some scanning myself when I got to the dry technical details of the creature’s physiology.

      Can you tell me the plan of attack for Project Medusa?

      No, Doctor, I can’t. I couldn’t even if I wanted to, because I don’t know myself yet. I’m awaiting orders.

      Surely, you have some inkling.

      Well, my guess is I’ll be instructed to bomb the supreme heck out of Doozy while our ship is still in high orbit.

      Whoa! Dr. Jürgen said. That method would remove the immediate threat, of course, but in the process it would also spread Doozy’s malignant DNA over a large section of the planet. The particles might even become airborne. That contamination could wreak havoc for generations to come.

      It would take considerably longer, of course, but we can always do the job the old-fashioned way. Maybe that’s why I was assigned such varied personnel for the crew. We’ve got all the bases covered from psi to cyborg. That’s why I was concerned about jealously. Each contingent of volunteers representing diverse interests wants to have the bragging rights for accomplishing the mission. I need to figure out some way to get them to work together.

      What combination of crewmembers do you think could do the job? the doctor asked.

      "Helga Thorsdottir is a good candidate. She’s an expert swordswoman and descended from a long line of dragon slayers. We also have

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