Talebones – Issue #33 – Summer 2006 – ISSN 1084-7197
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Table of Contents: Fiction: Tiny Voices by James Van Pelt * When You Can't Go Back by Nina Kiriki Hoffman * Scare Tactics by Jennifer Rachel Baumer * Untainted by Katherine Woodbury * Bliss by James Michael White * Diplomatic Relations by Don D'Ammassa * The Feather by Donald Lucio Hurd * The Dandelion Clock by Stephen Couch Poetry: Uncaught by Mark Rich * Death Comes by Greg Schwartz Non-Fiction: Bare Bones (editorial) * Tell Tales (letters) * Tattle Tales (bios) Cover: Art by Paul Swenson

This is the first issue of Talebones that I've reviewed and I certainly hope to see more. This is one of the best small press magazines that I've seen in a while.

All the stories in this issue are well worth reading but the best are the first three. In "Tiny Voices", James Van Pelt gives us a near future in which just about every object or appliance used by people has some intelligence. The story illustrates that, unfortunately, humanity has become less humane. For one young woman, that may change. The always excellent Nina Kiriki Hoffman writes of an unusual world in "When You Can't Go Back". In this future, appliances and furniture have been made human. Alice. a former refrigerator, misses her old life. "Diplomatic Relations" by Don D'Ammassa is a hilarious tale about a ship's captain that agrees to a simple, "can’t fail" job which is anything else but.

"Scare Tactics" by Jennifer Rachel Baumer is a chilling tale of a handyman named Jack who takes the wrong job. James Michael White's "Bliss" is about a young woman with a hobby that will make your skin crawl. "The Dandelion Clock" by Stephen Couch is a scary, little story about a man whose family falls victim to an unusual plague. In "The Feather", Donald Lucio Hurd tells the story of a future where just the appearance of a feather can bring hope. The last story. "Untainted" by Katherine Woodbury is about a school with a deadly curriculum.

This magazine is one you should be subscribing to!

(Source: Talebones/Fairwood Press)