Thank you very much to all who bought a BCS ebook subscription during our 200th Issue Subscription Drive! Or a back-issue bundle, or BCS anthologies. We didn’t quite make our second stretch goal, despite a surge on the last day (thank you!), but we blew away our first goal, and our word-count limit for submissions is now 11,000 words. Thank you for making that happen.

Thank you also to all who RT’d or shared or otherwise helped spread word, or bought gift subscriptions for other readers, or tweeted or posted about BCS #200 or stories or podcasts.  That is a great help to us too; reaching readers with our stories and podcasts.

We have many great stories forthcoming this summer and fall, from returning BCS authors and ones new to our pages, including Marie Brennan, Gregory Norman Bossert, Mishell Baker, KJ Kabza, Stephanie Burgis, Walter Dinjos, Tony Pi, A.M. Dellamonica, and Claude Lalumière. We hope you enjoy them!

“Tortoise Caravan” by Marek Hlavaty

The final two stories from and bonus podcast from BCS #200, our celebratory double-issue, are live today!

Catherynne M. Valente offers “The Limitless Perspective of Master Peek, or, the Luminescence of Debauchery,” a lushly and wryly voiced tale of a craftsperson driven to ascend in society on their own terms.

Yoon Ha Lee (“Foxfire, Foxfire” in BCS Science-Fantasy Month 3 & podcast BCS 168, “Two to Leave” in BCS 174 & podcast BCS 151, among many others) returns to BCS with “Shadow’s Weave,” a tale of a mercenary trying to restore her companion’s shadow.

The bonus BCS Audio Fiction Podcast episode is BCS 177: Shadow’s Weave, the Yoon Ha Lee tale. It’s guest-narrated by Tina Connolly, BCS author and narrator of past podcast episodes including BCS 170: A Salvaging of Ghosts by Aliette de Bodard and BCS 150: The Punctuality Machine, Or, A Steampunk Libretto by Bill Powell.

All four of the stories in BCS #200 were available two weeks ago for BCS ebook subscribers. Subscribers get every issue a week before the website, directly to their e-reader.

Would you like to get BCS issues early, and help us reach our stretch goal to raise our submissions word-count to 12,000 words? Check out our BCS Ebook Subscription Drive at Weightless Books. But do it soon; the Subscription Drive ends Friday!

BCS #200 is out today! A special double-issue in celebration of our 200th issue.

Catherynne M. Valente offers “The Limitless Perspective of Master Peek, or, the Luminescence of Debauchery,” a lushly and wryly voiced tale of a craftsperson driven to ascend in society, on their own terms.

Kameron Hurley shows a science-fantasy culture wrestling with the societal and personal aftermath of war in “The Judgment of Gods and Monsters.”

Yoon Ha Lee (“Foxfire, Foxfire” in BCS Science-Fantasy Month 3 & podcast BCS 168, “Two to Leave” in BCS 174 & podcast BCS 151, among many others) returns to BCS with “Shadow’s Weave,” a tale of a mercenary trying to restore her companion’s shadow.

Seth Dickinson (“Our Fire, Given Freely” in BCS #145, “Worth of Crows” in BCS #104 & podcast BCS 090, “The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Her Field-General, and Their Wounds” in BCS #85 & podcast BCS 073, among others) offers “Laws of Night and Silk,” a literary epic fantasy of a society’s extreme cost of war made personal.

The Valente and Lee stories won’t go live on the website until next week, but they are available right now in the ebook of BCS #200, at Weightless Books and Kindle.

The first BCS Audio Fiction Podcast episode for BCS #200 is BCS 176: Laws of Night and Silk, Seth Dickinson’s tale of a society’s cost of war made personal. It’s guest-narrated by M.K. Hobson, who has narrated past BCS Podcast episodes such as BCS 166: The Three Dancers of Gizari by Tamara Vardomskaya and BCS 169: Call and Answer, Plant and Harvest by Cat Rambo.

The bonus BCS Audio Fiction Podcast episode, out next week, will be BCS 177: Shadow’s Weave, Yoon Ha Lee’s tale of a mercenary trying to restore her companion’s lost shadow. It’s guest-narrated by Tina Connolly, BCS author and narrator of past podcast episodes including BCS 170: A Salvaging of Ghosts by Aliette de Bodard and BCS 150: The Punctuality Machine, Or, A Steampunk Libretto by Bill Powell.

The From the Archives story with BCS #200 is “The Sword of Loving Kindness” by Chris Willrich, a tale of Persimmon Gaunt and Imago Bone; our very first story, from BCS #1 back in October 2008. What a long and wonderful quest it has been!

We’re celebrating BCS #200 with a BCS Ebook Subscription Drive! To see how subscribers get issues early, what great authors are forthcoming in BCS, and how you can help us reach our goals of raising our word-count limit, visit Weightless Books. 

All behind new cover art for BCS #200 and beyond: “High Above the Savannah” by Martin Ende.

The BCS Subscription Drive has unlocked its first goal!

To celebrate our 200th issue, we’re having a BCS Subscription Drive at WeightlessBooks.com.  (BCS ebook subscriptions are only $15.99 for a full year/26 issues, and subscribers get new issues a week before the website.)

Our goal is to get enough new or renewing subscribers that we can raise our word-count limit for submissions.  Our limit, 10,000 words, has always been one of the highest of any online magazine. With your help, we’d like to raise it to 11,000 words, 12,000, or even 15,000.

Yesterday we passed our first goal, 25 new/renewing subscribers. Thank you, all! Effective immediately, BCS has raised our submissions word-count limit to 11,000 words.

Help us raise it even higher! See the BCS 200th Issue Subscription Drive for details on what you get when you subscribe, some of the great new and returning BCS authors forthcoming in the magazine, and how you can help. Thank you for your support!

To celebrate our 200th issue, we’re having a BCS Subscription Drive!

UPDATE: our first goal is unlocked! BCS has raised our word-count limit to 11,000 words. Subscribe now, and help us raise it to 12,000 or even 15,000!

BCS ebook subscriptions, available exclusively at WeightlessBooks.com, are only $15.99 for a full year/26 issues. (That’s less than 30 cents a story!) Subscribers can get issues delivered directly to their Kindle or smart phone, and they get new issues early, a week before the website.

Forthcoming authors in BCS include Marie Brennan, Gregory Norman Bossert (whose first BCS story “The Telling” won the World Fantasy Award), Mishell Baker, KJ Kabza, Stephanie Burgis, Tony Pi, Catherynne M. Valente, Kameron Hurley, A.M. Dellamonica, Claude Lalumière, and more.

From now until June 3, if you buy a BCS ebook subscription or renew your existing subscription (you can renew at any time), you can help unlock our drive goals.

Since BCS #1 in 2008–200 issues, 419 stories!–over a third of our fiction has been novelette-length or longer. Longer stories work great for awe-inspiring fantasy worlds, like you’ll find in every issue of BCS. Our word-count limit for submissions, 10,000 words, has always been among the longest if not the longest of pro-rate online magazines.

With your help, we’d like to make it even longer!

• At 25 new/renewing subscribers, BCS will raise our submissions word-count limit to 11,000 words.
• At 50 new/renewing subscribers, we’ll raise our word-count limit to 12,000 words.
• At 100 new/renewing subscribers, we’ll raise it to 13,000 words.
• At 200 new/renewing subscribers, we’ll raise it to 15,000 words!

Every subscription makes a difference in helping us pay our authors, for their great stories of all lengths.

Weightless Books also has the annual Best of BCS anthologies and bundles of BCS back issues, including new epic bundles of 100 and all 200 issues! Delivered straight to your Kindle or smart phone. All proceeds go to pay our artists and authors. Thank you for your support of BCS!

Starting with BCS #200 next week, a special double-issue to celebrate our 200th issue, featuring Catherynne M. Valente, Kameron Hurley, Yoon Ha Lee, and Seth Dickinson, (and the BCS #200 ebook out early next Wednesday on Kindle and Weightless Books), our new cover art will be “High Above the Savannah” by Martin Ende: