To celebrate the tenth anniversary of BCS and Caroline M. Yoachim’s story “Carnival Nine” in BCS #225 and podcast BCS 196 named a finalist for the World Fantasy Awards, held later this fall, we’re giving away a signed copy of Caroline’s short fiction collection Seven Wonders of a Once and Future World & Other Stories!

Caroline’s previous BCS stories, “The Land of Empty Shells” in BCS #20 and “Seasons Set in Skin” in BCS #177 and podcast BCS 156 (which is included in Seven Wonders of a Once and Future World & Other Stories), are about siblings and family, and “Carnival Nine” is about family and generations. Seven Wonders has over twenty-five of Caroline’s stories through 2016, including literary fantasy, science fiction, fable-esque fantasy, and more.

The giveaway for the signed copy of Seven Wonders of a Once and Future World & Other Stories will take place Monday Oct. 1 on the BCS Twitter feed @BCSmagazine. It will run from 2 PM EST until 5 PM EST.

To enter, all you need to do is tweet what your favorite story from BCS about family is. Whether “Carnival Nine” or something else; a family story that’s charming or that’s dark, that ends happily or ends not-so-happily; with “family story” defined however you choose to define it.

To get you started, here are a few of the many stories from BCS over the years that could be thought of as family stories:

“Ruby, Singing” by Fran Wilde in BCS #261 & podcast BCS 224

“Every Black Tree” by Natalia Theodoridou in BCS #236 & podcast BCS 205

“On the Road to the Hell of Hungry Ghosts” by Richard Parks in BCS #235 & podcast BCS 203

“Across Pack Ice, a Fire” by Marissa Lingen in BCS #233

“Gallows Girl” by Mel Kassel in BCS #233

“Of Letters They Are Made” by Jonathan Edelstein in BCS #228

“A Place to Grow” by A.T. Greenblatt in BCS #225

“Trette’s Bones” by Grace Seybold in BCS #241

“A Salvaging of Ghosts” by Aliette de Bodard in BCS #195 – Science-Fantasy Month 3 & podcast BCS 170

“Laws of Night and Silk” by Seth Dickinson in Issue #200 & podcast BCS 176

“Blood Grains Speak Through Memories” by Jason Sanford in BCS #195 – Science-Fantasy Month 3

“The Mama Mmiri” by Walter Dinjos in BCS #190 & podcast BCS 164

“Grandmother-nai-Leylit’s Cloth of Winds” by Rose Lemberg in BCS #175

“The Pirate Captain’s Daughter” by Yoon Ha Lee in BCS #27 & podcast BCS 025

“The Girl Who Welcomed Death to Svalgearyen by Barbara A. Barnett in BCS #124 & podcast BCS 107

Good luck!

Full rules for the Caroline M. Yoachim Seven Wonders of a Once and Future World & Other Stories Twitter giveaway:

You must tweet your comment on Twitter. Comments left anywhere else will not enter you in the giveaway.

You must include “@BCSmagazine” in your tweet. (This is so we can find it.)

You must mention the title of a work of short fiction that appeared in BCS. Comments that do not mention the title of a work of short fiction that appeared in BCS will not enter you in the giveaway.

You must tweet your tweet between 2PM Eastern Standard Time and 5PM Eastern Standard Time on Mon. Oct 1, 2018. Any tweets posted before or after that will not be eligible.

All entries will be entered in a random drawing to win the book.

Each person will be entered only once in the random drawing (even if you post more than one eligible tweet).

You must tweet your tweet from a valid Twitter account (otherwise we won’t be able to contact you if you win).

BCS will conduct the random drawing from all eligible entries. The signed copy of Seven Wonders of a Once and Future World & Other Stories, signed to Beneath Ceaseless Skies, will be mailed to the winner.

BCS is not responsible for tweets that get lost or don’t show up under @BCSmagazine, or email addresses that get garbled or otherwise rendered unusable for contacting an entrant, or for books getting lost or damaged in shipping.

This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook or Twitter or anyone else. Participants are providing information to BCS and Firkin Press and not to Facebook or Twitter or anyone else.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in this post or via our Contact page. Good luck!

BCS #235, our Ninth Anniversary Double-Issue, is out today!

Richard Parks (a dozen previous stories in BCS, including Lord Yamada tales such as “The Ghost of Shinoda Forest” in BCS #63 and standalone pieces like “In the Palace of the Jade Lion” in BCS #100) continues the new series he began in “In Memory of Jianhong, Snake-Devil” in BCS #226 and podcast BCS 197 with “On the Road to the Hell of Hungry Ghosts,” with the father-daughter ghost hunters and their new nonhuman companion encountering history and the supernatural.

Kameron Hurley (“The Judgment of Gods and Monsters” in BCS #200) returns to BCS with “The Fisherman and the Pig,” another tale of the aftereffects of war, this time on a single person.

Rebecca Campbell (“Unearthly Landscape by a Lady” in BCS #184 and podcast BCS 161) returns to BCS with “The Fall of the Mundaneum,” a likewise engagingly oddly voiced story, about history and isolation and an idiosyncratic archive. T.S. McAdams offers “Grassland,” a story of strange life and community in a strange prairie landscape.

The Hurley and Campbell stories will release on the website on Oct. 5, but the full issue is available now on ebook at Amazon and Weightless Books.

The BCS Audio Fiction Podcast episode is BCS 203: On the Road to the Hell of Hungry Ghosts, the Richard Parks story of the father-daughter ghost hunters encountering a strange new challenge. It’s guest-narrated by Folly Blaine, narrator of past BCS Audio Fiction Podcast episodes including BCS 189: Out of the Woods by Marissa Lingen, BCS 146: Sun, Stone, Spear by Carrie Vaughn, and BCS 197: In Memory of Jianhong, Snake-Devil, the previous story in this series.

The From the Archives story with BCS #235 is “Heaven Thunders The Truth” by K.J. Parker, from BCS #157, our Sixth Anniversary Double-Issue, featuring family and past history not unlike “On the Road to the Hell of Hungry Ghosts.”  

Our anniversary one-day ebook sales ended on Wednesday, but our new anthology The Best of BCS, Year Eight, featuring Catherynne M. Valente, K.J. Parker, Mishell Baker, Yoon Ha Lee, Aliette de Bodard, Rose Lemberg, Jason Sanford, and more is available at Amazon, B&N, iTunes, Kobo, and also Weightless Books (containing a 30% coupon for BCS subscriptions and issues).

In nine (!) years of BCS, we’ve published almost 500 stories and 240 audio fiction podcasts. And there’s more to come! Thank you for reading!

BCS #209, our Eighth Anniversary Double-Issue, is out today!

A.M. Dellamonica, a recent winner of the Aurora Award, offers “The Boy Who Would Not Be Enchanted,” a young person on a sea visit to challenging new lands. Gregory Norman Bossert, whose BCS story “The Telling” won the World Fantasy Award in 2013, returns to BCS with “The Wind Shall Blow,” a tale of war-torn border Scotland and a newcomer facing guilt and blame.

Rose Lemberg (“Geometries of Belonging” in BCS #183, “Grandmother-nai-Leylit’s Cloth of Winds” in BCS #175, among others) returns to BCS with “The Book of How to Live,” a new story set in their Birdverse world, featuring protagonists from different walks of society drawn together. Michael Anthony Ashley (“Hence the King from Kagehana” in BCS #81, “To Kiss the Granite Choir” in BCS #27) offers “A Courtship of Beasts,” a tale of love and time.

(The Dellamonica and Lemberg stories won’t be released on the website until next week, but they are available now in the ebook of the full issue, on Kindle and at WeightlessBooks.com.)

The BCS Audio Fiction Podcast episode is BCS 183: The Wind Shall Blow by Gregory Norman Bossert, the story of border Scotland. It’s guest narrated by Alasdair Stuart of the Escape Artists podcasts.

The From the Archives story with BCS #209 is “Boat in Shadows, Crossing,” Tori Truslow’s BSFA Award Finalist story of a journey, different walks of society, and love, from BCS #113 and podcast BCS 100. All behind new cover art for our eighth anniversary: “Ambush” by Raphael Lacoste.

There’s also a giveaway for a signed copy of BCS author Carrie Vaughn’s new short fiction collection Amaryllis and Other Stories, in this post. It ends ends Wed. Oct. 5, so enter soon!

Our Eighth Anniversary Ebook Sale continues: buy or renew a BCS Ebook Subscription or buy Best of BCS Year Seven at Weightless Books, and you’ll get a free BCS anthology of your choice.

In eight (!) years of BCS, we’ve published over 425 stories and 215 audio fiction podcasts. And there’s more to come! Thank you for reading!

BCS #183, our Seventh Anniversary Double-Issue, is out today!

It includes “The Bride Doll,” a Lord Yamada tale by Richard Parks (“The Sorrow of Rain” in BCS #157, “Cherry Blossoms on the River of Souls” in BCS #131, and ten other stories), and “Geometries of Belonging” by Rose Lemberg, set in the same world as her BCS stories “Grandmother-nai-Leylit’s Cloth of Winds” in BCS #175 and “Held Close in Syllables of Light” in BCS #80.

Plus two more stories: “The Four Schools” by Naim Kabir (“On the Origin of Song” in BCS #131, our Fifth Anniversary Double-Issue) and “The Sons of Vincente” by I.L. Heisler.

The Lemberg and Heisler stories won’t be released on the website until next week, but they are available now in the ebook of the full issue, on Kindle and at WeightlessBooks.com.

The BCS Audio Fiction Podcast episode will be BCS 159 The Sons of Vincente by I.L. Heisler, released next week.

The ‘From the Archives’ story is “A Place to Stand” by Grace Seybold, in BCS #89 and podcast BCS 079, a tale of shifting time-frames not unlike “The Four Schools.” All behind new cover art for our seventh anniversary: “Sundown” by Feliks Grzesiczek.

Our Seventh Anniversary Ebook Sale continues: buy a BCS ebook subscription or the new Best of BCS Year Six from WeightlessBooks.com and get a coupon for 30% off all BCS titles. (Ebook subscribers always get issues before they go live on the website.)

There’s also a giveaway for a copy of BCS author Mathrew Kressel’s new novel King of Shards. It shares the desert world of his BCS stories, “Pheth’s Aviary” in BCS #133  and “The Suffering Gallery” in BCS #57 and podcast BCS 050. The giveaway is in this post. It ends ends Wed. Oct. 7, so enter soon!

In seven (!) years of BCS, we’ve published over 375 stories and 175 audio fiction podcasts. And there’s more to come! Thanks so much for reading!

BCS #157, #158, and #159 were reviewed last weekend by Locus online reviewer Lois Tilton, including multiple stories lauded with her rare “Recommended” rating.

From BCS #157 (our Sixth Anniversary Double-Issue), she called “The Sorrow of Rain,” a new Lord Yamada tale by Richard Parks, “A moving, simple story in a setting that evokes a scene on a painted scroll. Recommended.“

“Heaven Thunders The Truth” by K.J. Parker she says is “...told in the author’s usual wry and witty narrative voice. The concluding theme turns out to be truth and the utility of a lie... I look forward to more of these. Recommended.” 

In “The Moon Over Red Trees,” a tale of colonialism and personal fury by Aliette de Bodard, “readers will suspect (the narrator) of planning revenge... but the story takes a different path. Readers familiar with the author’s recent work will recognize... the same concern with ancestral heritage and the gynocentric family structure.”

From BCS #158, of “The Leaves Upon Her Falling Light” by Gregory Norman Bossert, she says “There’s a strong mythic tone here... The story is a tragedy, the destruction of an innocent in the course of a struggle between two greater enemies.” Of “The Rugmaker’s Lovers” by Brynn MacNab, “The rugmaker’s sin is a personal one... The scale is domestic, not dynastic. And some of the characters, at least, manage to find a manner of peace in the end, if not actual happiness or joy.”

And in BCS #159, “The Burned Man,” by Hannah Strom-Martin “A tale of treachery and vengeance. The author leaves the narrator’s response as a mystery to readers – will he take the lesson or will he continue to pursue his own perilous love?”

Congratulations, all!

The final two stories from BCS #157, our Sixth Anniversary Double-Issue, and the bonus podcast are live on the BCS website today.

The stories include “Heaven Thunders The Truth” by multiple World Fantasy Award-winning author K.J. Parker and “Butterfly House” by Gwendolyn Clare.

The bonus podcast, BCS 136: The Moon Over Red Trees, is the Aliette de Bodard story from earlier in BCS #157, our Sixth Anniversary Double-Issue. It’s guest-narrated by Kate Baker, the podcast director and familiar voice of Clarkesworld magazine.

All four of the stories in this issue were available two weeks ago for BCS ebook subscribers. Subscribers get every issue a week before the website, delivered directly to their email or e-reader or smart phone.

If you’d like to subscribe, now is a great time to do it. During our Sixth Anniversary Ebook Sale, buy a BCS ebook subscription or the new Best of BCS Year Five from WeightlessBooks.com and you’ll get a coupon for 30% off all BCS titles. But act soon; the sale ends next week!

Our two giveaways for signed Richard Parks Lord Yamada short story collections, one as paper book and one as audio book, have ended. But next week on Twitter, we will be giving away a signed hardback limited-edition K.J. Parker short story collection. Visit the link to see how you can enter.

BCS #157, our Sixth Anniversary Double-Issue, is out today!

It includes “The Sorrow of Rain,” a new Lord Yamada tale by Richard Parks (“Cherry Blossoms on the River of Souls” in BCS #131, “In the Palace of the Jade Lion” in BCS #100, and nine other stories), and “The Moon Over Red Trees,” a tale of colonialism and personal fury by Aliette de Bodard (“The Breath of War” in BCS #142 and podcast BCS 121, “Memories in Bronze, Feathers, and Blood” in BCS #45 and podcast BCS 041, and several others).

Plus two more stories, including BCS debuts by multiple World Fantasy Award-winner K.J. Parker and Gwendolyn Clare.

The Parker and Clare stories won’t be released on the website until next week, but they are available now in the ebook of the full issue, on Kindle and at WeightlessBooks.com.

The BCS Audio Fiction Podcast episode is BCS 135: The Sorrow of Rain, the Lord Yamada story by Richard Parks. A bonus second podcast,  of the Aliette de Bodard story, BCS 136: The Moon Over Red Trees, will be released next week, read by guest narrator Kate Baker of Clarkesworld Magazine.

The ‘From the Archives’ story is “The Ghost of Shinoda Forest” by Richard Parks, one of the most emotive and personal of the Lord Yamada stories, also available as podcast BCS 055. The new cover art for our sixth anniversary is “Golden Age” by Juan Carlos Barquet, an artist from Mexico City. 

Our Sixth Anniversary Ebook Sale continues: buy a BCS ebook subscription or the new Best of BCS Year Five from WeightlessBooks.com and get a coupon for 30% off all BCS titles. (Ebook subscribers always get issues before they go live on the website.)

We are also running three different giveaways in conjunction with this anniversary double-issue. Enter now to win a signed copy of the Lord Yamada short story collection, Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter, and learn the date and time for our giveaway on Twitter of a signed hardback limited-edition K.J. Parker short fiction collection.

(Congratulations to the two winners of the audio book edition of Yamada Monogatari: Demon Hunter! That giveaway was only mentioned in the podcast of The Sorrow of Rain. Your reward for keeping your ears peeled!)

In six years of BCS, we’ve published over 325 stories and 135 audio fiction podcasts. And there’s more to come! Thanks so much for reading!

Starting with BCS #157 next week, our Sixth Anniversary Double-Issue featuring Richard Parks, K.J. Parker, and Aliette de Bodard (and the BCS #157 ebook out early on Kindle and Weightless Books), our new cover art will be “Golden Age” by Juan Carlos Barquet:

Several BCS authors have stories appearing elsewhere this month:

• Seth Dickinson (“Our Fire, Given Freely” in BCS #145, “Sekhmet Hunts the Dying Gnosis: A Computation” in BCS #143 – Science-Fantasy Month 2, “The Traitor Baru Cormorant, Her Field-General, and Their Wounds” in BCS #85, and “Worth of Crows” in BCS #104 & the new Best of BCS Year Five anthology) with a story and a fascinating interview in the September Apex

• Laura E. Price (“The Drowned Man” in BCS #120) with a story likewise featuring the Teachout sisters in the September Giganotosaurus

• Sam J. Miller (“Alloy Point,” forthcoming in BCS late this fall) in the September Lightspeed

• Aliette de Bodard (four stories in BCS, including “The Breath of War” in BCS #142 Science-Fantasy Month 2, and a new fantasy “The Moon Over Red Trees” forthcoming in October in our Sixth Anniversary Double-Issue) in the September Lightspeed

Congratulations, all!