Three new publications entered the house today: a book on vegetable gardening (I’m thinking of losing weight, getting in touch with the seasons etc. and this was a gift), a galley of Gene Wolfe’s Soldier of Sidon, and the third issue of Steve Pasechnick’s Alchemy.

If you’re not familiar with Alchemy it’s one of the classiest and best quality fantasy magazines published today. It’s also devastatingly low key. I know a copy costs seven dollars. I know you can order it from Clarkesworld Books. And I know it’s edited by Steve and worth reading. This new issue contains “Halfway House” by Frances Hardinge, “The Finders of Lost Things” by Tara Kolden, “Steal a Heart” by Hannah Wolfe Bowen, “Letter from Budapest” by Theodora Goss, “You Returned a Changed Person” by Beth Adele Long, “Like the Stars and the Sand” by Sonya Taaffe, “The Seance at Chisholm End” by Sarah Monette, “A Secret Lexicon for the Not-So-Beautiful” by Beth Adele Long, and “The Hollows” by Timothy Williams. I love this magazine quite a bit. Check it out. It’s worth the chase.

The information’s up on Bill Crider’s Pop Culture Magazine. Scott Cupp and Joe Lansdale are co-editing an anthology of stories inspired by Robert E. Howard and his work. To be published as a joint venture between FACT and Chris Roberson’s very fine Monkeybrain outfit, it will feature stories by Howard Waldrop, Neal Barrett Jr, Bradley Denton, Gene Wolfe, Michael Moorcock and others. See a list here. I’ll post ordering details when I see ’em.

Note: Any Locus reviewers reading this post should note that I’ll arrange review copies of I can. No need to contact me directly.

While I wasn’t watching, John Joseph Adams mentioned that The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction has just acquired new stories by Ted Chiang and Bruce Sterling. I’m hoping both will make it out in 2006. Regardless of that, though, you have subscribed, yes?