In My Opinion

I like speculative fiction, especially science fiction and fantasy short stories, because they take me away from the everyday world and into worlds full of all sorts of possibilities. They ask challenging questions and pose interesting solutions. They make me think. And they have been doing that for me for a long time.
Science fiction and fantasy helped me survive the rigors of middle school and high school. Andre Norton and Robert A. Heinlein and a myriad of other authors filled my head with adventure and hope. I enjoyed the heck out of what they gave me. I always had at least one science fiction or fantasy book with me, sometimes two or three. I would use them as carrots to get me to finish homework assignments I didn't really like. Go over your French verb conjunctions twice and you get to finish the Norton story before you do your algebra. Finish your algebra and you get to read a chapter in your Heinlein book. And so it went, the mundane followed by the rip-roaring and exciting. Strangely this weird system made it all fun.
Fun. That was important to me. I think it is important now. Too few people give it its due. Fun is what gets us through the boring stuff and the difficulties life throws at us.
In 2008 when we realized a lot of publishing venues were dying, my fellow editor and I decided to do something positive and start a new online publication, one dedicated to speculative fiction short stories. Everyone advised us that we couldn't make money at it. “Fine,” we said. “We'll do it for fun.”
We started talking about our proposed publication with writers and authors at science fiction conventions. We asked for submissions and we got them. We lined up a guest artist. We worked hard pulling everything together and here we are:
4 Star Stories.
4 Star Stories is an online speculative fiction magazine that publishes 4 short stories, science fiction and fantasy, 4 times per year. Come and join us each season. Tell your friends about us. Read the stories, look at the art, have some fun. We are. It's important.
Hearing from you is important too. We value your opinions. Click on Contact the Editors to send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

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