So apparently, there's a new Livejournal out there called Kaleidotrope. I'm confident this is just one of life's weird coincidences. There's also a Kaleidotrope.com (although nothing's there, it would seem).

Anyway, I would be remiss if I didn't use this as a shameless opportunity to remind you that copies of the second issue of my Kaleidotrope are available for purchase, and I'm currently accepting submissions for the October 2007 issue and beyond.

With, I think, just a couple of exceptions, copies of the second issue went out to contributors and subscribers earlier this morning. Reviewer and distro copies will have to wait until tomorrow, if not early next week. (Kaleidotrope is a one-man operation, and there's only so much that this one man can carry with him to the post office.)

I think the issue looks really good overall, but I'd love to hear what readers have to say, good and bad alike.

Somehow this escaped my attention, but the first issue of Kaleidotrope got a couple of nice write-ups in the March 2007 issue of Xerography Debt. Both Eric Lyden and Gavin Grant received copies of the zine. Here's what they had to say:

Eric:
On first glance I wasn’t sure this was my cup of tea. But as I glanced I saw it had an article on the Transformers so I figured if nothing else I should give a quick skimming. And in spite of the fact that Jim Cleveland (the author) didn’t care for the Transformers movie (he says it was too violent for his tastes which was kinda the point—no one died on the TV show so in the movie they offed a whole bunch of Transformers. Add to that the minor but very memorable cursing and... how any true fan can dislike the movie is beyond me.) it was an enjoyable read for anyone who grew up with the show. So I read a little more and aside from the poetry (Poetry + Eric = dislike. That was a clumsy was of putting it, but fact is it just ain’t my thing) I found it to be a pretty enjoyable read. The fiction was all solid (and I’m trying to think of one story that was a real stand out, but in general it was all good. None of it quite reached “Holy shit, I will never forget this story!” level, but it was all good) and I enjoyed the back page blather where Stuart Crause just sorta goes on about topics ranging from magnetism to fashion to math. One of the better literary type zines I've seen lately. 44 not quite full size but bigger than half sized pages. No price listed but send a couple bucks at least to Fred Coppersmith

Gavin:
First issue of a new science fiction leaning lit zine that will be familiar to readers of ELECTRIC VELOCIPEDE or FLYTRAP. It’s not up there with those two yet, but these are early days and Fred shows a good amount of enthusiasm putting this together and getting it out there. The Horoscopes were a nice addition, i.e. “Leo: You have an active imagination and a keen imagination,so it will be all the more sad when that pack of rabid wolves finally get to you.” It’s the “finally” in there that gets me. All those years avoiding the wolves only to be brought down at last. Ach.

Electric Velocipede and Flytrap are definitely models of the sort of high quality, if not necessarily the exact same material, that I'd like to see in Kaleidotrope. And I think each issue -- I've already started putting together #3 -- is a little stronger than the one before, as I learn from my mistakes...and learn to make new ones.

It occurs to me that I haven't posted the actual contents of Kaleidotrope's second issue. So here, for just $4 -- all of which, I think I can safely say, will wind up in my contributors' hands -- is what you'll get:

Fiction
"The Pilgrim" by Carol D. Green
"First Peeling" by Daniel Ausema
"The Diary of Hillary Sorensen-French" by S. C. Bryce
"The Role of Plumage in the Mating Habits of the Karraw" by J. R. Blackwell
"Midnight Gardener" by Bill West
"The Bride" by Adicus Ryan Garton
"Abergavenny" by J. Anderson Coats
"Einstein's Lost Paper" by George O'Gorman
Three stories by Beth Langford
"Wonan the Barbarian and the Sentence of Certain Death" by Kiel Stuart

Poetry
"Biology Experiment" by Sheri Fresonke Harper
"Sleep" by C. A. Gardner
Two poems by Terrie Leigh Relf
Two poems by Jennifer Crow
"How to Be a Bunny" by Rachel Swirsky
"Scifaiku I-V" by Daniel C. Smith
"Bee-Bop" by d. cat chopra
"Contact" by Tracie McBride
"Merchants" by John Grey
"A Lesson in Magic" by Kristine Ong Muslim
"Signal" by Aurelio Rico Lopez III

Artwork
Remi Treuer
Amelia Peel
Cathy Buburuz
Jim Cleaveland
Rod Walker
Erik Wilson

Plus an in-depth interview with popular fantasy author John Marco, horoscopes, and some other incidental bits and pieces, pieces and bits.

Well, I was expecting to have copies of the second issue in-hand by this afternoon, but, thanks to a screw-up at the printer, that isn't going to happen. Maybe it's time to find somewhere more reliable than FedEx Kinkos. (Certainly it may be time to investigate somewhere cheaper^*.)

My apologies in advance to contributors and subscribers alike. The issue almost certainly will be out before the month is over. In the meantime, if you'd like to purchase an advance copy, I definitely won't stop you...

* At the very least, an RFQ to places like Paradise Copies -- which I know prints both Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet and Electric Velocipede, two fine and wonderful zines -- wouldn't be wholly out of order.

Rachel Swirsky, who has poetry forthcoming in this month's issue of Kaleidotrope, wonders over on her journal just what it is we love about stories. It's an interesting discussion.

Via Gwenda Bond.

John Marco, who I interviewed for the second issue of Kaleidotrope, is holding a contest for three free copies of his upcoming fantasy anthology, Army of the Fantastic. The book features thirteen stories about fantastical armies from writers like Tanya Huff, Alan Dean Foster, and Tim Waggoner, and it looks like a lot of fun. Drop John a line for your chance to win a copy!