ISF # 2 AVAILABLE FOR FREE DOWNLOAD HERE:
ISF 2 December 2012 Execution Version
Oh, how I would love to deliver a copy of ISF #2 to each of you in person. I would ride in my magic sleigh with a bunch of magazines in my bag and, while traveling around the globe, I would stop briefly and knock on your door. (Did you think I was going to just break in without warning and leave the magazine in your living room after eating all your cookies?—ha, ha.) Smiling, I would say: “dear reader, here’s our latest number, full of breathtaking stories magically crafted by Nas Hedron, Lavie Tidhar, and Ken Liu, and with a really cool interview with Rachel Haywood Ferreira. Please accept it and read it with care—this is our baby and we’re trusting you with him! Then, as I get ready to fly to the next house, to another location with another reader like you, I’d say “you’ll find a common theme in these stories.” You’d look curious and I’d add “a theme that’s common to all of us, you know?”
Wouldn’t that be great?
It can’t happen, but I kid you not, it would be a dream come true for me to be able to speak to each of you, presenting you with the work of these great writers, editors, illustrators, and designers. So, that’s what this editorial is for—without a magic sleigh it’s the best possible way to communicate with the people who are the real foundation of ISF, its readers!
I am so proud of issue #2—proud that I could work with everyone involved, and proud to help international writers gain a wide audience of readers—and as such, I’m in a state of immense joy. This is, after all, a season of joy and peace. It’s a season full of a sense of wonder. And this sense of wonder, dear readers, ISF #2 has got aplenty! I mean it—I really believe you won’t be able to lift your eyes from the page until you’ve read it all!
Looking back over the past month, although everybody on the ISF Team was deeply involved and working hard so you could be reading these words now, I realize that I smiled every day along the way. That’s because what we’re doing matters: it matters to us, it matters to the authors, and it matters to you! This is something to hold on to, and I intend to hang on until the end!
That’s what I’d enjoy telling each of you in person, in many languages. (Hey, if I could fly on a sleigh, I’d surely be able to speak every language there is!) But, as it turns out, this is the only way to do it, and that being the case I wasn’t going to let this opportunity get away!
Let’s all finish the holidays and the year reading great stories. It will surely help us to start a new year with hope in our hearts and smiles on our faces!
Roberto Mendes
ISF Editor In Chief
ISF # 2 TOC
(i) Nassau Hedron – Siren Songs in Deep Time
(ii) Lavie Tidhar – Aphrodisia
(iii) Ken Liu – Single-Bit Error
(iv) Cristian Tamas interviews Rachel Haywood Ferreira
Cover art by Tomasz Maronski
Today, you can also read a review by Carla M. Soares:
Tomorrow we will publish one another review!
ISF # 2 Published with the professional help of:
International Speculative Fiction 
[…] TOC (i) Nassau Hedron – Siren Songs in Deep Time (ii) Lavie Tidhar – Aphrodisia (iii) Ken Liu – Single-Bit Error (iv) Cristian Tamas interviews Rachel Haywood Ferreira Cover art b… […]
[…] you downloaded ISF N.º2? You can find it here… Meanwhile I’ll leave you my short review of the three tales in this […]
[…] Roberto Mendes has been very busy, and I have been very remiss in not tweeting about it. Issue #2 of International Speculative Fiction came out just before Winterval (well, during it, as my thoroughly pagan holiday begins with the equinox). I put the email to one side then, and forgot about it. I should not have done, as the issue contains, amongst other things, fiction by Ken Liu and Lavie Tidhar, plus and interview with Rachel Haywood Ferreira. And it is free. Get it here. […]