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StoryHack Action & Adventure, Issue Four
StoryHack, Issue Four is finally here! Featuring past favorite and new authors, all penning works of furious adventure. Here's the HawkeMoon by Sidney Blaylock, Jr. The captain of the King's Guard vows to kill the assassin after the death of the King. There's only one it turns out she may not have been the killer. Island Rescue by Spencer E. Hart College-age Frank Mason accompanies his father to the private island of a reclusive billionaire and his lovely, yet lonely daughter. When armed men storm the house, what can they do to rescue their fathers? Beyond the Temple of Baktaar by Jason Restrick Three years ago, Sam Walters emerged from those ruins, alone, unable to discover what had happened to his friend. Now, as he fights in the trenches of France during World War 1, a mysterious apparition in the night hands him his friend's journal. Wild Yellow by Brandon Barrows Clint Hagar never encountered a foe he couldn't beat with bullets or fists - until he met the desert, alone and afoot. And though he survived, something inside of him has broken and he must now battle both his own fear and self-doubt while trying to protect a small, isolated town from the outlaws who terrorize it. My Foe Outstretched by Misha Burnett In a future world two men fight a duel in the ruins under the city. The rules are simple--two men enter the tunnel, one man leaves. Alpha Equation by Julie Frost A young werewolf, an abusive alpha, and a new pack--in space. The Bouncer's Tale by Jon Mollison Trapped in a life as muscle for a crime syndicate, Robert "Bomber" Robinson struggles to maintain his humanity during the second worst night of his life. Retirement Plan by John M. Olsen A retired military veteran settles down on a distant planet away from his old life only to find that violence is a universal trait. Old habits resurface as he is forced to step up and defend his neighbors. The Spirit of St. George by Damascus Mincemeyer In an alternate 1922, a biplane squadron must engage in aerial combat with dragons that are ravaging the American Rockies.
- GenresFantasy
120 pages, Paperback
First published August 13, 2019
About the author
Bryce Beattie
25 books17 followersI’m addicted to pulp-styled fiction. When I was a kid, some careless adult left a tape with several episodes of “The Shadow” lying around. After I listened to that, I was hooked. Pretty soon, audio just wasn't enough and I moved on to to the paperback stuff. At first it was just hardboiled detective fiction, but then I started reading old Conan stories and yarns about John Carter of Mars. Now I'm pretty hopeless. In fact, I'm so deep into pulp fiction that I write my own. I also write stuff for my kids.
In real life, I'm the entire IT department at a real estate investment and management company. I usually just tell people that I'm a programmer, because that's my favorite part (& the largest part) of my job. In a perfect world, however, I'd be a full-time writer.
Other stuff: I’m very religious (LDS). Politically, I am just about a Libertarian. I love my family (a wife, three little girls, and a son). I enjoy radio theater, swing dancing, jazz and blues music, firearms, writing, reading and I believe in being prepared, laughing often, and showing respect to people around me.
Now you know everything.
In real life, I'm the entire IT department at a real estate investment and management company. I usually just tell people that I'm a programmer, because that's my favorite part (& the largest part) of my job. In a perfect world, however, I'd be a full-time writer.
Other stuff: I’m very religious (LDS). Politically, I am just about a Libertarian. I love my family (a wife, three little girls, and a son). I enjoy radio theater, swing dancing, jazz and blues music, firearms, writing, reading and I believe in being prepared, laughing often, and showing respect to people around me.
Now you know everything.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
August 31, 2019
DISCLOSURE: This periodical has published my work in the past.
StoryHack remains the most visually appealing of all the new pulps, with its vivid cover art, individual story artwork, and amusing retro bump-graphics. Bryce Beattie continues to show exceptional layout skills and to edit his magazine to a fully professional standard.
Let’s not bury the lede. New Pulp has produced a lot of good stories, but every now and then, one rises to a higher echelon. Schuyler Hernstrom’s “The First American” in Cirsova #5 springs to mind, as does L Chan’s “Petals, Falling Like Memories” in Broadswords and Blasters #5. Storyhack #4 has a story of that quality in Damascus Mincemeyer’s “The Spirit of St. George.” Starting with the fired-up concept of World War I fighter ace Eddie Rickenbacker and a squadron of biplane-equipped cohorts taking on a sudden invasion of dragons in 1920s Colorado, Mincemeyer goes from strength to strength, demonstrating superlative depth of research, an exceptional gift for action sequences, and a Scott Lynch-level talent for stacking the odds against his protagonists. Underlying it all is an exceptionally subtle wit which plays with the reader’s knowledge about the lives of several historical figures who populate the narrative. I don’t read all of the New Pulps, but I read more than most, and I consider this story to be the best published by any of said magazines in 2019. It is worthy of consideration for any and all short fiction awards, and it goes on the short list of the very best stuff ever to be published in New Pulp.
That said, this issue boasts a deep roster of good stories, and would stand strong even in the absence if Mincemeyer’s ass-kicking climax. I particularly valued:
WILD YELLOW by BRANDON BARROWS. Sometimes, simplicity can be a virtue in a story. Barrows offers up an uncomplicated western that thrives on the exceptional quality of its line-by-line writing, a believably conflicted protagonist, and some legitimate insights into the nature of courage and cowardice.
MY FOE OUSTRETCHED by MISHA BURNETT. Many New Pulp writers have a trademark skill that they’ve polished to an elite level, but for my money, nobody does more different things at an elite level than Burnett. His story concepts and world-building stand alongside Jason McCuiston’s as some of the best in the genre, he does heads-up combat at a level that rivals Jay Barnson, and he shares Joanna Maciejewska’s gift for taking a story in an unexpected direction. In this case, Burnett takes us underground for what seems like a simple duel in a subway tunnel—but it turns out that these straight-seeming corridors have some twists in them.
ALPHA EQUATION by JULIE FROST. Frost has achieved a level of mass-market penetration that many other New Pulper authors might envy, boasting a feature story in a Monster Hunter anthology among other accomplishments. I’ve most frequently encountered her via her Pack Dynamics stories, which offer a werewolf culture full of lavishly detailed social norms and expectations, with strictly regimented roles apparently derived from those found in real-world wolf packs. Frost’s mastery of language matches that of any professional fantasy author, and she has a particular gift for portraying the lingering effects of trauma. Here, she transports her trademark social scheme and her specific writing gift to a new environment, sending a new lupine protagonist beyond the confines of Earth in an effort to escape a living situation which has badly gone to the dogs. And in space, of course, the moon is always full…
StoryHack remains the most visually appealing of all the new pulps, with its vivid cover art, individual story artwork, and amusing retro bump-graphics. Bryce Beattie continues to show exceptional layout skills and to edit his magazine to a fully professional standard.
Let’s not bury the lede. New Pulp has produced a lot of good stories, but every now and then, one rises to a higher echelon. Schuyler Hernstrom’s “The First American” in Cirsova #5 springs to mind, as does L Chan’s “Petals, Falling Like Memories” in Broadswords and Blasters #5. Storyhack #4 has a story of that quality in Damascus Mincemeyer’s “The Spirit of St. George.” Starting with the fired-up concept of World War I fighter ace Eddie Rickenbacker and a squadron of biplane-equipped cohorts taking on a sudden invasion of dragons in 1920s Colorado, Mincemeyer goes from strength to strength, demonstrating superlative depth of research, an exceptional gift for action sequences, and a Scott Lynch-level talent for stacking the odds against his protagonists. Underlying it all is an exceptionally subtle wit which plays with the reader’s knowledge about the lives of several historical figures who populate the narrative. I don’t read all of the New Pulps, but I read more than most, and I consider this story to be the best published by any of said magazines in 2019. It is worthy of consideration for any and all short fiction awards, and it goes on the short list of the very best stuff ever to be published in New Pulp.
That said, this issue boasts a deep roster of good stories, and would stand strong even in the absence if Mincemeyer’s ass-kicking climax. I particularly valued:
WILD YELLOW by BRANDON BARROWS. Sometimes, simplicity can be a virtue in a story. Barrows offers up an uncomplicated western that thrives on the exceptional quality of its line-by-line writing, a believably conflicted protagonist, and some legitimate insights into the nature of courage and cowardice.
MY FOE OUSTRETCHED by MISHA BURNETT. Many New Pulp writers have a trademark skill that they’ve polished to an elite level, but for my money, nobody does more different things at an elite level than Burnett. His story concepts and world-building stand alongside Jason McCuiston’s as some of the best in the genre, he does heads-up combat at a level that rivals Jay Barnson, and he shares Joanna Maciejewska’s gift for taking a story in an unexpected direction. In this case, Burnett takes us underground for what seems like a simple duel in a subway tunnel—but it turns out that these straight-seeming corridors have some twists in them.
ALPHA EQUATION by JULIE FROST. Frost has achieved a level of mass-market penetration that many other New Pulper authors might envy, boasting a feature story in a Monster Hunter anthology among other accomplishments. I’ve most frequently encountered her via her Pack Dynamics stories, which offer a werewolf culture full of lavishly detailed social norms and expectations, with strictly regimented roles apparently derived from those found in real-world wolf packs. Frost’s mastery of language matches that of any professional fantasy author, and she has a particular gift for portraying the lingering effects of trauma. Here, she transports her trademark social scheme and her specific writing gift to a new environment, sending a new lupine protagonist beyond the confines of Earth in an effort to escape a living situation which has badly gone to the dogs. And in space, of course, the moon is always full…
Displaying 1 of 1 review