Bards and Sages Quarterly (January 2023)

Book excerpt: For over a decade, the Bards and Sages Quarterly has been a showcase for both new and established authors to share their speculative works. The short stories presented in each issue serve as a delightful sampler of the speculative genres. Whether your preference is sword and sorcery, time-travel, space exploration, gothic horror, urban fantasy, or any of the speculative genres, you are sure to find something to love in the pages of this magazine. A sample of what is in this issue: The employees of a no-kill animal shelter must content with an influx of magical creatures in The Week of Floofy Hell. The residents of the former penal colony of Drought find themselves in a fight for survival against raiders from another colony in The Mutineers of Starvation. A pair of siblings engaged in some time-travel tourism to see the Beatles perform live discover they may have been sold a dangerous deal in The Farther One Travels. Special notification: Though we avoid publishing stories we deem gratuitous in nature, as a journal of speculative fiction, some stories may content dark subject matter. Some stories may contain strong or offensive language, depictions of violence, and child and animal endangerment.