Paradox (magazine)
Encyclopedia
Literary magazine
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry and essays along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters...
featuring original short
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
historical fiction
Historical fiction
Historical fiction tells a story that is set in the past. That setting is usually real and drawn from history, and often contains actual historical persons, but the principal characters tend to be fictional...
in all of its forms up to novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
length. This includes mainstream historical fiction as well as other genre
Literary genre
A literary genre is a category of literary composition. Genres may be determined by literary technique, tone, content, or even length. Genre should not be confused with age category, by which literature may be classified as either adult, young-adult, or children's. They also must not be confused...
fiction with historical themes. For example, works of alternate history, historical whodunnit
Historical whodunnit
The historical whodunnit is a sub-genre of historical fiction which bears elements of the classical mystery novel, in which the central plot involves a crime and the setting has some historical significance. One of the big areas of debate within the community of fans is what makes a given setting...
s, historical fantasy
Historical fantasy
Historical fantasy is a sub-genre of fantasy and related to historical fiction, which makes use of specific elements of real world history. It is used as an umbrella term for the sword and sorcery genre and sometimes, if fantasy is involved, the sword-and-sandal genre too...
, period horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
, time travel
Time travel in fiction
Time travel is a common theme in science fiction and is depicted in a variety of media. It simply means either going forward in time or backward, to experience the future, or the past.-Literature:...
, Arthurian legend
Matter of Britain
The Matter of Britain is a name given collectively to the body of literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and its legendary kings, particularly King Arthur...
and retold myth
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
regularly appear in its pages. The magazine also features original historical poetry
Historical Poetry
Historical poetry is a sub-genre of poetry that has its roots in history. Its aim is to delineate events of the past by incorporating elements of artful composition and poetic diction...
, reviews of historical novel
Historical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...
s and films, and interviews with notable historical novelists.
Paradox was initially published quarterly, from April 2003 through January 2004. It was then switched to a semiannual release schedule. Although Paradox is a print magazine, the editor experimented with publishing a bonus online
Online magazine
An online magazine shares some features with a blog and also with online newspapers, but can usually be distinguished by its approach to editorial control...
issue in January 2004. On May 12, 2009, with the release of the thirteenth issue, the editor announced that Paradox would be ceasing publication as a print magazine; future book anthologies through Paradox Publications are planned, and the possibility exists that the magazine might return in an online format.
One distinctive aesthetic feature of the magazine is its use of historical artwork. In addition to using newly commissioned art for a story's accompanying illustration, stories are frequently illustrated by being matched with appropriate paintings or photographs by artists past. Vintage photographic portraits and U.S. Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
and World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
photographs have been so employed in Paradox as have paintings by such artists as Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Lawrence Alma-Tadema, OM, RA was a Dutch painter.Born in Dronrijp, the Netherlands, and trained at the Royal Academy of Antwerp, Belgium, he settled in England in 1870 and spent the rest of his life there...
, George Bellows
George Bellows
George Wesley Bellows was an American realist painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City, becoming, according to the Columbus Museum of Art, "the most acclaimed American artist of his generation".-Youth:Bellows was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio...
, William Bouguereau
William-Adolphe Bouguereau
William-Adolphe Bouguereau was a French academic painter. William Bouguereau was a traditionalist; in his realistic genre paintings he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of Classical subjects, with an emphasis on the female human body.-Life and career :William-Adolphe...
, Chǒng Sǒn, Gustave Doré
Dore
Dore is a village in South Yorkshire, England. The village lies on a hill above the River Sheaf, and until 1934 was part of Derbyshire, but it is now a suburb of Sheffield. It is served by Dore and Totley railway station on the Hope Valley Line...
, Rudolf Ernst
Rudolf Ernst
Dr. Rudolf Ernst of Winterthur was First Chairman of the Board of Directors of the merged bank from 1912 until 1941 until 1921 alternating with C. Emil Grob-Halter of Lichtensteig....
, M. C. Escher
M. C. Escher
Maurits Cornelis Escher , usually referred to as M. C. Escher , was a Dutch graphic artist. He is known for his often mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints...
, Jean-Léon Gérôme
Jean-Léon Gérôme
Jean-Léon Gérôme was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as Academicism. The range of his oeuvre included historical painting, Greek mythology, Orientalism, portraits and other subjects, bringing the Academic painting tradition to an artistic climax.-Life:Jean-Léon Gérôme was born...
, John William Godward
John William Godward
John William Godward was an English painter from the end of the Pre-Raphaelite / Neo-Classicist era. He was a protégé of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema but his style of painting fell out of favour with the arrival of painters like Picasso...
, Francisco Goya
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era...
, David Roberts
David Roberts (painter)
David Roberts RA was a Scottish painter. He is especially known for a prolific series of detailed lithograph prints of Egypt and the Near East that he produced during the 1840s from sketches he made during long tours of the region . These, and his large oil paintings of similar subjects, made him...
, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa or simply Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, and illustrator, whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of fin de siècle Paris yielded an œuvre of exciting, elegant and provocative images of the modern...
, J. M. W. Turner
J. M. W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner RA was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker. Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, but is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting...
, Vincent van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...
, George Frederick Watts, and Wu Guxiang, among many others.
Two stories published in 2006 in Paradox were among the seven short-form finalists for the 2006 Sidewise Award for Alternate History
Sidewise Award for Alternate History
The Sidewise Awards for Alternate History were established in 1995 to recognize the best alternate history stories and novels of the year.The awards take their name from the 1934 short story "Sidewise in Time" by Murray Leinster, in which a strange storm causes portions of Earth to swap places with...
—"O, Pioneer" by Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff and "The Meteor of the War" by Andrew Tisbert. One story published in 2008 was nominated for a Nebula Award: "Tucker Teaches the Clockies to Copulate" by David Erik Nelson.
"The Wizard of Macatawa" by Tom Doyle, published in Paradox issue 11 (Autumn 2007), was the winner of the 2008 WSFA Small Press Award
WSFA Small Press Award
The WSFA Small Press Award was inaugurated by the Washington Science Fiction Association in 2007. The award is open to works of imaginative literature published in English for the first time in the previous calendar year...
..
Published Authors
- Cherith BaldryCherith BaldryCherith Baldry is a writer of fantasy fiction. She grew up on a farm and worked with house cats. For a while, she took up the job of teaching, but gave up in order to become a full time writer. She currently lives in Reigate, England. Baldry collaborates with Kate Cary, Tui T...
- Maya Kaathryn BohnhoffMaya Kaathryn BohnhoffMaya Kaathryn Bohnhoff is a versatile author and performer, best known for her science fiction and fantasy works...
- Marie BrennanMarie BrennanMarie Brennan is the pseudonym of Bryn Neuenschwander, an American fantasy author. Her works include Doppelganger, its sequel Warrior and Witch, and numerous short stories. Her third novel, Midnight Never Come, was published on 1 May 2008 in the United Kingdom, and 1 June 2008 in the USA. It...
- Brenda CloughBrenda CloughBrenda W. Clough is an American science fiction and fantasy writer.Brenda W. Clough has been nominated to an Hugo Award and a Nebula Award in 2002 for her Novella "May Be Some Time"...
- Jeff Crook
- Paul Finch
- Charles Coleman FinlayCharles Coleman FinlayCharles Coleman Finlay is an American science fiction and fantasy author.He grew up in Marysville, Ohio and attended Ohio State University. He also attended the University of Oxford. His first story, Footnotes, was published in 2001 in Fantasy and Science Fiction where many of his stories have...
- Eugie FosterEugie FosterEugie Foster is a Nebula Award winning Asian American short story writer, columnist, and editor. Her stories have been published in a number of magazines and book anthologies, including Fantasy Magazine, Realms of Fantasy, Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show, and Interzone. Her...
- Sarah HoytSarah HoytSarah de Almeida Hoyt is an award-winning fiction author.-Biography:Hoyt was born on November 18, 1962 in the village of Granja, Águas Santas, Maia near Porto, Portugal, a major port city on the Atlantic coast...
- Sarah MonetteSarah MonetteSarah Monette is an American novelist and short story author writing mostly in the genres of fantasy and horror. She was born and raised in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and she began writing at the age of 12. In 2004 she earned a PhD in English literature, specializing in Renaissance Drama and writing her...
- Richard Mueller
- Darrell SchweitzerDarrell SchweitzerDarrell Charles Schweitzer is an American writer, editor, and essayist in the field of speculative fiction. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy and horror, although he does also work in science fiction and fantasy...
- Brian StablefordBrian StablefordBrian Michael Stableford is a British science fiction writer who has published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published as by Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped the middle initial and appeared under the name Brian Stableford...
- Adam StempleAdam StempleAdam Stemple, author and professional musician is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is the son of writer Jane Yolen and her late husband David Stemple....
- Sonya TaaffeSonya TaaffeSonya Taaffe is a Massachusetts-based author of short fiction and poetry. Sonya grew up in Arlington and Lexington, MA and graduated from Brandeis University in 2003 where she received a BA and MA in Classical Studies...
- Steve Rasnic TemSteve Rasnic TemSteve Rasnic Tem was born in Jonesville, Virginia, which is in the heart of Appalachia. He went to college at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and also at Virginia Commonwealth University. He got a B.A. in English education. In 1974, he moved to Colorado and studied creative...
- James Van PeltJames Van PeltJames Van Pelt is an American science fiction author who began publishing in the mid-90s. He is also a teacher in the language arts department at Fruita Monument High School in Fruita, Colorado. He is also the former advisor of The Catalyst, the student-run monthly magazine of Fruita Monument High...
- Carrie VaughnCarrie VaughnCarrie Vaughn is an American author who writes the urban fantasy Kitty Norville series. She has published more than 50 short stories in science fiction and fantasy magazines as well as short story anthologies and internet magazines...
- Jack WhyteJack WhyteJack Whyte is a Scottish-Canadian novelist of historical fiction. Born and raised in Scotland, Whyte has been living in Canada since 1967. He resides in Kelowna, British Columbia....
- Jane YolenJane YolenJane Hyatt Yolen is an American author and editor of almost 300 books. These include folklore, fantasy, science fiction, and children's books...
Authors Interviewed
Interviews with historical novelists and writers, conducted by the editor of Paradox, are regularly featured in the magazine. Noted authors interviewed have included:- Piers AnthonyPiers AnthonyPiers Anthony Dillingham Jacob is an English American writer in the science fiction and fantasy genres, publishing under the name Piers Anthony. He is most famous for his long-running novel series set in the fictional realm of Xanth.Many of his books have appeared on the New York Times Best...
- Kevin BakerKevin BakerKevin Baker is an American novelist and journalist. He was born in Englewood, New Jersey and grew up in New Jersey and Rockport, Massachusetts....
- Bernard CornwellBernard CornwellBernard Cornwell OBE is an English author of historical novels. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe which were adapted into a series of Sharpe television films.-Biography:...
- Karen EssexKaren Essex-Early life and education:Essex was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. As a teenager, she got involved with the theatre and focused her collegiate studies on costume design and theatrical history at Tulane University. She later attended an interdisciplinary graduate program at Vanderbilt...
- Lois TiltonLois TiltonLois Tilton is a science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and horror writer. She won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History in the short form category for her story "Pericles the Tyrant" in 2006. In 2005, her story, "The Gladiator's War" was a nominee for the Nebula Award for Best Novelette...
- Connie WillisConnie WillisConstance Elaine Trimmer Willis is an American science fiction writer. She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards. Willis most recently won a Hugo Award for Blackout/All Clear...
ISSN
Registered as ISSNInternational Standard Serial Number
An International Standard Serial Number is a unique eight-digit number used to identify a print or electronic periodical publication. Periodicals published in both print and electronic form may have two ISSNs, a print ISSN and an electronic ISSN...
1548-0593 with the United States Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
.