The modern world has lost its sense of adventure, but not its capacity for adventure, nor its need for it. In a world of bleak headlines and jaded heroes, we need a break. We need some good, old-fashioned escapism, stories that take us away for a little while and maybe remind us that a little bravado and pluck can change your life. Enter an e-zine devoted to space opera and golden-age sci-fi in all its pulpy goodness. Here is a new publication with a throwback sensibility and online production quality. Welcome to Ray Gun Revival. Ray Gun Revival is all about dusting off the pulp adventure stories of old and giving them a fresh spin. We are bringing out the deepest elements of what has traditionally been rather superficial fiction and updating them for a new generation of fiction enthusiasts. Our stories focus more on character development than hard science, and sail all the wide-open waters between fantasy and harder sci-fi. Think of the original Star Wars stories, Doc Smith's Lensman series, the Warlord of Mars tales from Edgar Rice Burroughs. Think of everything from John Carter and Gully Foyle to Kimball Kinnison and Han Solo. Ray Gun Revival is helmed by three co-conspirators, Loriendil (author Lee. S. King), fireflyfellow (screenwriter, director, and film critic Paul Christian Glenn), and Phy (general-purpose wordsmith Johne Cook). This group of Editors is known as the Overlords because it pleases us, and uses a Round Table approach to create the e-zine, which will be sport a format that is fast, fun, and full of adventure. At present, we're looking at weekly releases featuring the best space opera / golden age sci-fi tales we can find, along with a special treat, recurring episodic serial stories by each of the Overlords, as well as an original space opera serial by critically-acclaimed up-and-coming author Sean T. M. Stiennon (aka Suuran Songforge)! While development continues at warp speed (or as fast as our mercurial equipment permits, having taken a clue from the Millennium Falcon), we are pleased to announce that the Submissions Guidelines are up and we are accepting initial submissions for publication. If you've got a story that you've been kicking around looking for a home along these lines, check us out: http://raygunrevival.com/guidelines.php Ray Gun Revival is mostly about the simple things; well-crafted stories, great characterization, ideas that will carry us away and refresh our reality-wearied minds, a sense of adventure that will take us to another place for a little while. Come get lost in adventure for a little while with Ray Gun Revival. Feel free to pop over to the Ray Gun Revival forums and put in a vote for great throwback fiction: http://raygunrevival.com/Forum/index.php Ray Gun Revival is currently in production with a proposed release day of July 1st (or whenever we can corral all the space monkeys long enough to get something done, whichever comes first). Ray Gun Revival--coming soon to a URL near you! -- johne cook - wisconsin, usa | http://raygunrevival.com | http://theswordreview.com | |http://phywriter.com p.s. - I wrote a rough draft of a Fireflyesque novel called "The Sky Pirate" for the NaNoWriMo contest in 2004, and a number of you on this list were kind enough to read that manuscript. I'm serializing that universe for RGR and have 36 monthly episodes mapped out. The first is called "The Assassin of Patience Bay" and features a 15 year old Cooper Flynn as he is introduced as an orphan on a remote island and meets a shadowy stranger who plunges Flynn into a lifetime of danger and adventure. As of this writing, I've written the "pilot", have finished the second episode, and am well into the third. I hope you'll enjoy this effort to revisit a classic genre.