WELCOME TO NOVEMBER!

What? Already? Where did the year go?

Yes, children. It’s November. And here in the United States what do we think of when November arrives?

Yes. Food. We think of food. Lots of food. Big foody things. Like turkeys. Do you know how big a turkey is? A newborn baby could fit inside an adult turkey without hardly giving the bird indigestion.

Personally, I think of food all the time. Not just November. So when “The Brownies of Death” by Chuck Rothman hit my desk back in July, my eyes glazed over, and I thought ‘Brownies! Must publish brownie story!’ Okay. I admit. I liked the story. So did my staff.

Make sure, after you’ve read his story, to click over to an interview with Chuck by our staffer, Stanley Lee.

What else does November remind Americans of? Football of course! (For our international readers, I’m talking about big helmet and pad, weird shaped ball kind of football. Not that other sport that the entire rest of the world plays and that we call, for some unfathomable reason, ‘soccer.’) The pro season is just getting started. College football is in full swing. High school football is in its death throes, hurtling toward those exciting state finals!

To tone the excitement down a little, we bring you a sweet story about the unsung hero of the football world–the mascot. Please enjoy “Vaquera” by Kim Henderson.

Next up, a sci-fi offering, “Rewind” by Scott Baker in which the author examines the question, “What if you could rewind your life a mere ten seconds?” We thought Scott came up with a pretty good answer.

Finally, in our ‘Previously Published’ box, a sweet sci-fi story by Krystal Claxton, “Sapience and Maternal Instincts.” Lovely. Grab a tissue. This story originally appeared in Daily Science Fiction in 2012.

Enjoy!