Deep Magic magazine knows how to pick ’em! Don’t take my word for it, take critic C.D. Lewis’ word for it in Tangent Online, a top reviewing publication for the SF industry. Here’s what he said:
“Deep Magic’s Fall 2020 issue contains four new short stories. In keeping with its founder’s stated goal of providing clean fantasy, the stories don’t rely on strong language or erotic content for their effect. The editors’ vetting process is to be commended: whereas most collections do well to present some 30% of contents you could recommend with a straight face to a friend, every new piece in this issue of Deep Magic is worth your time. Good clean fun.”–Tangent Online, Nov. 8, 2020.
BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE! Look what he said about my novelette!
“Wulf Moon’s “Muzik Man” presents SF from over the shoulder of a robot who aspires to do more for the Maestro’s expanding galactic task force—to spread music, yes, but to advance his own ambitions. “Muzik Man” demonstrates the knife-edge problem distinguishing in fiction between a trope and an archetype: they’re not so much different in concept as in execution. In this case, Moon cleaves to a well-known outline of Christ planting the seeds of an enormous movement while being criticized, harassed by police, killed by authorities, then resurrected to teach another lesson. (Because this is SF about fighting oppressions, Muzik Man is restored from a trash heap by a teen he’d shown music, who herself was forbidden to enter the engineering guild because she’s a girl.) There can be a lot of emotional energy in this plot arc when properly harnessed: Obiwan returns more powerful than Vader can possibly imagine, once again to guide a believer—and the crowd goes wild. The reader who stays with the protagonist long enough to care about his problems and those of the people he’s trying to reach will find a powerful climax that channels energy from themes that shape the reader’s own life: friendship, ambition, hope, redemption. Even if the open could work faster to attract and keep a reader, Moon shows he can masterfully construct a triumphant feel-good finish. Recommended.”
It’s a wonderful review of my story, but aside from being likened to STAR WARS <swoon> what I’m especially thrilled about is how the review ended. Recommended. That’s code. This is what it means. “Muzik Man” recieved a starred review for novelettes on the 2020 Tangent Online Recommended Reading List! If I were a restaurateur, this would be my first Michelin star! Somebody pop some champagne! No, not that one, the Louis Roederer Cristal. Yes, yes, the gold medallion limited edition brut–this is a celebration!
When we write, I believe our best comes from capturing our deepest emotional experiences on the page. “Muzik Man” is an important story for me. I have never had a story of mine likened to the power within Star Wars before. But I do know where the emotional power in this story came from. My life. I call this one my thinly disguised autobiography.
I do hope you read it. My heart is in this one.
Here’s how to get “Muzik Man.” The entire issue is only three bucks! Get ready to dance! https://amzn.to/313KGJf
And if you’d like to see the Tangent review, here you go! https://bit.ly/2IjghQs