Welcome to Black Cat Weekly #15—enjoy our holiday cat cover!

The magazine is coming more sharply into focus, as our acquiring editors spread out through the mystery and science fiction fields and bring new stories to our lineup. This issue, we officially welcome Cynthia M. Ward to the editorial staff. She comes bearing a gift—Nancy Kress’s excellent science fiction story, “The Art of War.”

Darrell Schweitzer was supposed to be back with his second acquisition this week (a comical Esther Friesner tale) but there were problems with the text and I’ve made a last-minute executive decision to push it back an issue or two, while it’s being fixed. I’ll slip in a replacement from my own backlist, another entry in my “Slab’s Tavern” series of fantasy bar stories.

Barb Goffman and Michael Bracken have acquired a pair of original tales for us. First, Barb presents “The Importance of Being Urnest,” by Eleanor Cawood Jones. Then Michael selects “Romeo and Isabella” by John M. Floyd. Great stories, both. Thanks, everyone!

Here’s the complete lineup:

Mysteries / Suspense / Westerns

“The Writing Workshop,” by Janice Law [short story]

“Romeo and Isabelle,” by John M. Floyd [short story]

“Secret Santa,” by Hal Charles [Solve-It-Yourself mystery]

West of Quarantine, by Todhunter Ballard [novel]

“The Importance of Being Urnest,” by Eleanor Cawood Jones [short story]

“Dr. Kreener’s Last Experiment,” by Sax Rohmer [short story]

Science Fiction & Fantasy

“Serendipity,” by Larry Tritten [short story]

“The Art of War,” by Nancy Kress [short story]

“Well Bottled at Slab’s,” by John Gregory Betancourt [short story]

Forever We Die! by Stephen Marlowe [short novel]