Over here in IFWG Publishing Australia, we are excited about the imminent release of Star Quake 2, our second annual ‘best of SQ Mag’ anthology.

A particular highlight is the cover. Our practice – and now it is a tradition – is to pick one of the best suited SQ Mag covers of the same year that covers fiction, and turn it into the anthology cover – makes sense, because it is also a ‘best of’, so to speak, and it is great to also publish in print at least one of the fantastic designs/artwork we commission. Last year Jeffery Doherty created a memorably spooky cover and it was chosen for the 2012 Star Quake edition, and this year we have chosen Steve G Santiago’s colourful, evocative depiction of a kick-ass female – in spirit with the 2013 May edition that was devoted to women in speculative fiction.

The field of stories we had to choose from were challenging, as so many stories were good. Sophie Yorkston, Editor in Chief of SQ Mag, and appropriately editor of Star Quake 2, worked long and hard to come up with the final 16 stories. It is no coincidence that the feature stories of the Women in Speculative Fiction edition were chosen for inclusion, due to their excellence, and by proxy they also deserve their feature status on the cover of the anthology.

Without further ado, here is the cover and the TOC:

Table of Contents

A Man and His Parasite by Cat Rambo
Fairest Fowl by J.B. Rockwell
Born Again by Nu Yang
Chinaman’s Bluff by Cat Sparks
Flagman by Jim Lee
Shoe Shine by Robert Datson
Surface Stars by Hanson Hovell Holladay
Intangible by A.A. Garrison
The Visiphorical Art by Michelle Ann King
Digging in the Deep by Tonia Brown
Digital Reflections by Kevin Rainak
Cattails by A.P. Sessler
Strike Day by Marie DesJardin
Tea in the Secret Garden by Emma Newman
Faye’s Diner by J.T. Seate
The Poet and the Lily by Julia August
Endangered Species X by Guy Prevost