Literary Reviews, Page 85

“Black Betty,” by Ben Peek

Lone Star Stories is a bi-monthly online publication devoted to speculative fiction and poetry. It is published and edited, apparently on a solo basis, by Austin attorney Eric T. Marin as an avocation. Mr. Marin is a writer of fiction and poetry who maintains a blog in which samples of his work may be read. After reading a couple of his flash works, it is evident that Mr. Marin is of an unusually philosophical bent for one in his profession, and that the characterization of “Philistine” is one that could never be justly leveled at him.

Mr. Marin seems to relish all things literary for their own sake, and should he have aspirations of emulating the highly successful career transition of onetime fellow attorney John Grisham, it would seem secondary. In addition to offering examples of his literary works on his blog, Mr. Marin also maintains a journal entitled “Musings and Meanderings” in which he discourses on matters related to Lone Star Stories as well as other matters occurring within the world of literature. He also formerly edited Multiversity, an online review publication of speculative poetry. Material on the zine is still available for viewing, though it is apparently currently in an indefinite hiatus.

Concerning Lone Star Stores, there isn’t all that much to relate as Mr. Marin keeps matters blessedly simple. Each issue is comprised of three works of fiction and three poems without editorial content. Each piece is introduced with superb graphics, the source for which is unclear to me as no request for art submissions is noted within the zine’s guidelines. There are no length restrictions for either fiction or poetry (though I have not come across any pieces that transcend the short story boundary of 10,000-15000 words, with most being considerably shorter), and Mr. Marin offers twenty and ten dollars respectively for two months' exclusive electronic rights and the right to archive the work for a year.

The term “speculative fiction” is vague to begin with, and Mr. Marin seems to push the boundaries some as to what constitutes the term; with the story I am about to review being an example of such extended latitude being granted. Judging from fiction I sampled, Mr. Marin seems to have a taste for cerebral tales that do not transgress upon the artsy, a philosophy that finds considerable favor with this reviewer. Click to continue: