We’re almost sure this issue of LCRW is made up of more than a 100,000 letters and can guarantee that most are in the right place. Two huge stories anchor the issue, Nicole Kimberling explains that CSA means Crazy-Sexy Agriculture, and zombie hordes, vampires, cannibals, and many other ghouls tried to slip under the door. But it's not all monsters.

There are no ghostly bumps in the night, no loud noises, no cheap shot surprises to knock you out your seat. Instead: stories and poetry — so much excellent poetry! — that knock all the dust off your edges, the pencil off your table, the crown off the monarchy.

Presents twenty of the best works of short fiction of the past year from a variety of acclaimed sources.

Three million years from now a thought form called oufaobf will randomly coalesce into LCRW 35 at the same time as 1.2 million monkeys type it out. Which means there will be 2 copies out there in that there far future galaxy. Will Nicole Kimberling's recipe blow them away? Fiction by Danielle Mayabb or James Warner? Could be. Table of Contents Fiction Danielle Mayabb, "People Are Fragile Things You Should Know By Now" James Warner, "The History of Harrabash" Clinton Lawrence, "The Peach Orchard" Kate Story, "The Ghost of the Cherry Blossom" Jessy Randall, "Anonymized Orgies, Inc." Andrew Ervin, "Presently Engulfing the Mid-Atlantic States" Jack Larsen, "The Equipoise with Lentils" Diana M. Chien, "Maria Taglioni and the Highwayman" S. E. Clark, "Genius Loci" Henry Wessells, "Extended Range; or, The Accession Label" Emily Jace McLaughlin, "Above the Line” Nonfiction Nicole Kimberling, "Holiday Treats: Believe the Dream" Poetry Catherine Fletcher, "Four Poems from Spook Speak, A Tale of Espionage” Cover Aatmaja Pandya, "A Wizard of Earthsea" About the Authors Eleven stories, 4 poems, a column. A zine. An occasional outburst. History is written by the people who write. These are not usual days. These are not the usual times. This is a time of grief. This is a time of gloominess. This is a time of anger. This is a time of witnessing. This is a time to stand up and be counted. We will support the ACLU. We will fight for equality, inclusiveness, for health care. We will fight racism, misogyny, hatred, and intolerance. We will write the history of our times together. Gavin J. Grant Kelly Link

Who is ready for the fourty-eleventh issue of LCRW? It has stories, poems, a cooking column, & a bonus novel excerpt. Cometh the hour cometh the zine but wait it is written that a zine must sometimes be delay’d Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet issue number 44, December 2021. Edited by Gavin J. Grant & Kelly Link. Proofreader: Franchesca Viaud. ISSN 1544-7782. Ebook ISBN: 9781618732033. Print edition text: Bodoni Book. Titles: Imprint MT Shadow. LCRW is (usually) published in June and November by Small Beer Press, 150 Pleasant St., #306, Easthampton, MA 01027 · [email protected] · smallbeerpress.com/lcrw. twitter.com/smallbeerpress · Printed at Paradise Copies (paradisecopies.com · 413-585-0414). Subscriptions: $24/4 issues. Please make checks to Small Beer Press. Library & institutional subscriptions: EBSCO. LCRW is available as a DRM-free ebook through weightlessbooks.com, &c. Contents © 2021 the authors. All rights reserved. Cover illustration "Mother Cat" © 2021 by Ashley Wong (ashlwong.com). Thank you authors, artists, and readers. Celebrating! Sofia Samatar’s A Stranger in Olondria appearing on NPR’s 50 Favorite SF&F Books of the Past Decade; Kim Scott’s Taboo receiving a Kate Challis Ruth Adeney Koori Award (RAKA) commendation; and Vandana Singh being selected as a Climate Imagination Fellows by ASU’s Center for Science. Petra Mayer, RIP. Please send submissions (we are always especially seeking weird and interesting work from women writers and writers of color), guideline requests, &c. to the address above.

The Devil is known by many names: Serpent, Tempter, Beast, Adversary, Wanderer, Dragon, Rebel. His traps and machinations are the stuff of legends. His faces are legion. No matter what face the devil wears, Sympathy for the Devil.

The World Fantasy Award–winning collection from the architect of the Well-Built City Trilogy No matter how far into the realms of space and fantasy Jeffrey Ford’s stories may venture, they have one trait in common: They’re grounded in the universal. The Fantasy Writer’s Assistant, Ford’s debut collection, is no exception. “Creation,” which received the World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story and a nomination for a Nebula Award, relates a boy’s attempts to animate a man made of sticks and pebbles. Even as the creature’s life fades along with the summer, its loneliness and yearning for contact are palpable. Other blends of the worldly and otherworldly are evident in “Bright Morning,” in which a man searches far and wide for a cursed Kafka book, and “At Reparata,” when the grief of a king over the death of his queen takes the form of a destructive moth that could overtake the entire kingdom. The Fantasy Writer’s Assistant, its titular story another Nebula Award finalist, reveals Jeffrey Ford at his creative best.