Review of Challenging Destiny
Number 9, April 2000

This review is by Jonathan A. Gilbert, from E-Dispatches from the Great White North. It appears here with the permission of the author.

CHALLENGING DESTINY #9/Various contributors/published by Crystalline Sphere Publishing. R.R. #6, St. Marys Ontario. N4X 1C8.Canada. April, 2000/SF & fantasy anthology magazine. $5.00 (U.S.), $6.00 (Canadian), payable by money order at mailing address. E-Mail: csp@golden.net.

Until I went online earlier this year I wasn't aware of this publication's existence. Now I am and I am more than happy to give it a plug. Challenging Destiny is a top quality science fiction and fantasy anthology digest magazine from the lovely Ontario town of St. Marys. Nicely packaged with quality cover artwork, crisp clear printing and sharp interior art reproduction this publication puts similar magazines out of the States to shame.

The contents are of an extremely high standard as well. Issue #9 includes an excellent interview with Charles de Lint by James Schellenberg and David M. Switzer, a well crafted overview of some of the spin-off of H. G. Well's War of The Worlds (also by James Schellenberg) and some really great science fiction and fantasy tales including "When The Traffic Lights Failed At The Crossroads Of Time" by J.S. Lyster, "The Gift" by Chris Reuter and "The Scapegoat" by Joe Mahoney. There's also some excellent interior illustrations by such folks as Anne Kushnick, Rhett Random Pennel and Chris Jouan.

Usually I try to give a brief snippet as to what each story is about but I'm not going to do so this time as I want you to discover as I did the fine work inside this magazine. This is a really good publication folks and is right up there with Girasol's Pulp Tales in my view. It's definitely a must read and if you like it not only can you get a subscription but you can also order back issues from the publisher. So order it today, folks and be sure you mention you heard about it here at E-DISPATCHES.

Last modified: January 31, 2004

Copyright © 2000 by Jonathan A. Gilbert