Bull Spec? BULL SO!

Editor-publisher Samuel Montgomery-Blinn recently sent me Bull Spec #3, a new speculative fiction magazine that has featured writers like Joe Haldeman, Natania Barron, Lavie Tidhar, D. Harlan Wilson, Katherine Sparrow (whose work is seriously underrated), Kaolin Fire, John Kessel, and more.Starting a magazine with a hardcopy presence is probably seen as running counter to the Evidence, but in actual fact that's one reason why it might be a good time to use this approach---simply because most new genre mags are web-only, or web with a resulting annual anthology.I have to admit that although I know and respect the editor, I've been in the field for 25 years now and I've seen dozens and dozens of start-up publications last an issue or two and go the way of the dodo. So I've been supportive but also coldly clinical about its chances of sticking around. It's a tough, tough area of publishing.So, encountering the third issue made me sit up and take notice. Oh, this magazine might just be around in a year---if it gets sufficient signal boost. All I know is, the little warning bells that always go off in my head when encountering something I'm not sure will have longevity have been snuffed out.Also, Bull Spec is enjoyably and admirably eclectic. An interview with David Drake would not be the first thing I'd guess would be in the same issue with a story by Sparrow, but it works. The organizing impulse is a roving eye for stuff that's interesting. The magazine deserves your support.Bull spec? BULL SO!