Raven Electrick has just published Sporty Spec, edited by Karen A. Romanko. The trade paperback anthology “views sports and games with a speculative twist, in prophesied futures, parallel presents, and imagined pasts.” Some of the 42 stories and poems are reprints, but many are new. The table of contents includes:
“The Sport of Kings” by Paul Abbamondi
“Ebonmadder’s Run” by Marge Simon (originally published in Space & Time, Spring 2000)
“Somewhere, the Sun is Shining” by Jo L. Gerrard
“Stealing for the Record by Robert Frazier (originally published in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, August 1990)
“Perpetual Check” by E.C. Myers
“Riding to Faery” by C.A. Gardner (originally published in Mythic Delirium, Winter/Spring 2002)
“Running for Life” by Brenta Blevins
“Leaves” by James S. Dorr (originally published in The Magazine of Speculative Poetry, Autumn 1997)
“The Empress of the Dragon” by Adam Nakama
“Less Than Perfect” by Todd Wheeler
“Inland Sea” by Beth Langford
“Approaching Europa” by Deborah P. Kolodji
“Hang Twenty” by Jude-Marie Green
“Star Boarding” by Marcie Lynn Tentchoff
“Prey” by Paul L. Bates
“The Tithing Hunt” by Samantha Henderson
“The Football Phase” by Connor Moran
“1967 NFC Championship Game Remembered After Awakening from Cryogenic Sleep” by Roger Dutcher (originally published in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, April 1991)
“Blackthorn Darts” by Amanda M. Hayes
“Librarian Gladiators” by Richard Pitaniello
“Mutiny” by Erin Kinch
“Dealing in Tarot” by Ruth Berman
“The Court Photographer” by Lawrence Schimel
“Games People Play” by Michael Ceraolo (originally published in KillPoet, Vol. 1, Issue 1)
“The Drop Zone” by Alison J. Littlewood
“Leiris of Green Wyvern United” by K.M. Praschak
“Ping-Pong Ambition” by Larry Hodges”
“Virtual Pong Circa 35,000 B.C.” by G.O. Clark (originally published in Pirate Writings, 1996)
“Night Vaulting” by Camille Alexa
“Liliya’s Game” by Jennifer Crow
“Gravity Field Golfball” by Stephen D. Rogers
“Space Envelopes” by Willow Katsumi Relf-Discartin and Terrie Leigh Relf
“Soul in One” by Kevin Lightburn
“Menace Anyone” by Brian Rosenberger
“Jumping Over the Moon” by Alex Dally MacFarlane
“Poltergame” by Rob Rosen
“All the Medals and Trophies” by Aurelio Rico Lopez III
“The Running of…” by Stephen M. Wilson
“Curses!” by Stoney M. Setzer
“6.66 Earned Run Average” by Eric Hermanson
“Organic Geometry” by Andrew C. Ferguson
“City of Games” by Daniel Ausema