Fiction River:  Crime
Kristine Kathryn Rusch, ed.
Dean Wesley Smith & Kristine Kathryn Rusch, series editors
WMG Publishing
trade paper $15.99
electronic $6.99

Fiction River is one of those wonderful ideas that could only have been brought to fruition in the last few years, as the epublishing revolution has taken hold. Veteran (and award-winning) editors Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch returned to editing last year with a crowdfunded anthology series called Fiction River. I found the concept very exciting and interviewed Ms.Rusch at Amazing Stories.

Each volume of Fiction River has a different editor and theme. Most of the ones so far have been some blend of science fiction or fantasy, although other genres usually end up in the mix. Published on a bimonthly schedule, they’ve just completed their first year. The issue under review here is a special issue commemorating that anniversary.

Crime may well be the strongest issue in the series to date. This issue has some top notch tales, mostly noir, from some of the best writers working in the field today along with some newcomers who will likely be the best writers in the field tomorrow.

I’m not going to try to give a one line teaser for each story. There are sixteen tales from fifteen writers. One is represented twice, but we’ll get to that shortly. Every story held my attention. There contemporary crime stories; tales of swindles, cons, and casino cheats; historical settings; family dramas. Crime can occur in any setting and under any circumstance.

The writers here, who include such luminaries as Doug Allyn, Steve Hockensmith, Brendan DuBois, Kate Wilhelm, Libby Fischer Hellman, Kristnine Kathryn Rusch, and Dean Wesley Smith, understand this. They understand how crime affects people. The criminals as well as the victims. And more importantly they know how to tell a story of crime in such a way that the reader is affected.

M. Elizabeth Castle is the author who has two stories. The first is in haiku. Yes, that’s right, I said haiku. It’s very good. And she makes it look easy. This was IMO the most clever and original story in the book. I wasn’t familiar with her work until I read Crime. I’ll be keeping an eye out for more of her stories.

As well as the rest of these authors. Unlike most anthologies, there wasn’t a single story I didn’t like.

Now, a quick word about production values. I pledged the Kickstarter that funded this project and chose the electronic subscription option for both cashflow reasons and the fact that I literally am running out of shelf space. All the reviews I’ve done of previous volumes in this series (Unnatural Worlds, Time Streams, Christmas Ghosts) were of electronic copies. All of them were professionally done, with no typos or weird line breaks, and the links in interactive tables of contents took you where they were supposed to.

Then something unusual happened. A print copy of the sixth volume of Fiction River, Moonscapes showed up in my mailbox. I assumed it was an error, since I already had my electronic copy. I was about to start reading it when a print copy of Crime arrived. I’d been looking forward to this one, since I have a great deal of respect for Rusch’s taste in crime fiction. It bumped Moonscapes out of the TBR pile. (I will read Moonscapes in another week or so.) I’d like to thank the person at WMG who sent the print copies.

I say all that to say that my reading experience for Crime was a little different in that I bounced back and forth between my electronic copy and my print copy. The production values on the print copy were as high as they were on the electronic copy.

The print version has an attractive cover with easy to read print. The binding is sturdy. The pages are crisp, white paper with font that’s clear and easy on my aging eyes. In short, the print edition is just as much a bargain as the electronic version.

Check it out. I doubt you’ll be disappointed. And consider a subscription. While most of the first year’s issues have had sf/f themes, there are several in the second year which look like they’re more thriller and mystery oriented.