Fiction:

"Parting the Veils," by Richard Gavin
Received a 2002 Honorable Mention in Year's Best
     Alan makes his exodus quietly from one of Trimbee's notorious soirees and goes walking about the city. He remembers things. Another life, perhaps. Until he finds himself in a seedy neighborhood he hadn't meant to enter, and faced with a warehouse that matches the address scrawled on a piece of paper in the coat he wears -- one he'd picked up mistakenly at the party, leaving his own behind. He enters.

"Leland's Boy," by Cullen Bunn
     It may have been Leland's boy at one time, but it was Frank's now. He'd bought him fair and square, and his wife had grown far too attached to give him back now. Leland could brandish that shotgun of his all he wanted, he'd have to take the baby with force if he wanted him back.

"Mother Mary," by Jason Brannon
     Liz felt uncomfortable out in the desert, hundreds of miles from civilization, by herself. She'd seen Deliverance; men could turn into animals when they didn't think there would be any repurcusions. And the man working the counter at the Mother Mary gas station out in the middle of nowhere may have looked innocent enough, but that's oftentimes the best disguise for evil.

"The Man Who Holds Your Hand Beneath the Pale Moonlight," by R.G. Evans
Recommended for a 2002 Stoker Award; Received a 2002 Honorable Mention in Year's Best
     Julia has kept a secret for years. Every New Year's Eve, at the tick of midnight, David's spirit comes to her and they, for at least a moment, experience what their lives may have been like under different circumstances. If the party that night when she was but a teenager hadn't wound up with her leaving with Buddy instead of David. But there's far more than only that conspiring in her life.

"Heart of the Wolf," by Michael Kelly
     Nunlyuk believes in tradition. In the way things have been done for hundreds -- thousands of years. The time has come for the next transition, when his son will become a man. A tradition in which mankind intertwines itself with the nature of the world.

"Fetal Position," by Joel Arnold
Received a 2002 Honorable Mention in Year's Best
     Rudy can't expect anyone to understand. It's not natural. His wife hadn't understood; he could respect that, he hadn't really expected her to. But there was nothing he could do to change it, it was simply the dynamic of his family. And, God, if this doctor would just let him lay on his side. Please.


Poetry:

"The Flood," by Christina Sng

"dreams of love," by David C. Kopaska-Merkel

"The Marvel of Flight," by Christina Sng
Received a 2002 Honorable Mention in Year's Best

"And the Meek Shall Inherit," by Jane Gwaltney

"Devosha K. Deeos & the Disks of Eternity," by Clark Hays
Nominated for a 2002 Rhysling Award

"Erinyes II: Megaera," by James O'Shawnessy

"Going Down with Jasmine," by David C. Kopaska-Merkel
Received a 2002 Honorable Mention in Year's Best

"The Search," by Christina Sng

"Closing Act," by Kevin L. Donihe


Artwork:

Chris Friend (Cover)
Russell Dickerson ("Partings the Veils" & "Fetal Position"; Illo. for "Fetal Position" published honorably in the Spectrum 9 Art Anthology)
Eric Yates ("The Man Who Holds Your Hand Beneath the Pale Moonlight" & "Devosha K. Deeos & the Disks of Eternity")