Tales from the Pit

By Lord Caine

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Chaos Theory:Tales Askew. The task has fallen to me to introduce you to this new age, weird electronic pulp we have constructed and so…

Why another speculative fiction 'Zine? I guess the editors of this particular vehicle feel that you can never get enough speculative fiction. We are not alone in our belief that writing in general is undergoing a renaissance due to the miracle of the net. Who ever would have thought that any sentient being off the street could get a worldwide audience for only twenty bucks a month?

Now anyone can publish and due to sheer numbers alone, voices that never would have been heard before are being heard. Of course there are a lot of voices out there and it can get very noisy. That's why collection points (our beloved 'Zines) are necessary. It is at these collection points where the best of the masses are distilled and presented for those willing to seek them out.

I would argue that the most interesting 'Zines are going to be those that specialize. Trying to be all things to all people usually results in homogenized, pasteurized, and lobotomized, tasteless goo (or spam). We're against goo (and spam) at CTTA. You'll get a fully nutritional meal here as long as your tastes are… well… speculative.

What is speculative fiction? Recently it has become a catchall for both Sci-fi and fantasy. The literary industry discovered years ago that Sci-fi lovers and fantasy lovers typically go hand in hand. I can only imagine the frustration (and costume changes) that fans must go through at mixed conventions. The hybrid costumes can be down right embarrassing. I mean a Darth-Borg-Sauron? Please!

Here at CTTA we're broadening our horizons and not restricting our authors and readers to just Sci-Fi or fantasy. As long as the story has something different or is just a little askew we will entertain it for our 'Zine. We have a feeling there's a niche out there for this expanded genre and we look forward to offering it to you.

Our initial goals are modest. We plan to publish twice a year and see where that takes us. Hopefully as time goes by we'll be able to present an ever widening field of authors for your reading enjoyment. It is also our fervent hope that one if not all of those authors goes on to be the next Stephen King or Harlan Ellison. Who knows… maybe even they might stop by one day.

Regards,

Lord Caine