''Paradox: The Magazine of Historical and Speculative Fiction'' (also known as ''Paradox Magazine'' or simply ''Paradox'') was a

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

featuring original

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

in all of its forms up to

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

length. This includes mainstream historical fiction as well as other

genre Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...

fiction with historical themes. For example, works of

alternate history Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, altern ...

historical whodunnit The historical mystery or historical whodunit is a subgenre of two literary genres, historical fiction and mystery fiction. These works are set in a time period considered historical from the author's perspective, and the central plot involves t ...

historical fantasy Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic) into a more "realistic" narrative. There is much crossover with other subgenres of fantasy; those classed as Arthur ...

period Period may refer to: Common uses * Era, a length or span of time * Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...

horror,

time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...

Arthurian legend The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Wester ...

and retold

myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

regularly appear in its pages. The magazine also features original historical poetry, reviews of

historical novel Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

s and

films A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

, and interviews with notable historical novelists.

History and profile

''Paradox'' was initially published quarterly, from April 2003 through January 2004. It was then switched to a semiannual release schedule. Although ''Paradox'' is a print magazine, the editor experimented with publishing a bonus

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...

issue in January 2004. On May 12, 2009, with the release of the thirteenth issue, the editor announced that ''Paradox'' would be ceasing publication as a print magazine; future book anthologies through Paradox Publications are planned, and the possibility exists that the magazine might return in an online format. One distinctive aesthetic feature of the magazine is its use of historical artwork. In addition to using newly commissioned art for a story's accompanying illustration, stories are frequently illustrated by being matched with appropriate paintings or photographs by artists past. Vintage photographic portraits and

U.S. Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states t ...

and

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

photographs have been so employed in ''Paradox'' as have paintings by such artists as

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, (; born Lourens Alma Tadema ; 8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912) was a Dutch painter who later settled in the United Kingdom becoming the last officially recognised denizen in 1873. Born in Dronryp, the Netherlands, ...

George Bellows George Wesley Bellows (August 12 or August 19, 1882 – January 8, 1925) was an American realism, American realist painting, painter, known for his bold depictions of urban life in New York City. He became, according to the Columbus Museum of Art ...

William Bouguereau William-Adolphe Bouguereau (; 30 November 1825 – 19 August 1905) was a French academic painter. In his realistic genre paintings, he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of classical subjects, with an emphasis on the female ...

, Chǒng Sǒn,

Gustave Doré Paul Gustave Louis Christophe Doré ( , , ; 6 January 1832 – 23 January 1883) was a French artist, as a printmaker, illustrator, painter, comics artist, caricaturist, and sculptor. He is best known for his prolific output of wood-engraving ...

Rudolf Ernst Rudolf Ernst (14 February 1854, Vienna – 1932, Fontenay-aux-Roses) was an Austro-French painter, printmaker and ceramics painter who is best known for his orientalist motifs. He exhibited in Paris under the name "Rodolphe Ernst". Life He w ...

M. C. Escher Maurits Cornelis Escher (; 17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972) was a Dutch graphic artist who made mathematically inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints. Despite wide popular interest, Escher was for most of his life neglected in t ...

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living artist by 1880." The ran ...

John William Godward John William Godward (9 August 1861 – 13 December 1922) was an English painter from the end of the Neo-Classicist era. He was a protégé of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, but his style of painting fell out of favour with the rise of modern ...

Francisco Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and ...

David Roberts David or Dave Roberts may refer to: Arts and literature * David Roberts (painter) (1796–1864), Scottish painter * David Roberts (art collector), Scottish contemporary art collector * David Roberts (novelist), English editor and mystery writer ...

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901) was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist and illustrator whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of Paris in the ...

, J. M. W. Turner,

Vincent van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...

George Frederick Watts George Frederic Watts (23 February 1817, in London – 1 July 1904) was a British painter and sculptor associated with the Symbolist movement. He said "I paint ideas, not things." Watts became famous in his lifetime for his allegorical wor ...

, and Wu Guxiang, among many others. Two stories published in 2006 in ''Paradox'' were among the seven short-form finalists for the 2006

Sidewise Award for Alternate History The Sidewise Awards for Alternate History were established in 1995 to recognize the best alternate history stories and novels of the year. Overview The awards take their name from the 1934 short story "Sidewise in Time" by Murray Leinster, in wh ...

—"O, Pioneer" by Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff and "The Meteor of the War" by Andrew Tisbert. One story published in 2008 was recommended for a Nebula Award: "Tucker Teaches the Clockies to Copulate" by David Erik Nelson. "The Wizard of Macatawa" by Tom Doyle, published in ''Paradox'' issue 11 (Autumn 2007), was the winner of the 2008

WSFA Small Press Award The WSFA Small Press Award was inaugurated by the Washington Science Fiction Association in 2007. The award is open to works of imaginative literature (e.g. science fiction, fantasy, horror) published in English for the first time in the previous ...

.SF Awards Watch
Retrieved October 19, 2008.

Editor

Christopher M. Cevasco, editor/publisher, 2003 to present

Published authors

''Paradox'' published fiction and poetry by both new authors and established professionals. Noted contributors have included: *

Cherith Baldry Cherith Baldry (born 21 January 1947) is a British writer of children's fiction and fantasy fiction. Beside publication under her own name, she is the author of some works published under the pseudonyms Adam Blade, Jenny Dale, Jack Dillon, and ...

Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff (born 1954) is an American sci-fi and fantasy author. Personal life Bohnhoff, mother of three, has been married since 1981 to Jeff Bohnhoff. The couple and their children are members of the Baháʼí Faith. She began her ...

Marie Brennan Marie Brennan is the pseudonym of Bryn Neuenschwander, an American fantasy author. Her works include the ''Doppelganger'' duology ('' Doppelganger'' and its sequel '' Warrior and Witch'', respectively retitled ''Warrior'' and ''Witch'' on late ...

Brenda Clough Brenda W. Clough (also credited as B.W. Clough) (pronounced ''Cluff'')">/nowiklinknowiki>/nowiki> *"The Indecorous Rescue of Clarinda Merwin", ''Aboriginal SF'', Mar/Apr 1989 *"Provisional Solution", ''Carmen Miranda's Ghost is Haunting Space Stat ...

Jeff Crook Jeff Crook is a novelist, author, and former technical writer for the United States Postal Service. Works Jeff Crook's first Dragonlance novel, ''The Rose and the Skull'', was published in March 1999. His other novels for the Dragonlance setting i ...

Paul Finch Paul Finch is an English author and scriptwriter. He began his writing career on the British television programme ''The Bill''. His early scripts were for children's animation. He has written over 300 short stories which have appeared in magazines ...

Charles Coleman Finlay Charles Coleman Finlay (born July 1, 1964 in New York City, NY) is an American science fiction and fantasy author and editor. He grew up in Marysville, Ohio and attended Ohio State University. His first story, ''Footnotes'', was published in 20 ...

Eugie Foster Eugie Foster (December 30, 1971 – September 27, 2014) was an American short story writer, columnist, and editor. Her stories were published in a number of magazines and book anthologies, including '' Fantasy Magazine'', ''Realms of Fantasy'', ' ...

Sarah Hoyt Sarah A. Hoyt (born November 18, 1962) is an American science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and historical fiction writer. She moved to the United States in the early 1980s, married Dan Hoyt in 1985, and became an American citizen in 1988. She w ...

Sarah Monette Sarah Elizabeth Monette (born November 25, 1974) is an American novelist and short story author, writing mostly in the genres of fantasy and horror. Under the name Katherine Addison, she published the fantasy novel '' The Goblin Emperor'', which ...

* Richard Mueller *

Darrell Schweitzer Darrell Charles Schweitzer (born August 27, 1952) is an American writer, editor, and critic in the field of speculative fiction. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy and horror fiction, horror, although he does also work in science fictio ...

Brian Stableford Brian Michael Stableford (born 25 July 1948) is a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who has published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped ...

* Adam Stemple *

Sonya Taaffe Sonya Taaffe is an American author of short fiction and poetry based out of Massachusetts. She grew up in Arlington and Lexington, Massachusetts and graduated from Brandeis University in 2003 where she received a B.A. and M.A. in Classical Studi ...

Steve Rasnic Tem Steve Rasnic Tem (born 1950) is an American author. He was born in Jonesville, Virginia. Rasnic attended college at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and also at Virginia Commonwealth University. He earned a B.A. in English educ ...

* James Van Pelt *

Carrie Vaughn Carrie Vaughn (born January 28, 1973) is an American writer, the author of the urban fantasy '' Kitty Norville'' series. She has published more than 60 short stories in science fiction and fantasy magazines as well as short story anthologies and ...

Jack Whyte Jack Whyte (March 15, 1940February 22, 2021) was a Scottish-Canadian novelist of historical fiction. Born and raised in Scotland, he moved to Canada in 1967. He resided in Kelowna, British Columbia. Early life Whyte was born in Scotland on Mar ...

Jane Yolen Jane Hyatt Yolen (born February 11, 1939) is an American writer of fantasy, science fiction, and children's books. She is the author or editor of more than 350 books, of which the best known is '' The Devil's Arithmetic'', a Holocaust novella. H ...

Authors interviewed

Interviews with historical novelists and writers, conducted by the editor of ''Paradox'', were regularly featured in the magazine. Noted authors interviewed have included: *

Piers Anthony Piers Anthony Dillingham Jacob (born 6 August 1934) is an American author in the science fiction and Fantasy (genre), fantasy genres, publishing under the name Piers Anthony. He is best known for his :Xanth books, long-running novel series set in ...

* Kevin Baker *

Bernard Cornwell Bernard Cornwell (born 23 February 1944) is an English-American author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo Campaign. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe. He has also written ''The Saxon ...

Karen Essex Karen Essex is an American historical novelist, a screenwriter, and journalist. Early life and education Essex was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. As a teenager, she got involved with the theatre and focused her collegiate studies on costume de ...

Lois Tilton Lois Tilton is a science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and horror writer. She won the Sidewise Award for Alternate History in the short form category for her story "Pericles the Tyrant" in 2006. In 2005, her story, "The Gladiator's War" w ...

Connie Willis Constance Elaine Trimmer Willis (born December 31, 1945), commonly known as Connie Willis, is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. She has won eleven Hugo Awards and seven Nebula Awards for particular works—more major SF awards than ...

ISSN

Registered as

ISSN An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit serial number used to uniquely identify a serial publication, such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs ...

1548-0593 with the United States

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

References

{{Reflist Alternate history History magazines published in the United States Speculative fiction magazines published in the United States Quarterly magazines published in the United States Biannual magazines published in the United States Defunct literary magazines published in the United States Defunct science fiction magazines published in the United States Fantasy fiction magazines Horror fiction magazines Magazines established in 2003 Magazines disestablished in 2009 Online magazines with defunct print editions Online literary magazines published in the United States Magazines published in New York City