Otto's Elephant, by Shweta Narayan

In Vincent Pendergast’s story Otto’s Elephant, a friendly stranger delights a young boy with marvelous stories of the history of his elephant, each story more magical than the last. Below, Vincent reads one of those tales, accompanied by Shweta Narayan’s illustration. Enjoy!

Click here to hear Vincent read Otto’s Elephant! (3.2 MB MP3 file)

Want to read the rest of the issue? We’ve got 19 more fantastic stories!

Shweta Narayan

The amazing Shweta Narayan reads from her story “The Mechanical Aviary of Emperor Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar” in The Clockwork Jungle Book (Issue #11). Like Shweta’s other work, it’s a luminous and graceful tale of an amazing culture, full of heart.

We’ve just learned that this story will be reprinted in Ann and Jeff VanderMeer’s Steampunk Reloaded: Volume 2, coming out this fall. Congrats, Shweta!

Click here to listen! 2mb MP3 file.

Shweta’s story “One for Sorrow” appeared in Shimmer Issue 10 (read her interview about the story!).

Want to read the rest of the issue? We’ve got 19 more fantastic stories!

SFRevu finds lots to like: “This was a flawless issue Shimmer and a big thick one, too.”

And last but not least, check out Richard Horton’s summary of Shimmer’s 09 output.

Thanks for the terrific reviews!

Rajan Khanna

This week’s treat: Rajan Khanna reads from his story “The Emperor’s Gift.” Click here to listen (2mb, MP3 format). Pandas!

I loved this story because of the touching relationship between the characters, the unusual setting, and, of course, the pandas. Raj’s story “The Furies” appeared in Shimmer’s Pirate issue. We’re delighted to welcome him into the Clockwork Jungle.

Want to read the rest of the issue? We’ve got 19 more fantastic stories!

“A Painter, a Sheep, and a Boa Constrictor,” by Nir Yaniv (Translation by Lavie Tidhar)

“Please, draw me a sheep,” he said — he looked just like you — and I thought, oh my, the kid makes demands. I would have liked to be in the desert, beside the broken remains of my airplane, or anywhere else for that matter. But no — we were both in the space port, I who was thrown like a discarded tool from the bowels of a trading ship, and he, who had seemed to arrive from nowhere.

If you haven’t read Issue 10 yet, start reading today. It’s available in a print copy or free download.

Amal El-Mohtar

This week’s treat: Amal El-Mohtar reads her Clockwork Jungle Book story “The Fishbowl,” a story of oracular fish. I love the imagery in this story; and it doesn’t hurt that no one else wrote about fish!

Amal’s stories have appeared in Shimmer twice before: Sparrow and Egg in Issue #6 (read our interview with her!), and The Crow’s Caw in Issue #4 (read our other interview!). Since then, she’s launched online poetry ‘zine Goblin Fruit, won a Rhysling, and recently had stories in Strange Horizons and Cabinet des Fees. It’s a delight to see her name in our pages again!

Click here to listen (11mb, MP3 format)

Want to read the rest of the issue? We’ve got 19 more fantastic stories!

Jay Lake. Photo © Roger Podva

We couldn’t very well have a clockwork issue without Jay Lake in it, could we? Jay wrote a terrific origin story for us, so we’re kicking off our Clockwork Jungle Book Author Spotlight series with his reading of “Shedding Skin.”

Click hear to hear Jay read from his story “Shedding Skin” (12mb, mp3 format)

Jay’s story “The Black Back-Lands” appeared in our second issue. Check out his web site for the numerous other places you can find his novels and short stories!

Want to read the rest of the issue? We’ve got 19 more fantastic stories!

Tick tock, tick tock.

And watch this space: we’ll be posting a series of readings from the authors, starting this weekend with the indomitable Jay Lake.

Nearly 200 pages of fabulous clockwork animal tales await you.
Twenty authors: luminaries like Lou Anders, Jess Nevins, Chris Roberson, and Jay Lake. Newcomers with brilliant futures, including Shweta Narayan, Sara Genge, and Amal El-Mohtar.

Tick… tock…

We hope to see you at World Fantasy in San Jose… only days from now. Some of the Shimmery crew will attend. Among them: Shimmer editor-in-chief Beth Wodzinski, plus editorial assistant Sean Markey, and associate editors Christie Skipper and Grá Linnaea. Drop us a line if you’re going to be there and would like to get together.

FYI: Make sure you already bought your 2009 membership, as the con is sold out; people are looking for memberships now on the WFC lj page.

See you there!