Phenomenal Stories, Vol. 1, No. 1 — Shawn M. Tomlinson

There's nothing like holding a pulp magazine; smelling that wonderful smell of the decaying acidic paper, seeing the garish brightly colored cover, looking for the names that became legends. Since 1978, I always wanted to create, edit, design and publish my own pulp speculative fiction - science fiction, fantasy, horror, weird, cyberpunk, etc. - magazine. I've tried many times. I know it's a ridiculous pursuit, especially since magazines themselves virtually are extinct as of 2018. Reading the non-fiction in the pulps is a glimpse into how scientists and writers thought the future would happen. The way the future was. This is an attempt to feel a little of that. It may or may not be a one-off, depending upon how many writers I can get to contribute. At least one issue, the one you hold in your hands, of Phenomenal Stories does exist, and that's one more pulp magazine than existed before. Perhaps one day, you can read this and think, hmm, that's the way the future was.