The Stellar Beacon: Connected

The Stellar Beacon is a 'zine that imagines better worlds to explore what could be radically different about our own.  We experiment at the intersection of indie gaming and speculative fiction.  In this issue you'll find:

TTRPG adventures

Story focused space opera scenarios for Return to the Stars,  which might also be run in your favorite sci-fi system. 

Powered by a Flower a solarpunk adventure, with the added fun of werewolves in space!  By the noted Singaporean science fiction writer Joyce Chng. 

The House Always Wins?  a cyberpunk mystery for hopepunk heroes by Mark Sabalauskas, award nominated game designer. 

Original Science  Fiction

To Lie Down Beside Still Waters  Louis Evans whose  work has appeared in Vice, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Nature: Futures, Grist, and many more.

When My Light Reaches You  by Rob Cameron  lead organizer for the Brooklyn Speculative Fiction Writers, a former guest host and curator for the New York Review of Science Fiction.  Daydreamer is his debut middle grade novel.

Nonfiction

Hopepunk, Optimism, Purity and the Futures of Hard Work by Ada Palmer, two-time Hugo finalist and historian focusing on the history of censorship and radical thought. 

What AI Generated Art and Writing Might Mean for Artists and Authors  by Jason Sanford, four-time finalist for the Nebula Award, three-time finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer.  (note, as editorial illustrations for this particular essay, there are screenshots that show AI image software being used, so I've tagged the 'zine as such.  None of the other art involves AI. For example the cover is a licensed  image of physical art, painted in acrylics. )