The submission guide to most magazines I have looked at specify ‘no gratuitous sex’, but that is evidently not the case with PostScripts. Michael Swanwick’s opening contribution ‘The Bordello in Faerie’ appears to be one big excuse for all kinds of gratuitous sex and perversions, liberally sprinkled with crudity and with a bit of paedophilia thrown in. Whether any of this was strictly necessary to advance the plot I can’t tell you, as I couldn’t bring myself to read more than a couple of pages.

‘The Empty Pool’ is a hard-boiled detective story by Robert Edric, the kind of tale that would be filmed in black and white. The imagery of the empty pool and the way it illustrates the detective’s life are woven into the narrative with great skill. The job of gathering evidence of an affair is dealt with in such a way that the story doesn’t become seedy, but keeps you involved in the plot to the end.

In ‘Fear of Rain’ Robert T Jeschonek introduces us to the interesting character Mr.Flood, who has the power to control the weather. It basically rains throughout the story, but the endless variety of the description means it doesn’t become tedious. There are some engaging contrasts, between Mr Flood’s desire to bring destruction and his ability to create beauty, and his apprentice’s desire to do her duty while disliking the rain. It’s a magical tale, well told with some wonderful imagery.

Gene Wolf’s contribution ‘The On-Deck Circle’ is mostly a description of a futuristic giant baseball game played with cruise ships, with the main character a retired baseball player brought in to boost the ratings. It’s entertaining enough without taxing the brain too much.

If you like Jack Vance, then you’ll love Matthew Hughes’ ‘Nature Tale’. It has that same combination of formal speech, intricate description and slightly bizarre names and places. The main character has a shady background as a sort of gentleman thief, but the flashbacks to his school days and his impeccable manners make him eminently likeable. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The characters in Darrel Schweitzer’s ‘Fighting the Zeppelin Gang’ are members of a mysterious cadre of superheroes doing what it says in the title. Unlike your regular superhero tale there is no focus on super powers or the battle against evil; it’s all about the battle against self-doubt and the strain of leading a double life. It has the feel of the darker Batman films and came across very well.

‘Happy Time’ is a sort of ‘Sliding Doors’ story from Scott William Carter. A seemingly happy travelling consultant is given a glimpse of what his life might have been, by a girl with a special gift. It has a satisfying conclusion that made me smile.

The magazine concludes with Terry Bisson’s jolly little tale ‘Billy and the Talking Plant’, the chaotic tale of a boy who inherits, as you can guess, a talking plant. It’s a nice, light-hearted end to a very varied magazine. There are other stories, from very short to very long, and out of all the magazines I’ve read recently this has the widest variety of tastes. That means that not all of it was for me, but there’s probably something for everyone to enjoy.