Welcome to Issue 39 of IGMS. It's a busy, busy time, with a boatload of exciting new developments to tell you about.

First, our cover story this issue is "Foreign Bodies" by Melinda Brasher. A colony on an alien world is functioning as best it can with limited resources when an infection causes hallucinations that could prove as deadly as the infection itself -- and the doctor who was supposed to deal with it died on board the ship before it ever reached the planet in the first place, leaving one resourceful young lady scurrying to figure this mess out before time runs out.

In Kate O'Connor's "Salt and Sand," the beaches of the afterlife are the unusual setting for a confrontation between an entity whose sole purpose is to consume the dead (so as to return their memories to the world), and the unexpected stowaway on one of the ships that deliver them, a woman not ready to let go yet, much less see her daughter's body eaten before her very eyes.

Jacob Boyd's "Memory of Magic" is a mystical Americana story of young girl who's lost her father in a mining accident in an alt-history old-West. She finds a baby wizard and, while waiting for said wizard baby to grow up and restore her father, must contend with a truly unique group of characters and tribulations.

"Rapture Nation," penned by Jennifer Noelle Welch, is a very brief but somber look into a community of people convinced that the end times are coming . . . any moment now.

Proudly co-sponsoring the 2^nd Hydra Contest (spotlighting the best of Brazilian spec fic), IGMS is thrilled to present this year's winner, "The Other Side of the River" by Camila Fernandes. This fablesque fantasy follows a young man and the life-changing moments leading up to his arranged marriage. To showcase the Hydra Contest, we've also made this story our audio piece for the issue, read in spectacular fashion by Princess Alethea Kontis.

Also in this issue, Darrel Schweitzer's InterGalactic Interview with multiple-award-winning author Damien Broderick. With this issue we're launching something brand new: Vintage Fiction, featuring a reprinted story from the interviewed author, selected by the author him or herself. In this issue we bring you Damien Broderick's "A Passage in Earth," along with a brief introductory essay about why he selected this particular story.

Additionally, you'll find the third installment of our other new feature, "At The Picture Show: Extended Cut," an in-depth article by film critic, Chris Bellamy.

Not enough goodies yet? Then here's the list of this year's winners of our own IGMS Reader's Choice Award, celebrating reader's favorite works from 2013. Winning authors and artists receive fame, glory, and a bit of bonus cash:

Stories:

1st place - "The Cartographer of Dreamland" by Robert Howe

2nd place - "Explaining Cthulhu to Grandma" by Alex Shvartsman

3rd place (tie) - "Notes on a Page" by Barbara A. Barnett

3rd place (tie) "The Temple's Posthole" by M.K. Hutchins

Interior Art:

1st place - "Note on a Page" by Nick Greenwood

2nd place - "At the Old Folk's Home at the End of the World" by M. Wayne Miller

3rd place - "Last Resort" by R.L. Carter

Cover Art: "What the Sea Refuses" by M. Wayne Miller

Also, everyone who voted during the poll was entered into a drawing for a free copy of Earth Awakens, the third book in the First Formic Wars series by OSC and Aaron Johnston. It will be autographed by both authors. Congratulations to the lucky winner, Terry Maulhardt.

And last but light years away from least, one more tidbit to share with you -- and for you to share with your friends: Starting this month, IGMS will make the most recently published previous issue free on a rotating schedule. This means that from now on, during the same time that the current issue is live, the entire issue that was published right before it will be free for anyone and everyone to read. For as long as Issue 39 is the latest one out, Issue 38 will be available for free. Then when Issue 40 is published, Issue 39 will be free, and so on. You still need a subscription to read the latest issue, and you still need a subscription to have full access to our entire archive of issues and all the stories contained therein, but we believe in the authors and stories we publish and we want a wider audience to have a chance to sample them. So tell your mother, tell your best friend, tell that co-worker of yours who's a closet SF-fanatic but doesn't want the boss to know; tell everybody: free fiction from IGMS!

Enjoy.

Edmund R. Schubert
Editor, Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show