In My Opinion

· \4 Star Stories Issue 31

Greetings from the Commonwealth of Kentucky!

Editorial Update, 5-2-2022:

Suspension of Acceptance of Manuscripts for Publication

At this time we cannot guarantee prospective authors a spot in an upcoming issue within a reasonable length of time.
In order to be fair to authors whose work has already been accepted for publication, as well as those waiting for their work to appear in future issues, we are suspending acceptance of manuscripts for publication until further notice.
Watch the Submissions and In My Opinion web pages for submission policy updates.
Thank you for thinking of 4 Star Stories, and we look forward to again being able to accept submissions.
Best regards,

David Gray
Co-Editor
4 Star Stories

Mary Gearhart-Gray
Co-Editor
4 Star Stories

Hi, Readers -

Welcome to 4 Star Stories Issue 31 for Spring 2025!

The year so far has offered both professional and personal challenges.

At 4 Star Stories we are aware that you, our readers, care about innovative, creative science fiction and fantasy in the short-story format as much as we do. For years we have prided ourselves on presenting those stories by both new and established authors to you. Up until the present the Editor/Publishers of 4 Star Stories have paid all of the costs for the e-zine themselves.

Now, in 2025, 4 Star Stories needs your help. Events of the last few months have hit the Editor/Publishers of 4 Star Stories hard financially. We hate to say it, but we can no longer afford the expense of publishing 4 Star Stories without help. We would like to pay the writers more, but at $100.00 USD per issue, we can't afford to. Though as Editor/Publishers we happily donate our time and expertise, there are other web-publishing expenses associated with each issue: domain name, web hosting, Microsoft 365 Copilot, etc. We use free (open source) software where possible, but we do have to upgrade to newer computers from time to time. These publication costs add up. Bottom line is 4 Star Stories needs your financial help. To facilitate your helping us, we did some checking and decided to work with the crowd-funding resource Ko-fi. Through Ko-fi you can "buy 4 Star Stories a cup of coffee" one time for as little as $5.00 USD, or you can make a continuing supporting donation in the amount with which you feel comfortable. We have given this a lot of consideration and decided that for 4 Star Stories, crowd funding through Ko-fi is the way to go.

We have been publishing for 31 issues, and we hope to continue to do so. With your help in funding 4 Star Stories we can and we will.

Thank you for your attention!

You can help 4 Star Stories right now! Buy us a cup of coffee by clicking on this link: Ko-fi

As Whitney R.Holp tells us in his story Human Abscission, which appears in this issue, we owe it to ourselves, and to those who come after us, to maintain an optimism towards the future. Things can and will get better if we believe in ourselves. That same optimism applies to 4 Star Stories as well.

We are looking forward to making 4 Star Stories even better and 2025 our best year so far.

We extend our most sincere thanks to those who contributed to the C. Dean Andersson Memorial page. A link to the C. Dean Andersson Memorial page is in the Art Archive for Issues 25-27.

Enrich your Spring 2025 literary experience by checking out the links to our five stories below. Also check out our take on the upcoming termination of support for Microsoft Windows10 in the Webmaster's Rant, located at Contact Us/Webmaster.

Once again, five fine authors have stepped forward with exciting and innovative stories for your reading pleasure. From the Shadows by Dana Beehr chronicles the struggle of one woman against the devil himself.We have a hole-in-the-wall shaggy dog story, The Hole in One Ball Field's Concession Stand, from Michael A. Clark, and the aforementioned Human Abscission, by Whitney R. Holp, set in a dystopian far future. Quest of the Elf Lord by David Wright rounds out our four regular stories with a martial arts-themed fantasy story. Our Bonus Story, Down Time, by Richard Zwicker, is a tongue-in-cheek take on ancient mythology.

Here are the links to the stories:

From the Shadows
The Whole in One Ball Field's Concession Stand
Human Abscission
Quest of the Elf Lord
Down Time

The Guest Artist page this issue is turned over to the 4 Star Stories Staff Artist who shows us the capabilities of the updated Paint application in Windows 11 to create original computer art.

As always, we wish you good health, both physical and mental, in these trying times. We look forward to seeing you safe and healthy for Issue 32 in late Summer of 2025.

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4 Star Stories is an online speculative fiction magazine that publishes Science Fiction and Fantasy short stories. Tell your friends about us. Read the stories, look at the art, have some fun. We are. It's important.
Hearing from you is important too. We value your opinions. Click on Contact the Editors to send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

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