Jupiter, Issue 34, October 2011
reviewed by Rich Horton
Rich has long characterized it as a distinctly old-fashioned magazine. By this he refers to both its focus on pretty much pure science fiction, but also its fondness for tropes and plots that hearken back to the 50s through 70s, more or less. This isn't of necessity a bad thing -- indeed it's nice to have a magazine or two that provides a home for such stuff. Still, there is a burden on such stories to make the old new -- otherwise, why bother?

Jupiter, Issue 33, July 2011
reviewed by Rich Horton
The thirty-third issue is subtitled Euanthe, as ever after a moon of Jupiter. This issue has five stories, as well as two poems by Allen Ashley on astronomical subjects (Venus and Mercury). The issue opens with "Battlefield of Woe" by Alexander Hawes.

Jupiter, Issue 32, April 2011
reviewed by Rich Horton
Another solid issue for Jupiter. The thirty-second issue is subtitled Eurydome, as ever after a moon of Jupiter. This episode, besides the usual list of 5 stories, features 3 poems, 2 by veteran SF poet G.O. Clark, and one by Chris Oliver. Each is readable, a bit clever, thoughtful -- and, like almost every SF poem Rich has read, fairly negligible as to the holy fire of great poetry.

Jupiter, Issue 30, October 2010
reviewed by Rich Horton
Rich thought the previous two issues of the magazine among the strongest in its tenure. Alas, this issue doesn't work as well. It features four stories, plus four linked sonnets. The sonnets are by Ian Sales, and are collectively entitled "Jupiter Quartet," with the individual poems named for the Galilean satellites. They are the most interesting pieces in the issue.

Jupiter, Issue 28, April 2010 / Issue 29, July 2010
reviewed by Rich Horton
With the release of the two latest issues of the nice British pure SF magazine Jupiter, issue XXVIII is subtitled Autonoe and XXIX is subtitled Thyone, Rich wonders what the subtitles will be in the happy event that Jupiter publishes more than 63 issues. He thinks the April issue, Autonoe (XXVIII), is one of the strongest numbers of this magazine to date.

Jupiter, Issue 27, January 2010
reviewed by Rich Horton
Jupiter remains a consistent little magazine. A good source of generally old-fashioned science fiction, and a good place to see writers at the beginning of their careers. The stories aren't always as well-written as one might prefer -- but that's what you expect with such new writers. These aren't potential award nominees just yet, but they are doing entertaining work.

Jupiter, Issue 26, October 2009
reviewed by Rich Horton
The opening story, "The Space Sphinx" by Edward Rodosek, is a novelette told by a man who came to a colony planet as its chief "hunter," protecting the colony from the dangerous local fauna. He tells the story of his successor, who met and married a mysterious local woman only to lose her, apparently, to some alien creature, then disappeared himself.

Jupiter, Issue 24, April 2009
reviewed by Rich Horton
Rich thought this was one of the better issues. To begin at the end, with the shortest story, Gareth D. Jones offers an enjoyable snippet, a little character sketch, in his Roadbuilder sequence, "Dog's Best Friend." Continuing from the end, James McCormick's "If You Can't Beat Them ..." speculates on an accommodation reached by two crime lords, one of whom has chosen biological enhancement, the other mechanical enhancement, to the point they've reached a stalemate in their rivalry.

Jupiter, Issue 23, January 2009
reviewed by Rich Horton
Let's go story by story. Lee Moan's "The Weight of Shadows" tells of a young woman from Earth who has gone to another planet to care for children orphaned by an ongoing war between the "watusi" and the "rifiri", rival races of aliens. In Huw Langridge's "The Darken Loop" a group of freelance scientists is urged by an AI to make use of an unexpected means of a sort of time travel to save the girlfriend of one of them.

Jupiter, Issue 22, October 2008
reviewed by Rich Horton
Here's the fourth issue of Jupiter for 2008. It maintains a regular quarterly schedule, very impressive for a small press 'zine. This issue is subtitled Harpalyke, as usual after one of Jupiter's many moons.

Jupiter, Issue 20, April 2008 / Jupiter, Issue 21, July 2008
reviewed by Rich Horton
The SF featured tends to have a slightly old-fashioned feel. As with many small press publications, the stories are generally short. The presentation is simple but clean and attractive. As a special feature for the fifth anniversary, issue XXI has a color cover, and rather a nice one, by Jesse Speak. There is typically one poem per issue, and very occasionally another feature -- but mostly we're talking lots of fiction.

Jupiter, Issue 19
reviewed by Rich Horton
Rich's favorite story of the five plus a poem here is the longest, a novelette called "O-Topper: The Musical", by Monte Davis. Much of what he likes is the weird presentation of what is a fairly familiar basic story: time travel tourism, in this case rich men battling Huns. But the organizer of the tours insists on art -- he's a cross-dressing clown and he dresses up his clients similarly. The tour itself has a shocking side -- the tourists' mantra is "You can't kill what's already dead," but of course they are killing these people.

Jupiter, Issue 18
reviewed by Rich Horton
This is an SF magazine -- SF as in Science Fiction -- based in the UK. The magazine's appearance is modest: A-size sheets folded in half and saddle-stapled, black and white cover and no interior illustrations. But that's really not a drawback -- the presentation is very clean, the font nicely chosen and nicely sized. The focus is heavily on fiction -- there are five stories, plus one poem and one brief book review.