Well, I'm back in the Land of Ice and Snow.

Which currently has no snow on the ground. There was some last week, and will doubtless be plenty before I fly back to Miami, but none just at the moment. It is 40 degrees colder here than it was in Miami yesterday morning, but no snow.

Walking around South Beach on Wednesday night, wistfully puffing a Cohiba and looking out at the ocean, I recall thinking, "wait a second? Why am I going to Michigan? Shouldn't everyone I know in Michigan just come here instead?"

Later, and somewhat more sober, I remembered that one plane ticket is cheaper than a whole bunch of plane tickets.

I knew there had to be a reason.

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I just subscribed to Fantasy Magazine.

If you haven't yet, why not? And did you know that if you subscribe before the end of the month, it costs all of $10 for the whole year?

To put that in context, that's approximately what it would cost to buy a venti Gingerbread Latte and a copy of the "The New York Times" this Sunday at Starbucks.

Now, the New York Times is full of articles about people getting car-bombed in Iraq, and Fantasy Magazine is full of really cool short stories. So if you were thinking about picking up a morning newspaper on Sunday, when it costs more than the weekday edition, wouldn't your money be better spent on a years' subscription to Fantasy Magazine?

"Wait a second," you might be thinking, "have you even ever read an issue? I thought you said you *just* subscribed?"

I haven't, but I've read some stories that will be published there, and I have evidence that editor Sean Wallae has excellent taste. He recently accepted for publication (in the magazine in one case, and in the accompanying sampler in the other) two stories by my classmates, "Tending the Mori Birds" by Caroline Yoachim and "Bone Mother" by Maura McHugh.

Not only of course are both of these people are of course excruciatingly talented, but, as evidence of Wallace's good taste in agreeing with me, in both cases the ones he published were my favorite stories they wrote at Clarion this summer. "Bone Mother" was my favorite Maura story and "Tending the Mori Birds" was if not my favorite then at least a *very* close second to my actual favorite Caroline story, which might edge out Mori Birds for the top slot only because it had giant spiders in it. But really, the two stories were on the same level, which is to say that they were both a breath-taking, visceral pleasure to read.