''Black Static'', formerly ''The 3rd Alternative'', was a British horror magazine edited by Andy Cox. The magazine twice won the

British Fantasy Award The British Fantasy Awards (BFA) are awarded annually by the British Fantasy Society (BFS), first in 1976. Prior to that they were known as The August Derleth Fantasy Awards (see August Derleth Award). First awarded in 1972 (to ''The Knight of ...

for "Best Magazine" while ''The 3rd Alternative'' twice won the same award for Best Small Press. In addition, individual stories published in the magazine won other awards and were reprinted in a number of collections of the year's best fiction. ''Black Static'' was published by TTA Press alongside sister publications ''Crimewave'', which takes a similarly idiosyncratic approach to

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

, and the long-running science fiction magazine '' Interzone''. Together, ''The 3rd Alternative'' and ''Black Static'' were published for nearly 30 years.

The 3rd Alternative

Founded in December 1993 as ''The 3rd Alternative'',Editorial comment, Black Static, double issue 82/83, 2023, page 3. the magazine originally focused on a larger range of dark stories, often publishing

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

, and

slipstream A slipstream is a region behind a moving object in which a wake of fluid (typically air or water) is moving at velocities comparable to that of the moving object, relative to the ambient fluid through which the object is moving. The term slips ...

alongside horror. ''The 3rd Alternative'' ran for 42 issues before going on a short hiatus in 2005 after the acquisition of Interzone magazine by TTA Press.

Black Static

In 2007 ''The 3rd Alternative'' was relaunched. Now focused exclusively on

weird Weird may refer to: Places * Weird Lake, a lake in Minnesota, U.S. People *"Weird Al" Yankovic (born 1959), American musician and parodist Art, entertainment, and media Literature * '' Weird US'', a series of travel guides * ''The Weird'', a 20 ...

and

horror fiction Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare an audience. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defin ...

, the magazine was retitled ''Black Static''. Authors published in ''Black Static'' include

Nicholas Royle Nicholas Royle (born 20 March 1963 in Manchester) is an English novelist, editor, publisher, literary reviewer and creative writing lecturer. Literary career Author Royle has written seven novels: ''Counterparts'', ''Saxophone Dreams'', ''The Ma ...

, Conrad Williams,

Christopher Fowler Christopher Robert Fowler (26 March 1953 – 2 March 2023) was an English writer. While working in the British film industry he authored fifty novels and short story collections, including the Bryant & May mysteries, which record the adventure ...

Aliette de Bodard Aliette de Bodard (born November 10, 1982) is a French-American speculative fiction writer. She has received accolades including the British Fantasy Award, BSFA Award, Ignyte Award, Locus Award, and Nebula Award. Writing De Bodard published he ...

Steve Rasnic Tem Steve Rasnic Tem (born 1950) is an American author. He was born in Jonesville, Virginia. Rasnic attended college at Virginia Tech, and also at Virginia Commonwealth University. He earned a B.A. in English education. In 1974, he moved to Colorado ...

Nina Allan Nina Allan (born 27 May 1966) is a British writer of speculative fiction. She has published five collections of short stories, multiple novella-sized works, and five novels. Her stories have appeared in the magazines '' Interzone'', '' Black Stat ...

, Matthew Holness, Alexander Glass, Simon Avery, Gary McMahon, Gary Fry,

Peter Tennant Peter Tennant is a prolific writer of horror, fantasy and speculative fiction, and award-winning columnist and reviewer for Black Static magazine. He has also written or run review columns for genre magazines including ''Whispers of Wickedness ...

, Carole Johnston, Chris Kelso and Mike O'Driscoll. In addition, ''Black Static'' has also run opinion columns by Stephen Volk and

Lynda E. Rucker Lynda Rucker is an author of horror and fantasy short stories. Stephen Jones, ''The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 24''. Robinson Books, 2013. (p.154) Life Born in Georgia, Rucker moved to Oregon where she lived long enough to feel like it w ...

as well book reviews by

and media reviews by Gary Couzens. In February 2021, the format was changed to a double issue and the ability to purchase subscriptions was ended with the aim of winding the magazine down pending editor Andy Cox's retirement. The final edition of ''Black Static'' was the combined double issue 82/83 and was released in July 2023.

Awards

During its 42 issue run, ''The 3rd Alternative'' won a number of awards including two

s for "Best Small Press" and a BFA short story award for "Dancing About Architecture" by

Martin Simpson Martin Stewart Simpson (born 5 May 1953) is an English folk singer, guitarist and songwriter. His music reflects a wide variety of influences and styles, rooted in Britain, Ireland, America and beyond. He builds a purposeful, often upbeat voi ...

. Since the magazine relaunched as ''Black Static'', the story "My Stone Desire" by Joel Lane has won a British Fantasy Award, while other stories have been reprinted in collections such as ''Best Horror of the Year''.Best Horror of the Year #1 edited by Ellen Datlow
, SF Signal, May 27, 2009, accessed November 10, 2010. In both 2011 and 2012, Black Static won the British Fantasy Award for Best Magazine/Periodical.

References

Science fiction magazines published in the United Kingdom Horror fiction magazines 1994 establishments in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1994 Bi-monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom Mass media in Cambridgeshire {{fiction-mag-stub