Message from the Editors We at Electric Spec hope you had an excellent summer. Part of our summer fun included reading excellent speculative fiction that we're excited to share with you. We think you're really going to like what we've cooked up for you at our summer bar-b-q. For those who'd like an interesting counterpoint to the summer blockbuster Rise of the Planet of the Apes, we bring you T. Lucas Earle's "Monkey Talk," which may make you think differently about how you view animals - and everyone around you. For those whose taste runs more toward Cowboys vs. Aliens, we have "Justice Like a Mighty River" by Alter S. Reiss, with plenty of that Old West flavor, but with a fantasy rather than a sci-fi twist. Those looking forward to the release of Contagion should check out "Tooth and Claw" by Rina Gonzales, which we think is a very original and thought-provoking take on the subject of epidemics. We did find some stories too original to draw comparisons with a summer blockbuster. Take, for example, Rich Matrunick's "Stranded (with Pork Chop)". If the title alone isn't enough to hook you, we don't know what is. And from an author who is becoming a regular here at Electric Spec, we present "The Coincidence Factory" by Fredrick Obermeyer. (This is likely the place where many summer movies get some of their plot points). Over in the Editor's Corner, David E. Hughes' "Give . . . Grieve" is a flash piece with an ending that packs a punch. Finally, we learn about the Tempest Rising Urban Fantasy series and much more in our interview of author Nicole Peeler.