Vol. 16 / Issue 58 / Spring 2022
"Not Like This" by Umbra Ludus - I am a freelance digital artist from Montreal who focuses on dramatic and colourful fantasy, horror and science fiction Illustration. I’ve done artwork for several game companies as well as creations a few kick-starters and personal friends. I’m available for commissions and I’m interested in collaborations. Send me a message and we can discuss your project. You can find me on Instagram and Facebook @umbraludus
Dear readers,
Normally we would take this time to tout the content in this issue of NewMyths, but I am going to use executive privilege to steer this in a direction hitherto unknow in this magazine—silence.
A major publishing magazine recently featured on its cover a panel discussion on whether a person of a given ethnicity (background, race, gender, etc.) can write fiction about people of a different ethnicity. I couldn’t stomach reading the article to the end, but my perusal indicated that the consensus of these publishing luminaries was that no, you cannot.
They want to silence you.
I find such a conclusion coming from industry gatekeepers to be particularly disturbing. Not to mention absurd.
Was William Shakespeare ever a queen of Egypt, an Italian, or a murderous general?
Was Ursula K. Le Guin ever an alien or a wizard of Earthsea?
Was Theodor Geisel ever a Who, or Richard Adams a rabbit?
Take this mindset to its extreme and as an author I would only be allowed to write about white males, blond, married with children, around 50 years old, who grew up on farms in Southern California.
Make-believe is what authors do. They sometimes do it well, sometimes poorly, and mostly their efforts fall somewhere in the middle. Thank God modern technology allows creative types a relatively easy and painless avenue around the gatekeepers.
I’m going to extend executive privilege a tad further, and humbly present you, dear reader, with two requests:
If you are a creator, I beg you, do not let others censor your stories (poems, films, art…) before they are even written.
If you are a reader, please judge each individual story (poem, film, art…) on its own merit, rather than on whether a particular person is “allowed” to play in that sandbox.
If you are not a reader, well, thanks for sticking with me this long. I hope you enjoy NewMyths Issue 58.
Best regards,
Scott T. Barnes – editor and founder
Table of Contents
FICTION
"To Lie with Honor" by K. D. Julicher
A flash of crimson off in the barren woods caught my eye. I stopped in my tracks. The lonely mountain road was ill-traveled at the best of times, which this wasn’t.
"To Have and to Hold" by Kathryn Yelinek
“You’re late,” my best man, Chris, said as I tumbled out of my truck. The backyard of Kalin’s parents’ house was golden in the June sunlight, the flower beds around the gazebo vibrant with pink and purple flowers. “Do this tomorrow, and Kalin’ll skin you alive.”
"Madame Hitler" by Larry Hodges
Eva Braun, his wife for one day, lay dead on the sofa, wearing the black dress with red roses at the neckline he so liked. The nauseating smell of bitter almonds filled the stuffy air of his private study in the Führerbunker, eleven meters of concrete below the Hell that was Berlin.
"Goddess of the Braided Light" by Daniel Ausema
A braided time ship does not, in fact, travel faster than light. Rather it twines light into coils and knots and intricate braids without impeding the vacuum of its route.
"The Tenderness of Gargoyles" by Deborah Davitt
The rooftop of the cathedral glittered with snow under the full moon, and the grotesques gamboled and capered among the drifts. The sheela-na-gigs emerged from shadowy crevices to grin and grimace, their weathered features stretching, snapping at the two-headed dragons and double-bodied men who laughed and shied away from the sheelas as if afraid.
FLASH FICTION
POETRY
"Please Hold" by Anna Remennik
"Timelost Wanderers" by Davian Aw
"Tiger Wife Reflected in a Pond Never Trusted" by Andisha Sabri Carey
"These Absoraka Tears" by Andrew Roberts
NONFICTION
"The Tempest" by Peter Jekel
When you look up into the night sky, you know that it is there, but you cannot see it – at least if you do not have any optical instruments. Neptune is the farthest planet from the Sun in our solar system since Pluto was relegated to the role of a dwarf planet of the Kuiper Belt in 2006; the Kuiper Belt is a band of icy objects beyond the orbit of Neptune.