Issue 25

NewMyths.com

A quarterly ezine by a community of writers, poets and artists.

Issue 25, December 1, 2013

Dear Readers,

Can you believe it? Twenty five issues of New Myths in the can, so to speak. We are making tremendous changes here, not the least of which is the decision of long-time assistant editor Nu Yang to move on. I’m giving over this space for her farewell address:

***

Good bye, New Myths!

by Nu Yang

After three years as your assistant editor, I am stepping down. When I originally accepted the position from Scott, I was working part-time and I was eager to stay connected to the writing community. Now, I have a full-time writing and editing job and going through the submissions each month was beginning to feel like a second full-time job. That was great news for New Myths though. The website continues to grow. People are submitting stories, poetry, book reviews, artwork—more than we can accept unfortunately. But don't let that discourage you. In fact, seeing so many submissions and a full inbox actually encouraged me.

Why?

Because it told me the writing craft is alive and well. I can't even begin to tell you about the imaginative, creative, crazy, absurd, beautiful, intelligent stories I read each time I went through our submissions. It was a pleasure to read your stories each time I opened our inbox.

As your assistant editor, I was New Myths's first reader. You may have received a “Thanks, no thanks” from me or a “Congratulations! Your story has moved on to the second round!” I've been on both sides of those kind of emails. One thing I've learned while working at New Myths, everyone's taste is subjective. While one story may amaze one editor, the same story may get a “Thanks, but no thanks” email from me. On the other hand, that story that was rejected by (insert magazine name here), send it to New Myths! It might be just what we’re looking for. After all, a full inbox is a happy inbox.

***

You can find more of Nu’s writing in various magazine and anthologies, including most recently Urban Green Man, edited by Adria Laycraft and Janice Blaine. Goodybe and goodluck, Nu!

Enjoy,

Scott T. Barnes, Editor

Table of Contents

Fiction

Deciduous by S. Hutson Blount

Winter was the best season for dryad-watching. They don’t move around as much, and the naked forest cannot hide them as easily. In the deep snows, they sometimes forget to move at all.

Moira’s Mountain by Eugene Marckx

As a boy Wade did not know any dancing or singing. His people on the slopes of Black Mountain did not dance or sing. They could live without these foolish excesses. If they were trading goods with a strange tribe, and those people began to dance or sing, his people would turn away.

The God in the Machine by Renee Asher Pickup

The Five o’clock. Time for the third collection run of the day. Father Jameson’s back groaned as he stood, pushing aside the notes for the Sunday Sermon he wouldn’t give, but always wrote. Force of habit. His mortality surrounded him. The curtains had gone sheer and yellow with age, his chair no longer sat level on the floor.

Last Ride of the Hell City Angels, 1959 by Jason S. Ridler

Dead center of the rink, the Radmen cranked out a fuzzy rendition of “Summer Time Blues” to a handful of beatniks and riff raff who’d snuck in early to The Fountainhead. But no one was really hear for the band: they wanted to see the Hell City Angels defeat the Atomic Bombshells in a winner-take-all roller derby extravaganza that every radio station and telephone poll had been advertising like it was the end of days.

Spores of the Volcano by Gerald Warfield

The volcano rose into the sky, high above the glaciers that bound its lower slopes to the frozen planet. From its gaping caldera a dark plume spread into the frigid air and drifted south where flecks of ash, fallen from the cloud, began to dot with black the vast and barren plains of ice.

Flash Fiction

The Curse by Torah Cottrill

The Happiest Place on Earth by Fraser Sherman

NonFiction

Yin/Yang Moon by Peter Jekel

Entering the Enchanted Forest by Tannara Young

One Writer’s War with History by Jason S. Ridler

Poetry

The Secret of Cold Fusion by Bruce Boston

100% Love by Beth Cato

Quantum Sestina by Cathy Douglas

Of What Do Superior Beings Dream by Dean A. Schreckl