Issue 29

NewMyths.com

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

Issue 29, December, 2014

Dear Readers,

For the next several issues New Myths is proud to introduce several guest editors who have been given free rein to show us what they view from their side view mirror. Issue 29 is in Jenise Aminoff’s capable hands.

Take it away, Jenise…

Enjoy,

Scott T. Barnes, Editor

The Times, They Are A’changin’

Hello, all. Putting together my first issue of New Myths has been tremendous fun, and I am deeply grateful to Scott Barnes for giving me this opportunity.

As I looked over the selections I’d made for the issue, I was startled to notice a particular trend: most of the stories have female protagonists. I hadn’t set out to make this a theme, really. What I selected was, quite simply, the best of the bunch. I chose them on their merits, and the fact that they depict women as the viewpoint characters was mere coincidence.

Would this have happened ten years ago? It’s possible, but I doubt it. Today, though, we’re deep in the midst of furor about the treatment of women at conventions and within science fiction publishing (see article at the SFWA bulletin), the rampant misogyny of Gamergate, and the counterrevolution of Women Destroy Science Fiction. But let’s not just pay attention to the loud screaming voices in this debate. We should also listen to the quiet voices, the people who are writing stories with female protagonists, not to make a statement or to further a cause, but because it seems completely normal and natural to do so.

Ursula K. LeGuin, who recently added to her many awards the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Book Foundation (and who is featured in interview in this issue), started out writing almost exclusively male protagonists. Even so, she consistently challenged the standard notions of gender (Left Hand of Darkness) and the role of women in society (The Dispossessed). Today, she uses as many female characters as male , including a female protagonist in her most recent novel, Lavinia.

In his opinion piece in this issue, Paul Shilling argues that depictions of race in Hollywood have changed radically since the original Star Trek series first broke all boundaries for race in television. Similarly, the perception of gender in all media has changed radically in the last fifty years. Are we now approaching that moment, as when Uhura kisses Spock in the Star Trek reboot movie, when strong female protagonists are not just accepted but no longer particularly surprising? We can only hope.

-Jenise Aminoff, Editor

Table of Contents

Fiction

Jucarii by David D’Amico

Grigore ground his heel into the faceted crystal skull. It shattered in a spray of liquid, drenching his face and hands as he hopped back, and the jucarii hit the packed earth with a creaking squeal. Its dented iron arms twitched once as springs uncoiled. Then it stilled.

Novel Cities by David Barber

Each morning, a guide led Antonia by a different route. Or perhaps what they said was true, and the path was always the same, but the city transmuted itself nightly as she slept.

Outcasts of the Fair Forest by Caitlin Crowley

It was the monster’s feeding time, and the forest waited and watched in silence. Cypresses bent their moss-bearded limbs to the pond below, where the last curls of mist were just beginning to unravel.

Kaltes Cloud-Shaper by Cathy Douglas

Many years ago, a rabbit living on a hillside discovered that by looking at the clouds a certain way she could become one of them.

The Blood of Four Gods by Jamie Lackey

Thick moss silenced their footfalls as Cozamalotl and Tototl picked their way deeper into the cloud forest. Tototl held his obsidian-tipped spear easily in one hand, and Cozamalotl carried their small bag of provisions.

Flash Fiction

The Rains Would Not Come by Iseult Murphy

Neha could tell from the soft cries of the women that the hunt had not been successful, and once again no food or water had been brought back to present to the Elders.

Conversational Snow by Anna Zumbro

The sound of barking caused Stacy to jump and nearly spill her tea onto her computer keyboard. In the too-empty apartment, even a Scottish Terrier’s yaps echoed like thunder.

NonFiction

Race in Hollywood by Paul Schilling

A long, long time ago, Gene Roddenberry wanted Spock and Uhura to be lovers, but the network vetoed it.

Interview with Ursula K. LeGuin by Lucy A. Snyder

Ursula K. Le Guin is the grand dame of science fiction. Since 1968, she has published twenty-one novels, eleven short story collections, three books of essays, twelve children’s books, and six collections of poetry.

Poetry

When Beyond the Furious Clouds by Bruce Boston

How a Modern Green Man Grows by Beth Cato

Daro Waterseer by Joseph Nicholas

Protagonist by Elizabeth Pagel-Hogan

Directed Panspermia by Peter Roberts