Issue 38

NewMyths.com

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

Issue 38, April 2017

Fans of NewMyths.com,

Looking for a model for a novel I am writing, a fantasy set in Baja California, I spent several days scrambling around bookshelves both real and virtual. My novel features a young girl and her grandmother, and her grandmother when she was a teenager, and incorporates both fantasy and mystery elements. The structure I had been contemplating seemed too experimental to try without having some "proven" work to follow.

What my research found was a great variety of structures, experimental points of view, "rules" broken all over the place. How liberating! I didn't find exactly what I was looking for; I found freedom. I have decided to explore my novel's structure on its own terms. If, later, I find it isn't working, I can always go back to the Three Act structure.

All this reminded me of what we prize here at New Myths: originality. Sometimes it's not much, a spark of a voice or the way the author turns a phrase. Sometimes it's the whole story. Issue 38 offers up much originality. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Enjoy,

Scott T. Barnes, Editor

Table of Contents

Fiction

I am Brihaspati by David A. D’Amico

The weld worms Aishwarya Das set the day before flared in brilliant violet arcs across the airlock frame, sealing the shuttle from the unfinished sheath of Brihaspati's lower core. They'd never be able to force her off now.

Huckleberry Juju by David Bowles

It was late August when the white folks moved in.

Fight Off Your Demons! – Part II by John W. Buckley

They headed up a winding flight of stairs, she ahead of him, her fingers gliding over the burnished metal banister. A skylight set into the ceiling above the staircase emitted warm, pearlescent light, illuminating her blouse and hair quite pleasingly.

The Sound of Steel on Stone by S. H. Mansouri

General Kobrall stood overlooking the gray ramparts where his men shuffled back and forth like iron-plated pendulums. He watched the Endaar carefully. If they moved too slowly, or dropped one of the half-ton boulders they carried on their shoulders, he would give the order to have them shattered.

Don’t Forget by Bob Sojka

“Don't never forget, it were snowballs done it. It weren’t no nookular nothin’, no germs, no geehaddies, no globular swarming, no quakey shakes, or nanobots…”

Flash Fiction

The Ride by Tony Kirwood

Climb in, my friend. Sit back and make yourself comfortable. It’s not such a long journey. No need to say where you’re going, of course!

The Hand of Loki by Marissa Lingen

When we ventured out--said the thane of the bearded tentacle people--when first we ventured out among the stars and the waters, we met your people. And there was fighting, as there will be among strong people. And there was feasting and rejoicing.

NonFiction

Life on an Iceball by Peter Jekel

There is a moon out there. Due to an icy exterior, it is one of the brightest objects in the solar system.

Transposing the Planes: Supernatural vs. Natural Elements in Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur by E. J. Lawrence

Many people are fascinated by the idea of the supernatural world. It seems something intangible and out of reach, thus having a “grass is greener” appeal.

Poetry

The Right Stuff by Shawn Klimek

Early Years of Transdimensional Travel by John Reinhart

Which species of bird is a drone? by Salik Shah

Enhancements of an Imminent Kind by Nora Weston