Issue 40

NewMyths.com

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

Issue 40, September 2017

Fans of NewMyths.com,

As I watch my neighbors pull out broken sofas, moldy carpets, ruined heirlooms to the street in the aftermath of the Hurricane Harvey here in coastal Texas, I am struck by the strength it takes to pick yourself up after a tragedy and start over. The strength of character not of a superman nor even of a hero, but of everyman simply doing what he has to do despite the emotional cost. Fictional characters who display this same strength of character often lead to our most memorable stories. Put in perhaps more literary terms, writers are often advised to give their characters the inner conflict of need vs want. The characters who choose the more painful path of doing what they need to do over what they desire to do, I realize today, are those most likely to convey this strength of character that I see around me in the aftermath of tragedy.

Werec, the narrator in “Bear Skin, Smoking Mountain,” has to draw on that same inner strength of character as he’s forced to follow his gods’ commands to kill the brother he loves. In a “quieter” story, the grandfather in “Out of Sync” discovers that sometimes following the path of what he believes he needs to do may not always be worth the emotional loss. In “Wizards Die by Stages” a young mage is advised that she must decide to want power, but does she? And in “The Astronaut’s Cat” – a poem that says so much in so few words as only a poem can – an astronaut is caught in that moment of time between facing what she needs to do in an uncertain future and the emotional loss of leaving her life behind.

I hope you all enjoy reading these stories and poems as much as we did!

-Susan Shell Winston, Editor

Table of Contents

Fiction

Bear Skin, Smoking Mountain by William Broom

The god's blood was milky white, spreading out in a long tail across the grey surface of the ocean. Its body lay coiled on a tiny island, little more than a flat rock waiting to be covered by the tide.

Out of Sync by Chris Kelworth

Two days after he was finished with chemotherapy, Jack pulled all his retirement savings to rent a room at TimeBubble Inc.

Whisper of the Waves by Caroline Sciriha

The briny tang of sea and salt on his lips was the closest Tony could get to his first love. Not that he was complaining, if it meant having Krissy in his life.

Roxy's Rule by Lisa Timpf

Teva peers out the front window at the quiet street, then glances at her wrist chronometer. "It's early, yet, Phoenix" she says, as if reassuring herself. I pad across the area rug and reach my muzzle up to gently nose her hand. Blessed by the enhanced intelligence granted by my AI implant, I understand what worries her. But being canine rather than human, there

are limits to how much I can help. Troubled by these thoughts, I begin to pant.

Wizards Die By Stages by Steve Dubois

Mara closed two eyes, and opened three, and found herself awash in starlight. They surrounded her in all directions—tiny motes and specks of glittering, dancing energy, twirling and glissading on currents imperceptible to the mortal eye.

Flash Fiction

Toothpaste of Life by Sarina Dorie

Necromancer Ned said, "And now I will breathe life into the vessel and Jenny's deceased mother will speak to us."

Chasing Fireflies by Tom Jolly

Brenda finished her second glass of wine and asked, "So what’s this big surprise you have for me?"

Many Tiny Feet by Mary E. Lowd

S'lisha traced her scaly claw over the transparent metal surface of the incubator.

NonFiction

Star Trek as Cold War Metaphor by Patrick S. Baker

...[The] rosy, near utopian, view of the future held by many Star Trek fans ignores many aspects of the show's "universe" that were present from the start, like the cold war metaphor inherent in Star Trek.

Heaven and Hell by Peter Jekel

It is everywhere around us and nowhere to be found. Sounds like quite an enigma. However, everybody has their own version of Paradise, their own little Utopia or at least what they think might be a Utopia. For others, it would be Hell on Earth.

Poetry

The Astronaut’s Cat by Beth Cato

Vampire Valentine by Shawn Klimek

The Wallpaper Door by John Sexton