Issue 44

NewMyths.com

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

Issue 44, September, 2018

Dear Reader,

Take a look at the carving on our cover and it might tell you, this issue has gone to the dogs.

Or wolves, or foxes – or AI Border Collies who befriend little yappers and tear up gingham dogs and calico cats.

There are of course human stories in this issue too, an astronaut who gives his sister's family a ride, a pianist in world of computer music, Martian explorers returning home, and – the not so human stories, the last of the mer people forgetting who they are, a council of bewildered omnisciences (as oxymoronic as that may sound), and a ghost we've met before. We hope you have fun discovering them all!

In other exciting news, Passages, our first anthology of the best of NewMyths stories and poems, is coming out this fall! And, with your help, we're running a Kickstarter campaign starting today to promote Passages and to offer you, our readers and contributors, a chance to be the first to reserve a copy. There'll be 33 stories and poems in it, some old, some new. Check out more about it HERE. And thank you. Every bit of your support will help to keep NewMyths.Com alive!

–Susan Shell Winston, Editor

Table of Contents

Fiction

Red by Candyce Byrne

Late in the afternoon, just as the little fox was about to rouse herself for her evening hunt, something pricked her.

Any Landing by Robert Mitchell Evans

“It’s following us.” Eric’s voice carried fear, an infectious agent in the passenger compartment of Dex’s aircar.

Piano Sonata For Three Hands by Ronald D. Ferguson

Johnny smiled and pounded the keyboard with both fists to create his own thunder.

Yes, Ma'am. Hammer against steel. That felt right. Hammer against steel felt very right.

Absolute magic.

Touched, Part Two by Tom Jolly

We were dead and flying to Europa.

Wolf Daughter by Liz Schriftsteller

I first saw my daughter after I had gorged myself on her natural parents.

Gone by Lisa Timpf

"Don't you want to know what became of the Masters?"

"They're gone," I whined. "Gone, gone, gone. And left us behind." I raised my muzzle skyward and howled.

Flash Fiction

Color Therapy by Mike Adamson

Our sleeping quarters and common rooms are painted green at the Mars base. When working days are spent wandering the parched, icy deserts, coping with blowing orange dust and at every moment taking in the stark and terrible grandeur of the red planet, green is not just a luxury, it is a psychological necessity.

Let There Be by Richard H. Durisen

The first step is to find him. We are still Oneness, but we are Many in One, and he can be conspicuously absent when he wants to be.

Wellspring by Aly Parsons

“Let's have a swim, Lee."

"Are you crazy? There's no way down to the water from these cliffs."

"So we'll fly!”

NonFiction

World Ships in Science and Science Fiction by Patrick Baker

In 1918, Robert Goddard, the American rocket pioneer, still six years from starting his experiments with liquid fuel rockets, wrote a brief paper titled: “The Ultimate Migration.” In the short essay, Goddard submitted that to reach the stars humanity could take “an asteroid or a small moon” hollow it out and turn it into a huge starship.

The Once and Future King by Mariana Escobar

Many centuries have passed since Geoffrey of Monmouth published his book which narrated the legends of the once and future king, and yet the interest towards him is still alive.

Poetry

Pan's Descent by Bruce Boston

Not Your Fairy Tale by Marsheila Rockwell

Grandmother Red by Christina Sng

What Really Happened by Lisa Timpf