Issue 46

Issue 46, March 2019

Dear Reader,

This issue of NewMyths pays homage to death, but by no means portrays doom and gloom. Death naturally comes to mind more during catastrophes: on losing someone important, dealing with a debilitating condition, or experiencing threatening events. But while catastrophes are reminders of the inevitable, they are also inherently good story material. On these pages, meet a compassionate banshee, a welcoming kitsune, a reaper in the bodyguard business, and the long undead. Spend time with a time traveler or two. Contemplate words waiting to be read for eons. Indulge in reflections on obsidian. And carry on...with life.

- Marta Tanrikulu, Editor

Table of Contents

Fiction

Our Song by Gustavo Bondoni

I was not permitted to enter the house. What I had come to do, I would do from afar. It was not my lot to know whether, beyond that old stone wall, lay a sick grandmother praying for her final release or a young father struck down in his prime, suffering not for himself but for the family that would starve without him. All I knew was that the other inhabitants of the tiny house had lost hope.

Buried Words, Etched on Steel by Timothy Mudie

Female and male oviraptor alike minded the clutch of eggs. Turning them, moving them in and out of sun and shade. Laying their bellies down on them gently to keep them warm. The eggs were all roughly the same size, but even from a distance, through my scope, it was clear they were from different species.

Ikotsu by Andrew Roberts

Saburo lay on the hillside behind the crematorium, surrounded by dandelions and the incessant droning of ten thousand cicadas.

The Black Orb by Louis Shalako

“Good God, Holmes.” ... A black orb, easily three times the size of a man’s head, hung in midair, suspended by God-knows-what. There was no wire that he could see, not a rod or a prop or even the careful lighting of the illusionists. It was at the end of the room, in front of the closed curtains of the big window overlooking Baker Street. “Good God, indeed, my dear Doctor Watson.”

Should Old Acquaintance Be Forgot by S. R. Tombran

...She, the one who always forgot, moved on, died. She’d made that mistake another lifetime ago, looking him in the eye. That’s how he found her, always.

Flash Fiction

Quantum Entanglement by Kai Hudson

Footsteps crunched on the grass behind him. Nikhil turned into Alex’s kiss.

It was just as he remembered: a million bright starbursts in the press of Alex’s lips to his own. He couldn’t help but melt, Alex’s hands already wandering, caressing, relearning the contours of his body, until they reached the wedding ring.

The Chamber of Eternal Youth by Dan Micklethwaite

Somewhere behind him, there was a harsh and deeply unnatural wail. Then another. And Jericho Raglan started running again, like hell was following after.

Detritus by Wendy Nikel

High over the cliffs, over the swirling eddies and braided seaweed gardens and strange-songed beings that dart in and out of caves far below, the castle endures the years. And the princess endures with it.

Far Shores and Ancient Graves by Aeryn Rudel

They were surrounded. Cornered. The people—though Aksel had stopped thinking of them as such—crowded in, hands reaching, slack mouths emitting an unearthly chorus of hungry moans. He drove his sword into the belly of a young woman, but she did not slow, and clawed at his shield with terrible strength.

NonFiction

Cozy Catastrophes, Or Stay Calm and Carry On by Patrick S. Baker

Science fiction author and historian Brian Aldiss coined the phrase “cozy catastrophe” in his 1973 history of science fiction, Billion Years Spree... According to Aldiss, “The essence of cozy catastrophe is that the hero should have a pretty good time (a girl, free suites at the Savoy, automobiles for the taking) while everyone else is dying off.”

An Appreciation of My Favorite PASSAGES Story by Linda Helgeland

Poetry

I Will Never Be in Doctor Who by L. A. Christensen

Veritas and Errata by Deborah Davitt

Cherry Blossom 2050 by Mary Soon Lee

The Kitsune's Embrace by Ophelia Leong

Obsidian by Fungisayi Sasa