Vol. 18 / Issue 67 / Summer 2024
Original Cover Artwork "Order of the Rose Triptych" center panel by Brian Quinn | < Back to Home Site
"Order of the Rose Triptych" by Brian Quinn (center panel)
""The Order of the Rose” was inspired by my late childhood and early teenage years when I read fantasy fiction, created only that art, and played Dungeons and Dragons. Tolkien and the Dragonlance Series and the Brothers Hildebrandt Art. It was an escape from the turmoil of growing up.
"The main figure is a young woman, fierce in battle armor but in contrast holding a beautiful rose. Always mesmerized by stained glass windows, as a child and even to this day when in churches I often neglect what is happening on the altar and lose myself by gazing at the multicolored intricately patterned windows. "
For the complete triptych including the two side panels of stained glass windows creating the stunning effect of being inside a church or castle, please see below.
Brian Quinn's online portfolio can be found at: https://www.brianquinnstudio.com/
Cover art by: Fariel Shafee
Call for Submissions: The Janus Gates
Submissions open through July 31
Besides looking back into the past and forward into the future, Janus was also the original gatekeeper, the first god to open the portal between gods and men, the god who guarded every new beginning and ending, every transformation, the god you prayed to every morning before you could speak to any other. A Roman peasant stepping through the Janus Gate in Rome in the spring was transformed into a soldier marching off to conquer the world. The Roman soldier stepping out of the Janus Gate in the fall became the peaceful farmer again.
Who better to inspire our next NewMyths anthology centering around portals, thresholds, transformations–the future and past worlds of our dreams and myths? Send in Submissions for the Janus Gates anthology to editor@newmyths.com or by simply filling out the the submission form by clicking here!
Dear Readers,
This is a special issue for me. I have the honor and pleasure of introducing two new co-editors for this summer.
But, first, I have a personal request. Please take a few minutes in the next two weeks to read and vote in our Readers' Choice poll linked on the home page. Listed in it are our nominees for our favorite stories and poems from our past issues that will appear again in our new anthology The Growers. This new anthology means a lot to both Scott and me. Our families were among the pioneers who crossed the American west to become the first farmers in California to grow the crops, vineyards, and orchards that fed the world. Scott's dad, whose photo you may have seen these last two years as our placeholder cover for the anthology, was Scott's inspiriation for the anthology. And now, we need the help of you, our readers, to complete the dream of bringing his anthology to life. Winners of the Readers' Choice Awards 2024 will be listed in September's issue and be honored as such in the anthology.
Now, to introduce our two new co-editors who have selected our stories and articles for this issue. Both have worked behind the scenes here at NewMyths for several years, helping to read the thousands of submissions we receive.
The many talented Angelica Zatarain, artist, writer, and singer-songwriter, is our head of promotions for NewMyths Publishing who has created the memes and bookmarks many of our contributors have received over the past two years. It was Angelica's design to focus on the beautiful-dangerous?-intriguing elf queen in the center panel of Brian Quinn's triptych for our cover this issue yet still include below the experience of seeing the whole triptych that sets you inside the queen's shining court.
Jennifer Winston has also been an assistant editor reading through our submissions over the last ten years. A life-long reader and talented writer of Fantasy, and a graduate from the early years of the famed Odyssey Workshop, her story "Remember When" appeared in our first Best of NewMyths anthologies Passages and was one of the few from that anthology singled out for its memorable effect in the Amazon reviews. For those of you who might wish to 'meet' her and learn more about her, that story has been included in our fiction section below.
And now, I'll pass the "mic" on to Angelica and Jennifer to introduce the stories they've selected for this issue. I hope you'll enjoy reading them all as much as I do.
Susan Shell Winston, editor
Hi everyone, This is Jennifer.
I was privileged to work with some amazing authors, and I hope that all of our readers take the chance to savor each of their works.
I have an eclectic selection. There's an article about Mars and the effects of the evolving science on the stories spun by science fiction and fantasy authors. A flash with an interesting take on time travel, and another flash that looks at the endurance of love.
We have our own Olympics table tennis team warming up to take on the first interplanetary tournament that Earth has been invited to. And a story that shows that even something as mundane as the desperate need for a bathroom can be the start of an adventure.
The cover art for the issue was chosen because of its beauty and how well it fit with some of the stories. I'll leave it to you to decide which one(s).
Jennifer Winston, issue editor
Dear Reader,
I'm excited to share this summer 2024 issue with you. This was my first time co-editing an issue for NewMyths Magazine, and it was quite a joyful experience. I enjoyed reading these and many of the other story submissions.
My contributions to this issue include "Black Torus Run" and "Chevalier"—two science fiction stories that take us into space, curiously, both revolving around the loss of a parent. I guess I've been missing my mom lately, but that's what I get for moving across the country from her.
I selected "Special Delivery" and "Extinction Event Blues" for the flash fiction section. The former story's ending was a delightful surprise, and for the latter (another story taking place in space,) I loved the tone from start to finish—snarky and concise, just like me.
Lastly, for the nonfiction section, I chose "Aquatic Mysteries" because I've always wanted to be a mermaid despite my massive fear of deep waters and all that lurks there.
Read up! Enjoy! Let us know if Jenn and I did a good job.
Angelica Zatarain, editor
Table of Contents
FICTION
A Black Torus—three black holes coming together in perfect symmetry. It should never have happened once, much less twice. For the barest fraction of a microsecond, there would be an event horizon shaped like a doughnut. With proper timing, a skimmer could fly through the center
Ada nodded, took a breath to both steel her nerves and prepare for a horrifying odor, and pushed the door open.
The interior was not what she expected.
We won a battle, and when it was over, I cruised through the remains of their fleet. It’s true what the stories said: the enemy looks like human children. It was horrible, seeing hundreds of thousands of frozen dead kids tumbling through the dark. And the living ones still outnumber us millions to one.
Egrayu! The greatest table tennis player in the galaxy. He'd toured Earth five years ago and nobody could challenge him. What chance did a human have against the Ith, who were faster, stronger, and had far better reflexes and hand-eye coordination? Their ancestors snatched flying insects out of the air for food. Smacking flying ping-pong balls was second nature for them.
The carpet knew something. It always did. But fabric memories were never as vivid as those she found in wood. The images were too soft, randomly mashing together every time the fabric bent.
She sat there for a moment, running her fingers in random patterns on the carpet. She looked for memories beneath the frayed green ends, but found only fuzzy images in pastel colors. So she got up and walked slowly to the wooden walls. Her hand shook as she reached for an oaken panel.
FLASH FICTION
POETRY
NONFICTION
Like any other child in my Zimbabwe, I grew up hearing stories about them where, upon being a victim of a mermaid abduction, you would be taken to their “realm’’. There, one would be served rice and worms on one plate and rice and fish on another. It was advised to choose the rice and worms over the other plate.
Mars has always fascinated humankind ever since we first looked up to the heavens,
"Order of the Rose Triptych" by Brian Quinn