Embedded Files
Original Cover Artwork: "Creation Story" by Dawn Holloway
Dear Reader,
Dear Reader,
As we enter our 19th year, I find myself turning a bit nostalgic. I have been thinking a lot about the many volunteers we have had over the years, without whom NewMyths would never have made it past its infancy, and reflecting on those authors whose careers we’ve helped launch.
If you fall into any of these categories:
A volunteer from years past. (It’s possible, even probable, that some of your names have vanished into the dusty bookshelves of my memory.)
A ‘first publication credit’ at NewMyths.com. (Even if you’ve told us this before.)
A reader/author with a NewMyths story to share.
If any of these descriptions remotely fit you, then please get in touch. Send your stories to my attention, Scott, at admin@newmyths.com. Or to Susan. You know where to find her. We would really appreciate it.
Issue 74 is a delight of eclectic fiction and poetry. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
~ Scott T. Barnes, editor & founder
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
FICTION
FICTION
"... if it is one of my people, they must answer to our law..."
Let us away and celebrate our old and proper stories and songs, until they grow tired of their iron toys or, as they so often do, destroy each other.
"...even if you’re a zombie, you’re still family.”
“Don’t get too close, Cora. They’ll wake.”
"The Weather Watcher" by Erin L. Swann
He tasted something unexpected within the den’s air: the copper tang of blood.
"A Dangerous Evolution" by Jane Jordan
"Of course, I’m skeptical. But you’re here to change that, right?"
FLASH FICTION
FLASH FICTION
Some claim you can hear her playing in the darkest hours before dawn.
It was only a matter of time till some creative composer penned a Parasaurolophus symphony.
"The Suit of Lights" by Melody Friedenthal
If there was no sangre... where was the exhilaration of conquest?
"Over Again" by Dan Bornstein
Fate seemed to have decreed, in these particular circumstances, that those who came to offer salvation would invariably end up seeking it for themselves.
POETRY
NONFICTION
FROM THE ARCHIVES
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Originally published in Issue 26, spring of 2014.
Originally published in Issue 26, spring of 2014.
I wrote the first version of “The Perfect Instrument” twenty years ago (and I think I aged another decade just typing that). The story began life as part of a shared-world anthology project with a writing group I belonged to at the time. The project ultimately failed to get off the ground, but fortunately, I was able to transplant the story into a different world where it could stand on its own. I was also able to give it an uplifting ending instead of the tragic one the anthology project required, which I think makes for a stronger story celebrating the power of music in the face of oppression. It’s also the first story I wrote about musicians, despite being one myself. Back then, thanks to a hefty case of impostor syndrome, I hesitated to write about music, convinced it would reveal that I had no idea what I was talking about. Luckily, I got past that. “The Perfect Instrument” is now the first of many stories I’ve written about music and musicians, and there are more coming!
"The Bookstore" by Beth Cato
Originally published in Issue 57, winter of 2021, and won the Rhysling Award for long speculative poetry in 2022. It was reprinted in Cosmic Muse, Best of NewMyths Anthologies.
"The Bookstore" remains an incredibly special poem for me. It is a fictional autobiographical piece, written in the immediate aftermath of my grandma's death. Many of the details are true. I wrote the poem in a single sitting, and it required very little revision. It just felt like a poem that needed to exist to help me through my grief. As for my more recent publications. my cozy fantasy novel A House Between Sea and Sky came out last fall, and I am busy working on new projects!
Page updated
Report abuse