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CONTRIBUTORS’ GUIDELINES

The Mythic Circle solicits original fantasy-inspired stories and poems from the membership of the Mythopoeic Society and from the larger world. We are also looking for original visual art contributions in the form of jpeg or other suitable file formats.

As a small online literary magazine, The Mythic Circle is published electronically by the Mythopoeic Society, an organization which celebrates the work of J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Charles Williams. These innovative writers drew upon the rich imaginative tradition of fantasy literature stretching from Homer to H. G. Wells, and they returned fantasy to a respectable place in adult literature.

The Mythic Circle exists primarily for the benefit of writers and artists (to whom we refer collectively as "Authors") trying to develop their craft in the mythic tradition. Regarding length limits, the editors must think very well of a contribution more than 5000 words long to publish it. By editorial policy, we favor our subscribers.

The editors look mostly for original work by authors following the mythic tradition; this can include a certain amount of commentary and allusion to the works of other mythic authors (though such allusions and commentary are not necessary). However, the editors do not wish to see "fan fiction” such as stories that make use of characters, settings, or images from works by living or recent authors or artists or any works still under copyright.

Submissions and letters of comment should be e-mailed to mythiccircle@mythsoc.org.

As a small literary and arts publication, we do not pay cash for contributions. The copyright for works published in The Mythic Circle remains with the author or artist, except for the specific rights given for publication in The Mythic Circle, for future reprints of a particular issue in print or electronic (including online) formats, and for distribution of The Mythic Circle to third party database partners. Artists can request that a watermark be placed upon the digital image in the SWOSU archive, but such watermarks must be specifically requested or they may not be inserted.

For more information, check the society’s website at http://www.mythsoc.org/.

Current Issue: Issue 45 (2023)

Editors’ Introductions

Greetings, Subscribers, Contributors, and Readers, All, and welcome to the 2023 edition (issue #45) of The Mythic Circle, the creative writing publication of The Mythopoeic Society. With this issue, we continue the 36-year-long tradition (since 1987) of providing The Mythic Circle as a publishing outlet for members of The Mythopoeic Society and for writers and artists in the general public (we’ve published 45 editions because in the early days, the journal was a quarterly publication—but those days are gone, probably forever).

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Walking
Llewellyn Issel

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The Gathering
David Sparenberg

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The Marble Princess
Lawrence Buentello

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Orpheus and Eurydice
Emma Wilson-Kanamori

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The Lark Mirror
Angelisa Fontaine-Wood

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Originating Dragons
Sandy Feinstein

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Black Dragon Ship
David Sparenberg

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Dragon Fall
Lawrence Buentello

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A Great Strength of Time
Kevan Kenneth Bowkett

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Black Dragon Keep
Lee Clark Zumpe

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The Death of Wyac
Geoffrey Reiter

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Mara
Christian Dickinson

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The Book of the Dragon
Sandy Feinstein

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A Circle of Dragons
A. J. Prufrock

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The Penultimate Dodo
Geoffrey Reiter

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West of the Moon
Elizabeth Scott Tervo

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Under a Horned Red Moon
Kevan Kenneth Bowkett

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Gweir The Warrior
Joe Christopher

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SHE-We-Eucatastrophe
David Sparenberg

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Silver Lining
Kevan Kenneth Bowkett

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I Have Guests
Russ Bickerstaff

Co-Editors

  • Victoria Gaydosik, fiction, Southwestern Oklahoma State University
  • Nolan Meditz, poetry, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

Editor Emerita

  • Gwenyth Hood, Marshall University

Archivist

  • Phillip Fitzsimmons, Administrator of The Mythic Circle and Society Archives, Southwestern Oklahoma State University