Issue 39 (2017)

In this issue, we welcome some new writers with a variety of tastes and techniques. Several authors are publishing with us for the first time. Justin Lyons presents a new version of Norse Myth with an implied commentary on the relationship between art and life. A. A. Azariah –Kribbs offers a fairy-tale with romance (in the best sense). Marina Favila has composed the tale of a beautifully ghostly holiday. Bethany Abrahamson reconsiders fairy-bridegroom, reversing genders involving a familiar motif. Shane Blackman gives us a sonnet expressing appreciation for Narnia and it impact on life as he knows it. B. L. Blackwood’s two poems show technologically advanced civilizations in outer space, still clothed with mythology. In J. R. Alfieri’s tale, a mysterious door and a hidden river offer tests and perhaps benefits to the protagonist. Simon Perchik’s poem, “This Rock,” shows us many directions in which half understood works can lead us.

We also welcome back some previous authors. Trent Walters, a long time contributor, and sometime acting-editor of Mythic Circle, presents five “Moonstory Poems” loosely based on Inuit tales, full of vivid imagery, action and puns. Ryder Miller, in his “The Land of Talking Animals,” depicts a passage between two worlds, both undergoing political upheaval. Lee Clark Zumpe explores the consequences of yet one more attempt to rid the world of evil in “Rime of the Last Wurm.” Ron Boyer gives us three poems reflecting a bard’s link with nature.

For the front cover, Emily Metcalf contributes a cover inspired by “The Wooing of Doorley.” For additional illustrations, Bethany Abrahamson gives a dragon picture for “Rime of the Last Wurm” and her own image of an imaginary animal, the Owlbear, for the back cover.