Fantasy magazine

From Modern Mythcraft to Magical Surrealism

Dystopia-Triptych-Banner-2023

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Feb. 2023 (Issue 88)

In this issue’s short fiction, Lowry Poletti’s “The Dead Return in Strange Shapes” explores what binds us to the past, and Malda Marlys takes us east of the sun and west of the moon in “A Princess With a Nose Three Ells Long”; in flash fiction, Cynthia Gómez wants us to know that “The Books Would Like a Word,” and in “Secondhand” S.L. Harris revisits a different fairytale adventure from an unusual perspective; for poetry, we have “The Mermaids of Magonia” by Carina Bissett and “Food for Thought” by Lisbeth Coiman. Plus essay “The Societal Cost of Magic” by Moses Ose Utomi, author of The Lies of The Ajungo and “The Mirror Test”. Enjoy!

Cover art by nataljacernecka / Adobe Stock Image

Feb. 2023 (Issue 88)

Nonfiction

Editorial: February 2023

by Christie Yant and Arley Sorg

tkIn this issue’s short fiction, Lowry Poletti’s “The Dead Return in Strange Shapes” explores what binds us to the past, and Malda Marlys takes us east of the sun and west of the moon in “A Princess With a Nose Three Ells Long”; in flash fiction, Cynthia Gómez wants us to know that “The Books Would Like a Word,” and in “Secondhand” S.L. Harris revisits a different fairytale adventure from an unusual perspective; for poetry, we have “The Mermaids of Magonia” by Carina Bissett and “Food for Thought” by Lisbeth Coiman. Plus essay “The Societal Cost of Magic” by Moses Ose Utomi, author of The Lies of The Ajungo and “The Mirror Test”. Enjoy!

Flash Fiction

The Books Would Like a Word

by Cynthia Gómez

I felt them as the sun came through the curtains on a Saturday morning. First, a light papery brush against my shoulder that I could dismiss as the last minutes of a dream. Then a blunt edge digging into my cheek, faintly smelling of my favorite bookstore.

Nonfiction

Editorial: February 2023

by Christie Yant and Arley Sorg

tkIn this issue’s short fiction, Lowry Poletti’s “The Dead Return in Strange Shapes” explores what binds us to the past, and Malda Marlys takes us east of the sun and west of the moon in “A Princess With a Nose Three Ells Long”; in flash fiction, Cynthia Gómez wants us to know that “The Books Would Like a Word,” and in “Secondhand” S.L. Harris revisits a different fairytale adventure from an unusual perspective; for poetry, we have “The Mermaids of Magonia” by Carina Bissett and “Food for Thought” by Lisbeth Coiman. Plus essay “The Societal Cost of Magic” by Moses Ose Utomi, author of The Lies of The Ajungo and “The Mirror Test”. Enjoy!

Fiction

The Dead Return in Strange Shapes

by Lowry Poletti

Author spotlight

The dead return in strange shapes, yoked to those who mastered them in life. Thais sees them: shadowy animals who slink between the townspeople in the market square. When he was born, so he is told, his mother held up his birth-wet body and pressed her nose to the middle of his brow. They lay together, crowned by oak branches dragged low to the ground by last night’s rain, on the stone table at the center of the woods.

Poetry

Food For Thought

by Lisbeth Coiman

Amy G. Dala went out / for a lunch date / with her brainy friend, Medu La’Oblongata

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Lowry Poletti

by Christie Yant

When writing characters like this, I like to question every assumption I’ve made about them. Conformity to social mores, normal behavior, and even emotional responses are all assumptions made based on how people act in the real world. These assumptions that don’t necessarily make sense for characters in a fantasy setting.

Flash Fiction

Secondhand

by S.L. Harris

“Nonsense,” said the rocking horse with the bristle brush mane. “You’ll never be more than what you are.” “Mrs. Bunn says that being grows with time,” began the wooden comb, heirloom from the old country, mislabeled midcentury modern. “No. Time is being’s enemy. And Mrs. Bunn is in the dumpster now, on her way to a landfill.”

Poetry

The Mermaids of Magonia

by Carina Bissett

I saw them once— / sky sisters, swimming, / curly-hooked surf / collapsing, a squall.

Fiction

A Princess With a Nose Three Ells Long

by Malda Marlys

Author spotlight

In a castle flanked by fjords, so very far from everything that the winds rarely raised its banners, there lived a troll princess. Her mother was a troll queen, by virtue of a castle and a bad temper, but queen she was, and her ambitions did not end at the still shores.

Nonfiction

The Societal Cost of Magic

by Moses Ose Utomi

What does magic cost? Throughout my childhood in the ‘80s and ‘90s, the answer to this question was rooted in the magic of Dungeons & Dragons, where a spell may cost an incantation, a few ingredients, and some energy from the spellcaster. To some extent, most modern magic systems derive their cost from one of these currencies—some form of specialized knowledge or language, some form of physical payment, and some of the magic user’s energy.

Author Spotlight

Author Spotlight: Malda Marlys

by Christie Yant

I don’t believe in walk-on roles. If a character’s in a story, they have their own reason for being there. Every story is richer for knowing what that is.