CY: The obvious thing to think about as we enter the month of November is gratitude. This has been an incredible year for both of us, and for the magazine as a whole.

AS: Definitely. This is our first anniversary issue: We launched this iteration of Fantasy Magazine with the November 2020 issue! I feel gratitude to you and John, as well as Wendy N. Wagner, plus the folks who have helped us along the way, and especially gratitude for the readers who join us on these imaginative journeys!

CY: We’re so lucky to be able to do this. And we haven’t done it alone: Chloe Smith, Devin Marcus, and Anthony Cardno are our copy editor and proofreaders; Veronica Henry and Phoebe Barton are our interviewers for the Author Spotlights; Jeremy Tolbert built and maintains our website, which feeds into the ebooks that John Joseph Adams formats and makes available on Amazon and in our own ebookstore, built by Adam Israel. And of course we’d be completely lost without Matt Kressel’s irreplaceable Moksha submission system.

AS: Looking back on the challenging events of the past couple of years, both luck and privilege went into the fact that we’re still here, that we have survived. Which isn’t to say it was easy. Because it really, really wasn’t. But I’m grateful to be here, to be alive, and to be able to provide a home for some fantastic works, as well as share these works with the world.

CY: Seriously, I feel like congratulations are in order to every single person who has made it this far in the face of everything and somehow continues to put one foot in front of the other, trudging ever onward toward a brighter future. I hope that we’ve been able to provide a few moments of escape and comfort, and something to think about other than the state of the world outside our doors.

AS: To be honest, every time I read a story or poem which really does something special for me, I feel grateful for that work, and for the author; I feel glad that other people will see it, and I feel like the world is a better place for the fact that ideas and emotions can be shared in these ways. Fiction, poetry, even nonfiction, they are often so important in people’s lives, and they can have such an impact on our culture. If you’re reading this magazine, I hope you find something which moves you, which touches you, which makes you think. Read on, knowing that we are grateful that you’re reading.

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In this issue’s short fiction, Kehkashan Khalid offers a condensed epic, where a mother must contend with her fractious sons, in “The Petticoat Government,” and Genevieve Mills gives us a taste of revenge in “Girls Have Sharp Teeth”; in flash fiction, Billie Cohen’s “Lessons” features a different kind of imprisonment, and there are consequences for Charles EP Murphy’s “Shouty Lads”; for poetry, we have “Unfinished” by Eugen Bacon and “After The End” by Jessica Cho. Finally, we have an interview with the author of Victories Greater Than Death, Never Say You Can’t Survive, and Even Greater Mistakes, Charlie Jane Anders. Enjoy!