From Modern Mythcraft to Magical Surrealism

THECONDUCTORS

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Fiction

The Invisibles

by Charles de Lint

Here’s what you do, Jerry says. You get one of those little pipe tobacco tins and you put stuff in it. Important stuff. A fingernail. Some hair. A scab. Some dirt from a special place.

The Invisibles by Charles de Lint

In Oct. 2011 (Issue 55)

Fiction

The Secret Beach

by Tim Pratt

Though I’m the kind of person who uses the self-checkout line at grocery stores just to avoid the necessity of small conversation with a human cashier, I blurted out, “Hey, where were you guys swimming?”

The Secret Beach by Tim Pratt

In Oct. 2011 (Issue 55)

Fiction

Using It and Losing It

by Jonathan Lethem

Pratt walked the distance to work, stopped in at his accustomed cigar store to buy cigarettes, and rode the elevator upstairs to his office; in short, his standard routine, without deviation—yet it didn’t feel right.

Using It and Losing It by Jonathan Lethem

In Sept. 2011 (Issue 54)

Fiction

Lessons from a Clockwork Queen

by Megan Arkenberg

She pulled back the sheets and found the little hole in the queen’s throat where the winding key fit like a kiss, and she turned and turned the key until her shoulders ached and she couldn’t turn it anymore.

Lessons from a Clockwork Queen by Megan Arkenberg

In Sept. 2011 (Issue 54)

Fiction

Crossroads

by Laura Anne Gilman

John came to the crossroads at just shy of noon, where a man dressed all in black stared up at another man hanging from a gallows-tree. No, not hanging; he was being hung.

Crossroads by Laura Anne Gilman

In August 2011 (Issue 53)

Fiction

The World Is Cruel, My Daughter

by Cory Skerry

One day it was, “Why haven’t you any hair, Mother?” She stroked her own golden locks, which now swept her ankles, as she waited for an answer.

The World Is Cruel, My Daughter by Cory Skerry

In August 2011 (Issue 53)

Fiction

The Wolves of Brooklyn

by Catherynne M. Valente

It was snowing when the wolves first came, loping down Flatbush Ave., lithe and fast, panting clouds, their paws landing with a soft, heavy sound like bombs falling somewhere far away.

The Wolves of Brooklyn by Catherynne M. Valente

In July 2011 (Issue 52)

Fiction

The Machine

by M. Rickert

Graveyards creak with too many bones, and the weight of headstones, and when the wind blows the air is dusty with the dead. Ah life, its hoary inevitability. What’s the point?

The Machine by M. Rickert

In July 2011 (Issue 52)

Fiction

You Have Been Turned into a Zombie by a Friend

by Jeremiah Tolbert

You know all about bending and breaking their terms of service; it would take some serious hacking, magical or mundane, to pull this off. But you suspect magic.

You Have Been Turned Into a Zombie by a Friend by Jeremiah Tolbert

In June 2011 (Issue 51)

Fiction

The Immortality Game

by Cat Rambo

Decades later the music was what really tipped Glen off. He heard a song on the radio, a brand new release, and remembered the day he’d first heard it, twenty years earlier.

The Immortality Game by Cat Rambo

In June 2011 (Issue 51)