Scorching Summer

Tongues in two cheeks lead the long-awaited current issue. Gunnells & Ritchie treat us to a blue collar riposte to the mystery at the top of the mountain, and to the extra-mundane of daytime soap-myth. Traditional settings also come in twos this time, as Playle tackles mercy and meetings, while Chenier gives us cycles and secrets. Staffer Mary Pat Mann did double the work for this issue, not the least of which are two nonfiction pieces. We commissioned her to write a review of the 2006 MYTHIC JOURNEYS con, and she also contributes something of a definition of what we do here, with her essay: "The Door to the Imaginal Realm". Topped off by Paul Campbell's unique cover art, we're proud to scorch the screen for Summer 2006. - Asher Black, Editor-in-Chief

'Wanna Beer?'

by John D. Ritchie

You've climbed the high mountain. You've searched out the great sage. You've come asking the mysteries of the world. Now, the question is simple. Do you want a beer? Teresa Tunaley illustrated this short fiction that toasts the ascent of the average.

As The Young and the Beautiful
Turn on the Light

by Mark Allan Gunnells

It's a weekday morning. You've been working hard around the house. You relax for a moment on the sofa, plagued by tantalizing questions. What is Lucky hiding from Elizabeth? Is Patrick infected? Will Jeffrey return to Oakdale? But what if it wasn't Elizabeth, or Patrick, or Jeffrey? What if it was you? Teresa Tunaley illustrated this piece that points out our penchant for myth, even while we're mopping the dining room.

Daphne and Apollo

by Nancy Chenier

Have you ever had a secret? Not the kind about something that was done, but a secret about who you are? Are you familiar with the first nagging feelings that someone is finding out - that you are beginning to be visible for what you are?

The Fallen Safat

by Sophie Playle

Perhaps the universal truth of all endless flights is that no flight is endless. In order, perhaps, to be a human story, that which is beyond us, in the sky, must come down and dwell with us here, even if it means breaking. Icarus, Prometheus and, in ultimate form, the Incarnation are such as this. Playle here adds a unique example.

Staff Essay: The Door to the Imaginal Realm

by Mary Pat Mann

This issue, MP Mann contributes a look at the world between. Myths, she says, are access points to what is sometimes termed the Borderlands. Mann argues in plain and concise terms that myth provides us a specialized ontology and epistemology. So go ahead, walk thru The Door to the Imaginal Realm.

Special Con Review:

Mythic Journeys 06 -- Magic in Atlanta

by Mary Pat Mann

Can't get away? Scared of Deepak Chopra? Just don't like to leave the house? If you couldn't go with Associate Editor Mary Pat Mann to the latest Mythic Journeys Conference, she can still take you there in this virtual reality tour dubbed "Magic in Atlanta". Stay close, though; they have a giant.

MYTHOLOG in the Media

Mytholog, Spring 2005 we published the poem "Fairy Tale Ending" by Marsheila Rockwell (author of Legacy of Wolves, Wizards of the Coast, 2007). The poem was nominated for the 2006 Rhysling Award from The Science Fiction Poetry Association (SFPA). The awards, given since 1978, are considered to be the equivalent for speculative poetry of the Nebula Awards for speculative fiction.

Danny Adams, who gave us "How To Be A Gracious Host To Your Alien Conqueror", likewise won a place in The 2006 Rhysling Anthology for "Utnapishtim on Friday After Dessert".

Elizabeth Barrette, author of about a dozen poems published in MYTHOLOG, as well as "Beaver Goes to a Party", got the 2005 nomination for her poem "The Poltergeist of Polaris". Incidentally, Elizabeth also spoke at WisCon 30 (May 26-29, 2006). Jane Yolen was a guest of honor this year. For more info, visit wiscon.info.

Likewise, Mary Pat Mann went to Mythic Journeys this year and wrote a travelogue, featured in this issue.