MYTHOLOG

It's interesting that Teresa Tunaley chose a fallen angel for the Spring cover. The theme of rebirth juxtaposed with that of exile carries with it questions about contradictions in our thinking and poles of experience. It seems to perfectly represent this issue and the contributions of the various writers within.

Spring Issue

Spring is shaping up to be an issue of themes. Overall, there's a sense of breaking out, of Whitman's desire to sail and sail and sail. Whatever it may be. The constant ringing of bullets through the world. The constant drone of the mundane and the contrived. Somehow the season seems an invitation to leave the steady unendurable land. As always, authors have sounded the clarion call to do what poetry commands of our hearts. Read on, then, and see if you can't hear it.

People of the Islands by Mary Pat Mann

Mary Pat Mann has done it again. An excellent complement to her essay on Mermaids, this fictional piece is an essay on resistance, escape, and rebuilding. Quite fitting for the times.

God Helps Those by Mark Allen Gunnells

Overcommitment is the bane of writers, of editors, and of a whole lot us - even if we're simply overcommitted to our jobs. All that heroic work on weekends and after hours - but is heroism all it's cracked up to be?

Party Time by Adam Bales

This editor has been painting cabinets for two days - another kind of commitment. It seemed like a wonderful opportunity, but sometimes the idea of it is more appealing than the grind. If you could subcontract your life, would you? Oh for a doppelganger, or a nice, ambitious intern!

Go Home by Sara Genge

What if you're stuck with your job? No delegating, not really even half committed -- it's just not for you. Do what we all do, sooner or later . . .

God by Stewart Sternberg

Like it or not, pretty sentiment or not, the fact is that childhood is about grief. Not entirely, but partly enough. And where you find grief, you find God since He, like no one else, is acquainted with sorrows.

One for Sorrow by Angie Smibert

Grief and love are intertwined. They fly or fall, one with the other. 

The Weight of Things Forgotten by Gerri Leen

Would you choose to forget your pain? One needn't ask if you actually have pain. If you don't, you haven't lived long enough to be reading this anyway. If you could let it drain out of you like a slow trickle of water, would you? Or do you need it? Imagine if you had an eidetic memory - would that be a blessing or a curse?

Bast by Jillian Boand

Sometimes it's not our pain we want to forget, nor our work that we want to delegate; it's our dreams.

Mr. Breslaw’s Parting Shot by Emily M.Z. Carlyle

If the past can be forgotten, can the future be remembered? Sometimes it's so easy to see the future - the future of a person - that, if you do it in front of people, they get offended, as though their privacy has been violated. "Character is destiny," said Heraclitus. But be careful about predicting out loud, unless you're pretty sure of your own future as well, and that the news will be good news.

Olympus 2006 by Sarah Frost Mellor

What if you remembered things that no one else could? Or maybe just one other person could remember. That would be the one you'd share the rest of your life with, because that would be a life no one else could possibly share.

Philia and Phobe by John Young

Maybe that's the one. The one that gives you that inescapable feeling that pleasure is anything at all if you're together. The one to whom you've never spoken. But, of course, you could ruin it.

Whistle Like a Clanger by Bill West

Fascination can be a whimsical ride, though. It can make you dance like a marionette or . . . 

Selkie Love by Donna Quattrone

Uniting yourself to another - you learn this quickly - is always a loss as well as a gain. People who don't expect this, and plan on it, don't stay committed. It's a way the young seldom know, and fewer and fewer learn. It's the old way, and it sings.

Birth of Venus by N.C. Whitehead

The gods have been popular this season but, if they were again born among us, how would they fare? Would they find the same reverence they once knew, or would we leer at them?

Poetry Special Feature

The Why of the Leviathan, As Luck Would Have It, Even the Blind by Elizabeth Barrette

What would the old things look like, if they awoke among us: Bestial? Fey? Or would we find many faces? Two springs ago we published a triplet of poems from Mary Pat Mann. This Spring, it's Elizabeth Barrette who gives us a trio of poems surveying the fantastic and the omnipresent.

The Summer "1000" Issue

The Summer Issue is shaping up to be quite an interesting feast. We've limited the word count of each piece to 1000. Flash Fiction is 500 words or less. Short Short Fiction is between that and 1000 words, and Poetry can be up to 1000 words. We may even have some drabble and other novel forms, as well. Readers stay tuned and, if you're a writer, see our guidelines for submissions. FYI: If you use news feeds on your site or in a news reader, we do have a news feed.

Volunteer and Intern Positions

MYTHOLOG has openings for three Junior Editors, an Index Editor, Continuity Editor, and Web Programmer. Duties for Junior Editors include voting on submissions and editing acceptances, occasionally working with authors; Junior Editors may become Associate Editors after working on the magazine for a time. The Index Editor must be able to FTP - basic HTML familiarity is a plus; the Index Editor is responsible for cataloging fiction, poetry, nonfiction, issues, and illustrations for each issue, including past issues. The Continuity Editor must have a keep eye for detail and must ensure continuity of author's names, titles, page titles, copyright dates, etc. throughout each issue and on the site. The Web Programmer must be conversant in PHP, MYSQL, HTML, and CSS, and be able to document his or her work on refining the magazine's extranet. Applicants should visit familiarize themselves with the magazine, then contact the Chief Editor. While MYTHOLOG pays authors on publication, staff positions are volunteer or intern positions. Literary submissions from staff are considered on the same basis as others and are not given special preference.

A Final Note

This editor and a colleague were discussing whether, given the choice, we would rather keep all that our overtime and years of toil have earned us, or whether we would trade it all for a grass hut on the shore, taking tourists out in a small boat to pay for necessities. Both of us indicated the same preference. The next question was whether we had the courage to actively work to replace the one with the other. Here's hoping this Spring finds you working toward your grass hut, away from the din and turmoil which, since it has become so familiar, we regard as the calm of our lives. -- Asher Black, Editor-in-Chief

 

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Contents

People of the Islands Mary Pat Mann God Helps Those Mark Allen Gunnells Party Time Adam Bales Go Home Sara Genge God Stewart Sternberg One for Sorrow Angie Smibert The Weight of Things Forgotten Gerri Leen Bast Jillian Boand Mr. Breslaw’s Parting Shot Emily M.Z. Carlyle Olympus 2006 Sarah Frost Mellor Philia and Phobe John Young Whistle Like a Clanger Bill West Selkie Love Donna Quattrone Birth of Venus N.C. Whitehead Poetry Special Feature Elizabeth Barrette

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Factoid: "Prescience is the full knowledge of all possibilities based on the context of use." - wikipedia

 

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