In This IssueJoin us as we raise a glass to the New Year and a new decade with Cheers by cover artist Melissa Mary Duncan.Ghosts rise from the depths of different pasts to haunt the pages of 'When Captain Picard Was My Dad' by feature author Finnian Burnett and 'The Haunted Ghost' by JJ Lee.Family both anchors and unmoors the varied casts of 'Moon Eater' by EC Dorgan, 'Field's Nocturne No. 10 in E Major' by Matt Lumbard, and 'The Golden Bull' by JM Landels.Time and space rattle and quake in 'Nobody Knows It but Me' by Franco Amati and 'Separate Worlds' by Chip Houser. And the shattering continues with new poetry from Aaron Poochigian, DS Maolalai, Purbasha Roy.But journeys finally find peace in the destination with 'Get Home Safe' by Sierra Louie and 'Stella Ryman and the Labyrinthian Puzzle' by Mel Anastasiou.
In this issueTake a spacewalk into the unknown with American Space Force by cover artist Tais Teng and feature story 'Above it All' by Robert J Sawyer. Dare we look below? In the next Fairmount Manor mystery by Mel Anastasiou, Stella Ryman shows us how to receive the kindness of strangers, while in a new chapter of The Shepherdess by JM Landels, Toinette needs to accept the help of her foil. And in 'The Lady M' by Cat Girczyc, it's not always easy to tell friend from foe.Explore grief and healing with contest winners that include the Jack Whyte Storyteller Award-winning story by CZ Tacks and Magpie Award-winning poetry from Claire Lawrence, Catherine Lewis, and Mark Cameron. As courageously as possible, face two final frontiers in work by Graham J Darling and Jordan Bray, and then return to where it all began with 'Where the Angels Wait' and a bonus start to a new Jack Absolute novel by CC Humphreys.
Enchantment begins with Dreaming Underwater by Claire Lawrence. Friendship carries us forward in 'The Drink We Spill Out on the Ground' by feature author Claire Humphrey, 'Summer Soup' by Kim Harbridge, and 'Stella Ryman and the Curse of Youth' by Mel Anastasiou. Meanwhile, 'Marty' by Kevin Sandefur, 'When A Man Knows Much More Than We Ever Did' by Kelli Allen, and 'Mayflies' by Liza Potvin remind us that family life offers its own kind of adventures. Jennifer Lott, with 'Thirty Minutes to Live', and Beatrice Morgan, with 'Six-Minute Quiz', show us how to make wise use of our time. Matthew Nielsen's 'Then and Now: An ASD Comic' and Soramimi Hanarejima's 'Vulnerability, Now and Then' offer a spectrum of possibility. With 'The Golden Calf', JM Landels shows us another side of friendship and duty. Poetry by Elina Taillon, Haro Lee, and DS Martin takes us to the moon and madness. Then 'Reap What You Sow' by Alex Reece-Abbott and 'Tourist Trap at the End of the World' by KT Wagner land us back on solid ground.
Ups and Downs by cover artist M St James offers us a feathered familiar to guide our way through this issue, starting with 'The Caged Bird Sings in a Darkness of Its Own Creation' by feature author Richard Thomas.Winged creatures fly to the rescue in 'Olympian' by FJ Bergmann, 'Andouille' by Mike Carson, and 'Dragon's Greed' by Sherilyn Moreton and Anat Rabkin. But human rescues miss the mark in 'All our Swains Commend Her' by Mitchell J Toews and 'The Least of Myself' by Sylvia Leong.The winner and runner-up of the Raven Short Story Contest alight, carrying memories and regrets in 'Revolutions' by Catriona Sandilands and 'Foam' by Alison Stevenson, while 'Waffles and Strawberries' by Susan Alexander shows us a present that fails to live up to the past.Finally, leave the known world behind and take charge of your adventure into the unknown with Melanie Martilla's 'Psychopomps Are Us', Mel Anastasiou's 'Stella Ryman vs the Board', and 'The Shepherdess: The Trail of Yellow Roses' by JM Landels.
Feature author Renée Sarojini Saklikar treats us to a Bramah and the Beggar Boy side tale in prose and poetry. We welcome back Cadence Mandybura, and enjoy slipstream and superheroes from Patrick Barb and Tom Jolly. Mel Anastasiou offers more Pretty Lies and JM Landels shows us the other side of the mirror in 'Zara's Song'. Plus the winners of the Hummingbird Flash Fiction Prize!
Under the wise gaze of 'The Butterfly Witch' by Melissa Mary Duncan, this issue promises at least two sides to every story.Siblings work through past hurts and begin new journeys in 'Old Gifts' by feature author James Sallis and 'Can-on-a-String' by Alex Kitt. Meanwhile, zombies do double duty in 'Ambience' by Jason P Burnham and 'Caught Dead' by Shawn L Bird. We navigate new lands with Pete Barnstrom in 'Oeufs Dangereux' and Cheryl Skory Suma in 'Adrift off the Shore of Alzheimer Island'. And Anna Zumbro in 'The Dump 'Em Dog' and Mikael Lopez and Enrico Orlandi in 'Forgive My Delay' remind us that, no matter the world in which we live, breaking up is hard to do. Next, triple your literary delight with historical fiction: 'The Shepherdess: Grandmère Paris' by JM Landels, 'Pretty Lies: I Can See for Miles' by Mel Anastasiou, and 'Once Upon a Time in Camelot' by GD Litke. Three's the charm for poetry too, with our Magpie Award winners Cara Waterfall's 'griefbody' and 'Harvest' and Kevin Spenst's 'BigGermanDialectWordClankinglyInsertedHere!'.
In This Issue:It's summertime, and the water's fine ... or is it? 'Collector' by cover artist Akem beckons us beneath the surface and between the pages. But in 'A Collection of Secrets' by feature author Rhea Rose and 'The Island' by M Denise Beaton, we discover that some treasures are better left hidden.Back on shore, summer brings around friends both new and old in 'Audrey and the Crow' by Cadence Mandybura, 'The Two Oh Four Six' by Dustin Moon, 'Floaters' by Kevin Sandefur, and 'Whispers in Between My Shoulder Blades' by Christine Breede. Shapeshifers in 'Shadow Work' by Soramimi Hanarejima and 'Gwannyn's Song' by JM Landels show us the secret to sacrifice. And families come together, reshaped, in Kaile Shilling's SiWC honourable mention, 'Death and Laughter'.Allison Bannister in 'The Play's the Thing' and Mel Anastasiou in 'Pretty Lies: Hold On' draw inspiration from the classics. And poetry from Dawn Macdonald and Yuan Changming reminds us that love is classic too.
Find strength in humility (and mud) with Black Tortoise Kowtows by cover artist Herman Lau. Journey to the ends of the earth - and reality - in 'Gumdrop: A Bekker Story' by feature author JJ Lee. Time ticks ever forward in 'The Realm of Shadows' by Megan W Shaw, 'Pretty Lies: Fly Away' by Mel Anastasiou, and 'Would We Had Time' by Lorina Stephens. Hannah van Didden with 'Gerald Bantam Says Goodbye', Douglas Smith with 'The Balance', and Laura Kuhlmann with 'A Jar of Marmalade' usher us to the other side of grief. Pivot the moment with 'Clothesline' by Kimberley Aslett and 'Respawn' by Michelle Barker. And pivot the argument with 'A Gentleman's Primer' by Mitchell Shanklin and 'The Shepherdess: Artifice' by JM Landels. Poetry by Mitchell Bodo, Alex Kitt, and Derek Webster asks life's big questions. And cartoons by Hurricane Nancy answer yes, it'll be all right.
Join us as we step into the blossoming spring with Superbloom, by cover artist Weiwei Xu, and disappear into future past with feature author Robert Silverberg's 'Chip Runner' and Leo X Robertson's 'Bar Hopping for Astronauts'. Take a deep breath and let the aroma of the blossoms permeate your senses because taste and scents infuse Michelle Goddard's 'Bhut', 'The Shepherdess: Merveilles' by JM Landels, and 'The Smell of Screaming' by SiWC runner-up Adrienne Gruber. We witness the powerful and varied effects of death and mourning in 'Life Supports' by Claire Lawrence, and in Raven Contest winner 'Good Intentions' by Nancy Ludmerer. We cross the fourth wall in Erin MacNair's Raven Contest runner-up 'It Can Be Done with Words', we cross the desert in Paige Elizabeth Wajda's rhapsodic 'Heaven or Las Vegas', and we cross dimensions in PG Streeter's homage to Shakespeare in 'The Earth Has Bubbles'. Phoebe Mol washes away her troubles in the graphic version of Edna St Vincent Millay's 'O World' while Marietta puts out fire with gasoline in the next chapter of Mel Anastasiou's The Extra, 'Frankie Ray and the Blazing Anubis'.
With A Foundations of Lies by cover artist Kris Sayer, we emerge from the dark woods with Tatterhood''s loyal goat Bokki. Sword in hand (or mouth!), and fierce battle won, we are ready to take on the varied landscapes of this issue, no passport required.In ''The Library Giant'' by feature author Shashi Bhat, the struggle with nature - human nature - rages deep within. Meanwhile, in British Columbia and Iceland, ghosts of grief wander with the living as KT Wagner, SL Leong, and Erin Wagner explore the rocky terrain of memory.And whether in a culvert or factory, but most certainly within one''s own mind, Mike Gillis and Brandon Crilly remind us how difficult it can be to navigate wreckage of the heart.Forest, river, mountain, ocean - Mother Nature has a starring role in the winning stories for the 2020 Hummingbird Flash Fiction Prize: ''The Weeping Pools'' and ''River''s Thousand-One Voice'' by Cadence Mandybura, and ''Glimpse of a Goddess'' by Laura Kuhlmann.Poets Abner Porzio, with ''Californian Illusion'', and Michael Penny, with ''Kalaloch Beach, WA'', introduce us to two very different wild west coasts.Next, take flight and soar above it all with part three of Joseph Stilwell and Hugh Henderson''s comic saga Blue Skies over Nine Isles.And finally, heroines Frankie Ray and Allaigna enter dangerous territory of their own as they search for clues to murder. In ''Sleuth With Star Quality'' by Mel Anastasiou, Frankie Ray dons a disguise and braves a brothel. And in ''The Killing Ground'', the second part of Allaigna''s Song: Oburakor by JM Landels, Allaigna buries the dead in a blood-soaked wasteland.
Featured author Kelly Robson shows us that wine making is a labour of love, and sometimes hate, in 'Good for Grapes'.Matthew Hughes's magnum opus, What the Wind Brings, debuts aboard the Spanish galleon La Virgen, with an epic struggle brewing on the horizon.Stella Ryman is ready for new adventures in Stella Ryman and the Locked Room Mystery by Mel Anastasiou, while Allaigna must make hasty goodbyes in the final chapter of Allaigna's Song: Aria by JM Landels.It's a dog-eat-dog world - or wolf-eat-dog world - in Christian Walter's 'Wolf, Dog, Sun', and Zoë Johnson reminds us to take stock of everyday miracles in 'Inherited Love of Unexplainable Things'.Take a draught of heady poetry from Casey Reiland, Raluca Balasa, and Alison Braid.Lena Mahmoud breathes new life into an old Arabian folk tale with 'The Thieving Pot', and Josephine Greenland dissects a Thai myth in the Bumblebee Contest winner, 'Wife Giver'.Deborah L Davitt's protagonists hold out for as long as they can in 'On the Sixth Day'.Come and get the good stuff in Susan Pieters's 'Black Market', and see the dark(er) side of the financial district in Lola Street's 'Wall Street at Night' illustrated by Chaille Stovall.We have the two runners-up of the Surrey International Writers' Conference Storyteller Contest in this issue: 'Biophilia' shows us there's hope in Margot Spronk's post-apocalyptic world, but not necessarily for humans; while Deepthi Atukorala takes us down an emotional rabbit hole with 'White Rabbit'.Great reads for the price of a beer!
Dare to venture behind the intriguing cover by award-winning British artist Ben Baldwin and you'll find that … Feature author, Kristene Perron, asks us to savour the simple things in life and question the validity of tradition in 'Flavour of the Forsaken'. Those of you who admire magpies for their intelligence and unique beauty will find these qualities in this year's winners of the Magpie Award for Poetry, Kelli Allen, Christine Levickzy Riek, and Angela Caravan. Great-Great-Grandpa stops by for a visit 90 years after his death in 'Away Game' by Mitchell Toews, and for some reason, we're not at all surprised. 'Gross Motor' by Sara Mang takes us back to kindergarten, while the hardworking folks in Mitchell's Crossing contend with a nosy superhero and government officials in 'Small Town Superhero' by Dave Beynon. Epiphany Ferrell exposes the dubious talents of a ne'er-do-well townsman in 'Every Town Has One', and Susan Pieters challenges us to walk in someone else's shoes with 'Waking Up Black'. Love jewellery? We doubt you'll want one of the bracelets in Summer Jewel Keown's 'Indebted'. Alex Reece Abbott lands quick punches you won't flinch from with 'Alphabet Soup', while coffee lovers and dreamers beware of 'The Hub', SiWC's Honourable Mention by Erin Evans. Mel Anastasiou's graphic story 'Meat' involves a gargoyle who rises above his station, while the next instalment of Allaigna's Song: Aria by JM Landels takes us deeper into unknown territory.
On this particular sun-and-shade April morning at Fairmount Manor, Stella Ryman no more entertained the idea of becoming an amateur sleuth than she did of entering next spring's Boston Marathon. For not only was Stella eighty-two years old, but she had lately sold her home and a lifetime of gathered possessions and washed up at Fairmount Manor Care Home in such a state that she would have bet her remaining seven pairs of socks that she'd be dead in half a year. But when money goes missing and an innocent woman stands to lose her job at Fairmount; when malicious poison pen letters find their way into the hands of staff and residents; and when a resident vanishes without a trace, Stella takes matters into her own hands. To hell with being elderly Stella will break every one of the Director's rules and slash all the institutional red tape in the place in her struggle to solve mysteries and protect the innocent. Over the course of the first five mystery adventures, Mrs Stella Ryman transforms from a woman on her deathbed to a force of nature and intellect. She's a fish out of water, a stranger in a strange land, and an amateur sleuth trapped in a down-at-the-heels care home. You'd be cranky, too.Readers are saying ';witty and endearing' ';beautifully written with humour, grace, and suspense' ';You know a story's good when you keep finding yourself laughing out loud. ';Stella Ryman is my new hero!'
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