Myths & Delusions • Editorial • January 2014
Bones wrapped in life betray and fall apart.
Bones stripped of all life move again.
Winter is an austere time, and it so happens that Anita and I have put together an issue for you that addresses the dissolution of existence in different ways. Though as is always the case with winter, lively bits of light pierce through the storms.
The stories and poems in this new issue pit familial love against zombies and witches, pave graves with standardized tests and unsettling photographs, explore defiance in humans and cats, find fate in decaying angel flesh and destiny in the prancing of toy horses.
Death and renewal come hand in hand with the transition from winter to spring, and this magazine is undergoing a major transition of its own, one that’s almost complete.
Mythic Delirium began over fifteen years ago as a do-it-yourself ’zine I made myself on a cheap inkjet printer. Since then the journal has had some extraordinary adventures without much change to how it was actually produced—we just got better at making it look professional. (To see an archive of our first 29 issues, click here.)
That phase of my little ’zine’s life will come to an end in April (or thereabouts), when we publish our final print issue, Magic Number 30. Anita has taken the helm for this retrospective, putting together a lineup that spans our first thirteen years.
It’s not a definitive “best of what we’ve published” collection—with more than 500 published poems to choose from and contributors from bestselling authors to newcomers landing their first sale, how could it be?—but it does a great job of summarizing what we’ve been all about, combining award-winning works with overlooked gems.
When it’s ready, we hope you’ll check it out. (You can have a look at the complete lineup by clicking here.)
In the meantime, it’s amazing to think that in the same month that we’ll release our final print issue, we’ll be releasing the fourth issue of the digital incarnation—in other words, we already will have published a full year’s worth of the electronic version of our ’zine. That issue will have a fey theme, appropriate to the start of spring.
But for now, you have bones to excavate. Don’t let me delay you further.
—Mike Allen, Roanoke, Va., December 2013
If you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read, please consider pitching in to keep us going. Your donation goes toward future content.
