Myths & Delusions • Editorial • October 2014
Welcome to the harvest.
We’re bringing 2014 to a close with a cornucopia of offerings that don’t have a theme, per se, unless a cornucopia full of diverse offerings can itself be a theme.
To mix together some metaphors, within this patchwork quilt you’ll find currents and undertows. As well as basic one-to-one correspondences. Brady Golden’s ghostly tale of lovesick children clamored for a Halloween release, while it’s perhaps a testament to our own twisted senses of humor that Nathaniel Lee’s sardonic take on faith struck us as a perfect story for the holidays. As for Sonya Taaffe’s story: simply put, there is no wrong time for Shakespeare.
Our poems are perhaps more of a piece: animal spirits move through them, as voices speak of exploring other worlds and worlds within themselves. We look inward and outward at once and document our observations with clear eyes.
We hope you enjoy this variegated feast and that you’ll check out some of the other things we have on the menu at Mythic Delirium Books. We’ve already got our next issue (1.3, January-March 2015) lined up and in queue, with dark takes on love and family from Livia Llewellyn, Swapna Kishore and Sunny Moraine, further expounded on in verse by Jeannine Hall Gailey, John Philip Johnson, Kristine Ong Muslim, Shveta Thakrar and Sheree Renée Thomas.
That’s not all. Stepping into the singular here, my sixth poetry collection, Hungry Constellations, appeared in June, a career retrospective with selections by Dominik Parisien and an introduction from Amal El-Mohtar. (It’s available as an ebook and in trade paperback.) I’ll also have a new novelette coming out, co-written with Paul Dellinger. In a change of pace from my usual forays into horror, The Sky-Riders, has the feel of a pulp adventure from the classic days of radio. It’s a light-hearted steampunk-Western-sci fi invasion-mash up (with a dash of romance, even!)
Though it’s not a Mythic Delirium Book, it’s perhaps worth noting that my first collection of short stories, Unseaming, is coming in October from Antimatter Press. (And if you’ve been paying attention, then you know Elizabeth Campbell with Antimatter has been an invaluable partner in helping Mythic Delirium go digital.) My collection is a gory extravaganza that’s already received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. Horror master Laird Barron wrote a gracious introduction for the book.
And now, stepping back into the plural. The next anthology on our horizon is—Mythic Delirium: the paperback volume that gathers the first four issues of our digital incarnation. Watch for it this November at the World Fantasy Convention in Washington, D.C. You can’t miss the gorgeous cover by Hugo Award winner Galen Dara.
I’m excited to announce, as well, our first single-author collection: Bone Swans by C.S.E. Cooney, a gathering of five sumptuous fantasy novelettes, forthcoming in 2015. Expect to hear a lot more as this project develops.
And finally, perhaps the biggest, best news of all for fans of Mythic Delirium Books: Anita and I have set plans in motion to bring about the latest installment in our flagship anthology series, Clockwork Phoenix 5. And yes, this means venturing back into the realm of Kickstarter. We hope you’ll join us on that march.
So, speaking of cornucopias, obviously there’s plenty of bounty to look forward to in the months ahead. We hope you’ll keep your subscriptions current, that you’ll spread the word, and that you’ll be with us as we bring these new treasures into the world.
—Mike Allen, Roanoke, Va., September 2014
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