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ISSUE 12: CONTRIBUTORS
Malena Salazar Maciá, Toshiya Kamei, Deborah L. Davitt, Dean A. Brink, Drema Deòraich, Raluca Balasa, Dennis Mombauer, I. S. Heynen, May Chong, Logan Thrasher Collins, Holly Day, R. J. Keeler, Z.M. Quỳnh, Aber O. Grand & Michael T. Smith, Arvind Dubey, Kshama Gautam, Shirish Gopal Deshpande, Narendra Petkar, Lorenzo Latrofa, Massimiliano di Lauro & Salik Shah
ART Macrocheira kaempferi (1911) by Theobald Carreras, Wellcome Collection.
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Salik Shah This Extraordinary Being
Malena Salazar Maciá, Toshiya Kamei The Kiss of the Water
Deborah L. Davitt The Ghost Teas of Sakurajima
Dean A. Brink Flower Arranging at the End of the Japanese Empire
Raluca Balasa The Executioner General
Dennis Mombauer The Carnival of Human Nature
I. S. Heynen Sonya, Josephine, and the Tragic Re-Invention of the Telephone
POETRY
May Chong Social Media Manticore
Logan Thrasher Collins Glimmerglimpse
Michael T. Smith Kirby; Or Everything I Needed to Know About Consumption
R. J. Keeler Mud Dauber Wasp Nest
Aber O. Grand The Satyr’s Acolyte
Logan Thrasher Collins Electrocologies
Michael T. Smith Super Mario; Or, Everything I Needed to Learn About Relationships
Arvind Dubey, Kshama Gautam The Shuttle Took Off / और यान उड़ गया
Lorenzo Latrofa & Massimiliano di Lauro on Animating the Story of Migration & Exile
Crossing the Desert with Malena Salazar Maciá
America Under Siege: Creating An Alternate History with Dean A Brink
May Chong on Managing the Scorching Mess of Social Media
“Upshot takes place soon after the end of the Guatemalan civil war…” — Drema Deòraich
Making Sense of Absurd, All-Encompassing, Terrifying Super-Capitalism with Dennis Mombauer
I.S. Heynen on Building a Post-Apocalyptic World Where a Company of Assassins Reigns Supreme
Crowdfunding Status on Patreon
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Deborah L. Davitt on Writing “The Ghost Teas of Sakruajima” and Researching Folk Magic in the Sengoku Jidai Period in Japan
“The Ghost Teas of Sakruajima” is a ghost story about love, loss, denial, and acceptance, in Warring States Japan.
Making Sense of Absurd, All-Encompassing, Terrifying Super-Capitalism with Dennis Mombauer
I really like the concept of selling and trading unusual, immaterial or even metaphysical goods and explore this idea of an absurd, all-encompassing, terrifying super-capitalism.
Kirby; Or Everything I Needed to Know About Consumption
I’m buried in hypocrisy, to look like a pink and innocent toy, acte clair — the good guy, a pillow for those in need to lie on, but instead bequeathing labor, when working hard is just a yarn that was told, to those not too old in the brain to mold
Talking in Circles
The automatons in the manufacturing plant express themselves with lightning, / send messages in blue and white fire from one end of the warehouse / to the other.
Social Media Manticore
Now you rest, I chuckle, / the world kindles and kills / itself without us.
The Kiss of the Water
Lima needed clean water, which brought life and no more stomach worms, like ones swimming in the unhealthy pit in the mining settlement. Although they boiled the water, it was always contaminated with metal scraps. Lima got up with the empty wineskin in her hand and started on her way back home.
May Chong on Managing the Scorching Mess of Social Media
A manticore is saddled with managing the scorching mess of a social media page her boss has managed to get himself involved in
I. S. Heynen on Building a Post-Apocalyptic World Where a Company of Assassins Reigns Supreme
The idea of a government trying to cut down on illegal acts of violence by legalizing them within strict parameters deeply spooked me.
Glimmerglimpse
when she tells you her secrets and desires / and whispers promises as the sun extinguishes / and the city’s luminance seeps into her skin
Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth is wonderful, to say the least. I was not expecting to feel as much as I did, going into this book. Gideon and Harrow made me laugh almost every page, which I did not expect from a book about necromancers; and they made me bawl my eyes out by the end. Go read the book, you won’t be disappointed.
Lorenzo Latrofa & Massimiliano di Lauro on Animating the Story of Migration & Exile
Between 1890 and 1970, it is estimated that around 30 to 40 million Italians left to seek their fortune around the world. But what seems to have been completely forgotten is that the emigration stories of today and yesterday have many points in common.
Litmus
I am but an inconspicuous bubble, / at the tip of this burette. / failing all your titrations, / as I grow/ towards your eyes, / speck by speck.
The Shuttle Took Off / और यान उड़ गया
From the far-off lands, / arrived they / by the shuttles so swift, / more than / the feet of light / anxious, sick and shaken / all they had, was / battle and brutality / ego and guile / and mushroom clouds / to fight.
This Extraordinary Being
The best of science fiction and fantasy is a balm to our wounded soul — our dream to reach the stars, become a caring and responsible star-faring civilization. And it wouldn’t be possible for me to indulge in this fantastic endeavor without your generous contribution and support.
Crossing the Desert with Malena Salazar Maciá
“The Kiss of the Water” tells the story of Lima, a woman in search of water in the desert. It has to be purified water, but this is controlled by the Daonais, or masters who manage large corporations. Desperate, Lima is willing to do anything to get what she needs.