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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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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.
tetrahedral edifices of a sticky rice realm
this is where the dissidents come to rest, here the holy temple / that lets them all have what’s coming to them, for better or for worse—but i am not dead…
Soothsayer Blues
The rich build towers to the sky, harpoon the clouds and tow them to their vineyards, keep them on short chains so they don’t get it in their cotton minds to wander.
Steel Dust
It hardly seems surprising that djinns and djinnis could have apparated to the ancients of this place, the land of purity and dust, dust that settles over everything and can only be disturbed by the clumsy hands of a foreigner
No Folly of the Beast
“Would you not kill him? If you could?” / Shrike watches the horizon as well. “If I met him,” she says, “in the City, on the street, I would put a knife in his eye.”
The Devil Buys Us Cheap and the Devil Buys in Bulk
That was the horror that ran over Carita at the sight of the money. Not a holy horror of the wrath of God. But a petty and sordid horror of losing her job and her reputation for honesty. A worldly horror. A shameful horror. A pitiful, worthless horror when compared to the value of her immortal soul.
“When power is unchecked, particularly in an atmosphere of dehumanization, the results can be horrific”
The U.S., though, continues to be the most powerful nation on Earth; Power does what Power does, and when that power is unchecked, particularly in an atmosphere of dehumanization, the results can be horrific.
The Domovoi
“What’s best for you is have the babe, take the money, and leave. It’s not right, but what other choice do you have?”
How To Lie About SN 2213-1745
Deny she was ever a star, / or, failing that, / deny she ever went nova. / Deny that she burnt / brighter than galaxies, / brilliant in ultraviolet.
The Great Wall of America
Work was the only imperative on the Wall. Work was life: grinding, slogging, muscle- and soul-whittling life. Not-work was German shepherds, an avalanche of guardia abuse, twobafour shifts.
Joining the Navy
I wonder what kind of growing I will choose—the weed pushing up through New York concrete / unrolled in defiance of dog piss-coated shoes declaring home, or the dandelion seed adrift in eddied time, making one. either way, the same flower is carried thousands of miles.
Stories That Can Change the World, or The Mission Statement
The ruling elites have hacked the world’s democracies, people’s constitutions, and public institutions that could have served the interests of the people. And the only way for us to take back control is to tell stories that birth creative thought and positive action.
Domesticated
“Frankly, I’m concerned for my daughter’s safety. Monty explained about the teeth and the nails but how docile is he? He’s already grabbed my daughter’s arm.”
The Moth Spectacular
“Look, Aunt Adele” —/ Then opens her own pocket universe / as she carefully parts puckered thumbs / to push another one inside. / “It’s a secret,” she says, laughing, / tinkling sweet as the Little Prince, / while all our hearts sing the bottom notes.
churning of milky oceans
when an ocean is green, there / is much left to be done / oil to extract, lather on bodies / & skin desiccated by the harsh / grasp of saltwater crystals / drenched in heated milk