The editor has often (too often) argued the case that speculative fiction's strength is in letting authors tell stories that could also work in a more mundane context, just in ways that strict adherence to realism wouldn't allow. However, that startlingly hot take carries the implication of Going Big, of souping up normality with monsters or lasers or magic swords - instead, as Teresa Milbrodt shows, a touch of fantasy can serve to highlight the everyday experience instead of seeking to reach beyond it.
There's always a place for epistolary fiction at Mythaxis – there's something special about a story which is also the document itself. Hope I haven't written that before. Anyway, now Steven Genise adds to our little cache of documentation. Have you ever woken up to find a message waiting for you? Evidence of existence going on, in a sense, without you?
Stories change with the telling, even those that find their origin in actual events. Who tells the story? Why do they tell it? Who do they tell it to? Carl Walmsley tells the story now. Probably it never really happened. Probably you think you've heard it before, or one very like it. But a little change can keep the oldest of stories alive seemingly forever.
'What is this thing you humans call X?' A question structure as old as Star Trek itself, if not even older. Not to continue harping on about how great spec-fic is, but is there a better way to explore emotions than through someone who, supposedly, has none? Emma Burnett adds more bittersweet evidence to the pile.
Things are going pretty great these days, right? Well, maybe if you're one of those cockroaches waiting to inherit the earth they are, since the upright primates are either actively making that happen or passively letting it. 'Que sera, sera' as they say - or, as Rob Gillham might put it, 'Que sera, Seratoxetine'…
Will there come a time when, desperate for insights about contemporary speculative fiction, we won't have to turn to the flesh-and-blood likes of Mattia Ravasi but will instead enjoy the tender educational services of no-longer-artificial intelligences? Hopefully not, because who knows what effect that will have on us – though Julianne Pachico might have a few ideas.
As is our wont, time to wrap up our penultimate issue of the year with several recommendations for stories appearing in other venues around the web. Much like Mythaxis, the focus is on smaller magazines where the work can be read for free at the click of a link – so what are you waiting for? Click here, then go click somewhere else! A handful of very different rewards await…