THE LATEST ATTEMPT, by Devan Barlow, artwork by Miguel Santos   One vial of tears gathered from the milliner in the town’s least-haunted shop   I must have my memories back, please let this be the recipe that finally works   Two hours of pestle-work with shed swan pinions and crystallized moon glow   So […]

THE ELDER’S LULLABY, by Ngô Bình Anh Khoa, artwork by Andrea Alamanno   The Elder sits inside her home, Crouched on her creaking chair– Her figure like a vulture’s, which Roosts by the fire there.   Her fingers weave some shadow plays That dance across the room To illustrate her whimsical song, Whose echoes pierce […]

AND ALL THE DEVILS FOLLOW, by Jennifer Crow, art by Gary McClusky     A queen defeated, robes in tatters, crown crushed under the conqueror’s boot, stands with clasped hands before the altar and listens to the devils laugh. Plots beyond humanity’s reach have twined around her, until her world reels before an onslaught of […]

ENCOUNTER AT MONS, by Ann K. Schwader, art by Caterina Gerbasi   (Belgium, 1914)   They’ll tell you angels came, or Arthur rode from Avalon to turn the German tide at our beleaguered trenches.  Naught besides a miracle had saved us — one bestowed all unsuspected.  Yet a few who saw more clearly through that […]

DOORWAYS, by Jennifer Crow, art by Simon Walpole     Touch the wood, rough with age and peeling paint. Sun has poured its afternoon heat into the grain, the brass knocker hot enough to sear flesh. No eye peers at you through the cracked glass of the little window, and beyond you see only darkness, […]