Note from the Editors
Amal: We didn't mean to do this.Jess: Honest, we didn't.
Amal: We don't know what power sent us scrabbling about the hungry thirsty roots of unknown soils at midnight, digging out the darkest, most twisted harvest our fingers could grasp -- but here we are, dirt beneath our guilty nails, offering you the doomfullest issue we have ever put together.
Gardens are not what they seem -- still less, gardeners. Ballads are lies, fairy tales are unmade, nursery rhymes pluck truth from out your teeth. High magics mingle with low, hunger tangles betrayal; this is an issue of unhappy endings, of dire warnings unheeded, of flesh and falls and feasting.
Naturally, as is meet and proper, we blame Mike Allen. So much so that we've decided he ought to commandeer our next issue! In exchange, Jess and I will take over Mythic Delirium's next issue and wreak our own havoc upon it. From October 9 to November 9, we will be accepting submissions for Mythic Delirium 22, while Mike accepts submissions for the Winter 2010 issue of Goblin Fruit.
To submit poems to Mythic Delirium, send them to goblindelirium at gmail dot com.
To submit poems to Goblin Fruit, send them to mythicfruit at gmail dot com.
Submission criteria for each 'zine remain unchanged, as do their respective layouts: Mythic Delirium will only be available in print, and Goblin Fruit will only be available online. However, please note that Goblin Fruit will be closed to regular submissions until January 9, 2010. We have a great deal of exciting projects to prepare for next year, and would rather your submissions didn't keep languishing past the five-week mark, so this will be a bit of a rest before we move on. Submissions sent between October 9 and 12 will still be considered.
Jess: In other news, it brings us great delight to announce that eight Goblin Fruit poems garnered Honourable Mentions from Ellen Datlow in the first volume of the Best Horror of the Year anthology. Congratulations to the following:
- Lucinda Lawson, "Night Augur," Winter 2008
- Helen Ogden, "St. Lucia," Winter 2008
- J.C. Runolfson, "Step (and Turn)," Winter 2008
- David Sullivan, "The Ballad of Jenny Greenteeth's Lover," Spring 2008
- Joshua Gage, "Kappa," Summer 2008
- Gwynne Garfinkle, "Scarlet Ode," Summer 2008
- Samantha Henderson, "The Seasons' Dying," Summer 2008
- E. Lily Yu, "What Comes After Rain," Summer 2008
We applaud you all with abandon!
Oliver: This season we bring you the artwork of French illustrator Roseau. Living and working close to the sea, she creates jewel-like miniatures on pieces of handmade paper and teabag packaging. Asked why she loves to work so small, Roseau says, "its a natural way; small sizes invite people to be close to the picture, creating a certain intimacy, favourable to exchange secrets, fragile moments." Certainly there is fragility and intimacy in the organic patterns and textures seen in so many of her drawings, which she describes as "a thread unwinding during the creation." Roseau invokes a diverse range of traditions, including medieval manuscripts, the surrealism of Joan Miro, Paul Klee and Leonora Carrington, and the contemporary revival of journal drawings shared amongst friends over the internet. Often, the drawings include text or parts of phrases. "I don't like sentences, I love words," she explains. "That's why I'm so attracted by poetry. For me, some words are little worlds, by their letters, their sense, their tone, their image. When I was a child I wanted to write stories. Now I would like to be able to write poems, but I think my work is my way of writing." Nature and emotions are an important inspiration, suggesting subtle feelings with her rendering of wind, rock, animal and plant forms. "I love the little red fruits hidden in the forests, like the shy strawberry" she says, "but also the exuberant pineapple! I can't choose only one, because I love the secret almond, and the magical apple, and the pear... the pear!" To view more of Roseau's work, visit her Flickr and her Etsy page.
Amal: Great thanks are also due to the indefatigable Dmitri Zagidulin for web design, and, as ever and always, to our brilliant contributors. Finally, we would like to suggest that you read this issue with someone else near to hand. A loved one, ideally, to draw you near, make you soothing drinks, and comfort you when it gets to be a bit too much. We understand. Should you lack for such a person, know that you have our sympathies, and any cackling you read between the lines is only foreshadowing Mr. Allen's editorial glee.
Have a lovely Fall.