Mel Anastasiou

Our journey begins under the gaze of The Faery Godmother by cover artist Ashley Rose Goentoro. We step into a ghost story 'Man with Golden Helmet' by feature author Ren e Sarojini Saklikar. Dawn Lo in 'Little Snowflake Girls' and Weiwei Xu in 'Chimera' introduce us to young people exploring meaningful questions of identity and belonging. Like trailside inukshuks, memories pile up and tumble away in 'Moons of Saturn' by James Dorr, 'Practising the Art of Forgetting' by Soramimi Hanarejima, and 'Starry Nights' by David Milne. AJ Lee, in 'What Kind of Story', and Magpie winners Charlene Kwiatkowski, Maria Ford, and Cara Waterfall delight with their bewitching words. Solutions to two very different puzzles emerge with Susan Pieters in 'Hoax' and Cameron MacDonald in 'Mourgadze'. Whether by way of closet or carriage, keeping safe means keeping up appearances for Frankie Ray in 'The Sleuth with the Platinum Hair' by Mel Anastasiou and Toinette in 'The Shepherdess: Versailles' by JM Landels.

In this issueSavoury short fiction from Tomson Highway, Jakob Drud, Kim Harbridge, Hannah Van Didden, Dave Gregory, NRM Roshak and R Daniel Lester. Poetry from Erin Kirsh and Peter Norman. Further adventures of Frankie Ray in The Extra from Mel Anastasiou and a brand new Allaigna novella from JM Landels. Plus the winners of the Bumblebee Flash Fiction Contest and the SiWC runner up, capped off with a chilling tale from Kris Sayer.

In this issue: Experience the motley horrors of World War II, as featured author JJ Lee reunites us with his man of mystery and monsters in 'The Man in the Long Black Coat: Bekker', and Robin Malcolm unearths long-buried secrets in 'The Bumblebee's Daughter'. The secrets continue in field and forest on Canada's west coast with Chuck Lim's 'The Red Tiger' and KT Wagner's 'Cabin Fever'. Meanwhile, appearances intrigue and deceive in Adam Fout's 'Black Glass' and FJ Bergmann's 'Yellow Paint'. Magpies are the only birds that can recognize themselves in a mirror. Fitting that our Magpie Award for Poetry winners -- Susan Haldane, Jack Waldheim, and Roxanna Bennett -- captivate us with their reflections on humanity. A journey through the generations awaits vampires and travellers alike, as Tyner Gillies in 'The Lord of Lawn Ornaments' and Susan Pieters in 'The Map According to Me' show us that, indeed, wherever you go, there you are. And intrepid adventurers seek their fortunes, whether by horseback to Paris in 'The Shepherdess' by JM Landels, or by Model A to California in The Extra: Frankie Ray Goes to Hollywood by Mel Anastasiou.

In this issue: A chilly cover from Britt-Lise Newstead envelopes JJ Lee's Christmas ghost story, 'Desdemone', while Misha Handman keeps us warm through the dark night. AJ Odasso constructs a Frankenstein tale for the new world; Spencer Stevens returns in the Seven Swans Mysteries, and Allaigna's Song continues; plus fiction from Anat Rabkin, Soramimi Hanarajimi, and Susan Pieters, along with the winners of the 2017 Hummingbird Prize for Flash Fiction

In this issue: Take a ride down the river with kc dyer on Akem's Seabus. Stop along the way for haunting fiction from Patrick Bollivar, Brandon Crilly, and Erin Kirsh, with a ghost at the end of the bed for Mel Anastasiou's Stella Ryman, and a lighter side of hell from FJ Bergmann. Magpie poetry award winners Oak Morse, Leah Komar, and Glenn Pape take us to three different kinds of hell; Susan Pieters and Rina Piccolo carry us to the stars in the past and future; and Greg Brown brings us back to where the heart is, while the young hero of Allaigna's Song by JM Landels get ever farther from home.

Thirty Days Towards an Extraordinary Volume. The Writer's Boon Companion is a quiet, thoughtful chap, offering daily hints and exercises to support your narrative along its road to completion. You'll also find generous servings of motivation and philosophy to help you forge ahead over thirty days of drafting towards a completed novel.