In our feature story, ‘The Storm Tastes of Freedom’ by Finnian Burnett, and in ‘Chardi Kala for the Modern Dirtbag’ by Kiran Basra, unlikely heroines fight through different realities for the lives they deserve.

Deception, skulduggery, and shifting personae abound in ‘The Suicide Mission’ by KR Segriff, and in ‘Fire at the Castello’ by Mel Anastasiou, the first instalment of a brand-new Monument Studios Mystery starring our favourite silver-screen sleuth, Frankie Ray.

Horror writers EC Dorgan and Patrick Barb, back for encore performances, continue to make us question identities and reality in ‘The Myth of the Familiar’ and ‘Playdate’, while family myths and truths loom large in ‘The Orangery’ by Mark Gallacher and Part II of ‘Their Grandfather’s Chair’ by JM Landels.

This issue is also jam-packed with contest-winning heroes, from Michael Carson, whose ‘Darth Vader vs Testicular Cancer’ kept the Jack Whyte Storyteller Award judges Diana Gabaldon and Donald Maass in stitches, to the sparkling Kingfisher poets Sandra Kasturi, Angelle McDougall, Nicole Moen, and Callista Markotich, to the Raven Contest high-flyers Shanley Kearnley and Emily Groot.

And finally, we bring you a small, silent hero who makes his way through a strange and beautiful world in Part II of The Drift, written and drawn by Jordan Bray.

Gird your loins, brave readers, and step into universes of wonder!

About the Author

JM Landels, writer and illustrator of the Allaigna's Song trilogy and co-founder of Pulp Literature wears far too many hats. The strange mix of a degree in Mediaeval English Literature, a misspent youth fronting alternative punk bands Mad Seraphim and Stiff Bunnies, and a career as a childbirth educator and doula informs her work. These days, when she isn't writing, editing or drawing, she can be found heading up the Academie Cavallo School of Mounted Combat in Langley BC, where she swings swords and rides horses for fun and profit.

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