New Fantasy Fiction: Innocence and Experience
An origin story for a hero of an epic-in-progress…
By Jamie K. Wilson
Across the green, a scream shattered the morning stillness. Bayliss’s hand slipped, his blade neatly severing the delicate swan’s leg he had carved out of an oak bole, cutting deep into the meaty part of his left hand.
It was Lysele. She screamed again, a high sobbing sound. Bayliss dropped the wood, jammed his bleeding hand into his rough woolen apron pocket, and ran, across the green, past the blacksmith’s, the well, the taverna.
By the time he arrived, half the village was there, elderly Fran holding Lysele as she sobbed. Lysele’s husband Artos stared blankly at the south-facing window, the cheerful flowers below it trampled and fouled. Bayliss gazed at the line of slime from the garden’s edge down to the undefined beginnings of the swamp a hundred yards or more to the south, where ancient cypress trees draped black branches into the murky waters. For a moment, he did not understand.
What ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Can Teach Us About Winning The Culture War
Big budget superhero films can still have emotional depth and thematic substance
By Josh Lieblein
With Avengers: Infinity War, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has actually reached two milestones. Not only does this film complete the evolution of the comic book movie from niche action flick that barely respected its own source material to movie industry staple, it makes the case that a summer blockbuster can deliver a complex emotional experience.
Even if you haven’t seen the film, you probably know that the deaths are particularly resonant (to the point that there has been a proliferation of “[X], I don’t feel so good” memes, which show characters from different franchises fading away), that Josh Brolin’s Thanos is the Marvel villain that we’ve all been waiting for, and that even with the loads and loads of characters, nobody feels overlooked or half-baked.
How the Star Wars Sequels Could Have Succeeded
Use the Force, Disney
By David Churchill Barrow
When did Star Wars “jump the shark?” Compared to Star Trek, right out of the gate…. Star Trek was from the very beginning back in the mid-sixties a reasonable and optimistic extrapolation into the future of the historical course of American well-ordered liberty.
New Fiction: Ishka’s Garden
An Honorable Mention from The Heroes Half of The Contest
By Bokerah Brumley
Beneath the alabaster arches over my narrow windows, something flutters against my curtains, interrupting my reading. I squint toward the sound as I rub my earpoints. They’re sore from concentration. I’ve spent my half-day studying the techniques recorded in the leather-bound journal of a master arborist.
A tree in my garden needs pruning before the Moontide festival. The tree that I’ve come to think of as Seesha’s Tree. My little friend will be so pleased with her new home. Fesh designed it well and picked the perfect branch. The two of them favor my Mergone and not many Fae can say a pair of the winged creatures live nearby.
New Liberty Island Novel: Sidequest: In Realms UnGoogled by Frank J. Fleming
Check out the first chapter!
By Frank Fleming
He dazzled you with the science fiction adventure Superego, Liberty Island’s debut title. Now Frank Fleming is back with a fresh, innovative take on fantasy. Order Sidequest today, now available on Amazon.
Right In The Childhood
By Josh Lieblein
An Honorable Mention in the 2017 Spring Shock Trigger Warning Writing Contest.
Catharsis and Thanatos in Retromingent Critical Theory
Michael Moore tries his hand at philosophy. It doesn’t end well.
By Vishnu Lorax
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