Best of FM 2009?
It’s that time again, when Leslie and I will be going back over the past year’s poetry & fiction to select our nominees for online & small press awards. Which are your 2009 favorites so far?
Electric Literature
Literary zines providing content in a variety of formats I’ve heard of. Literary zine paying writers $1,000 per story? This you’ve got to check out: http://flavorwire.com.
Originally posted June 3, 2007
I’m realizing that I prefer myth incorporated contemporarily in fiction to fiction set in a mythological or historical setting. I read and accept all submissions with an open mind and attempt to have a balanced array of work on Fickle Muses. However, after reading the wide range of fiction that has come to me, I find myself undeniably drawn to a certain style. That doesn’t mean possible contributors should be wary of submitting fantasy or stories in historic settings. Some of my most beloved authors are J.R.R. Tolkien, George McDonald, and even C.S. Lewis, but what they did was fresh at the time they wrote it. Making the old Greek and Roman myths original is difficult, and perhaps easier to make new when set in present day. In my opinion, too many writers keep trying to reinvent Tolkien. We all borrow from other authors – we can’t help it – we build on what came before. For example, Lewis was inspired by McDonald’s other world in “Lilith,” accessed through a mirror in the attic, and used that idea when creating his magic wardrobe into Narnia (I can’t believe I just said Narnia on our Web site – sorry Sari).
What I would really love to see is more fiction that evokes less known mythologies. Joy Harjo wrote a story based on the Native American cosmology of the woman who fell from the sky. Ursula K. Le Guinn made the werewolf myth brand spanking new in “The Wife’s Tale,” and drew from Taoist principles in “The Earthsea Quartet.” Robert Olen Butler weaves Vietnamese myth and European fairy tale into his collection of short stories: “A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain.” Ana Castillo, in her novel, “So Far From God,” incorporates La Lorona and other Southwestern folkloric myth into her dysfunctional family saga.
So many of the old myths (Greek and Roman), while well loved, have been overused. Therefore, the challenge before us is to create a new mythically cognizant style, or genre as Sari refers to it – something that looks back at the classics, while, if set historically, plays with anachronism rather than attempting to imitate a certain time and place. Of course, this is only my opinion and will most likely stir many of you on to write the opposite – just to show me. And if you do (show me) my work here will be done.
– Leslie Fox
Originally posted April 5, 2007
According to Joseph Campbell, there are three phases to the hero’s journey in all great mythological stories: Separation, Initiation and Return. Looking at the novel I’ve recently started, I can see that the three phases are in place – I did this subconsciously. My character receives a call (literally), goes on the road where she goes through several rites of passage, and then returns home a stronger woman. What if my character didn’t come home or never left home in the first place – would I have a story? I’ve read that there has to be trouble for a story to happen. I suppose my character could get the call and let the machine pick it up – just stay home wondering what would have happened had she gone on the journey; watch American Idol and eat Sara Lee cheesecake. Not much of a story, I admit.
Years ago, I was working on a story about a rabid dog (I know, I know). I was trying to figure out which of my characters should shoot the dog, when I was introduced to “The Writer’s Journey,” by Christopher Vogler, based on Campbell’s philosophy. From Vogler’s list of archetypes, I could spot my hero, mentor, trickster, etc. According to Vogler, it was the hero who should face death as initiation – how could I have missed it? When I sent the story to an editor, she said it was cliché (imagine!). I’ve realized since then, that my hero did not have to “shoot the dog” to go through an initiation. Often an inner conflict is a more dramatically satisfying rite of passage than a spectacular one.
– Leslie Fox
Originally posted March 25, 2007
I was delighted when Sari asked me to take on the role of fiction editor. I hope that my background will add to the texture of Fickle Muses. Although I have a basic knowledge of classic mythology, my interests lie most profoundly in third world legend and storytelling (that includes the Southwest.) As a child in Costa Rica and Guatemala, I heard tales with both indigenous and African origination. I read The Arabian Nights, Robin Hood, Zorro, Bible stories and Grimm’s fairy tales with equal relish. I’ve studied Native American writing, Southern, African American and 18th Century Gothic and “Oriental” novels, as well as post-colonial fictions from India, Korea, Japan, New Zealand and the Caribbean. In my fiction, I lean toward the mythic with a hint of magic realism and a propensity toward symbolism. As far as submissions go, what I will look for is good story telling. I want to be swept away by voice and character into another world, whether contemporary, historical or fantastic. As a grad student, I taught three semesters of creative writing. I gained more from those classes than from all of the workshops I’ve attended combined. I know that reading your submissions and deciding which stories should be published will be an extension of this learning process for me and I’m honored to be trusted in that capacity.
– Leslie Fox
Originally published January 26, 2007
When I was mulling over what to call this myth magazine a couple years ago, my search was centered around one question: What kind of name would express mythic arts without also expressing a limitation to one mythic tradition?
This led to a series of ridiculously long, dull titles (“Journal of Poetry and Fiction on Myth and Legend,” among the worst). For a while I was stumped, until one day “Fickle Muses” popped into my head. Of course, it completely violates the second condition of the question, coming as it does from the Greek/Roman traditions. But as modern myth has made the muses more the gods of art than of ancient Greece, I thought I could get away with it.
At first, I just thought Fickle Muses sounded neat, but since then I’ve given the title more thought. Aside from the obvious association for artists, the term has an interesting relevance to mythic arts. Even the ancient texts within themselves are full of contradictions, and every generation has new twists to contribute to the old tales – religiously sanctioned or not. The resulting quagmire transforms victims to heroes, tyrannical regimes to prophesied saviors, gods to demons.
Perhaps the muses are presenting us with paths as diverse as the people who follow them. Then again, maybe they’re just messing with us.
– Sari
introducing…
Originally posted January 7, 2007
I first had the idea for Fickle Muses about a year and a half ago. I wanted to start a literary journal, but given the abundance of general literary zines, I wanted to fill a niche specific to my interests – thence the emphasis on myth.
I love both writing with myth and reading others’ creations. Some of my favorite writers in the genre are Mary Renault and J.R.R. Tolkien in fiction and Louise Glück and Anne Carson in poetry.
When I launched Fickle Muses, I hadn’t heard of any other journals focused on mythic creative writing. Since then I’ve come across the Journal for Mythic Arts. However, as they take submissions by solicitation only, I hope we serve sufficiently distinct purposes.
Though I began Fickle Muses as a matter of personal interest, I think mythic poetry and fiction can serve broader social purposes as well.
Living in the U.S.A., I’ve seen a narrowing in conceptions of religion over the last couple of decades. While the country remains religiously diverse, it is increasingly viewed as a Christian nation. Moreover, the popular conception of what it means to be religious has narrowed, emphasizing judgment over compassion.
While Fickle Muses is not a religious journal, in re-examining myths – stories born from religious traditions – in contemporary contexts, we explore how those traditions shape the world we live in.
I hope that Fickle Muses will give a sense of the plurality of traditions shaping the modern world and the complexities within each tradition. And, of course, share some funny, titillating, gut-wrenching, entertaining stories.
– Sari
Editor
Sari Krosinsky lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with her partner and two cats.
She received a B.A. in religious studies and a M.A. in creative writing from the University of New Mexico. Her poems have appeared in Poesia, Pebble Lake Review, The American Poetry Journal, Arsenic Lobster, Verse Daily, and others. Fiction Editor
Leslie Fox lived in Central America during her formative years and in New Mexico since the mid-70s – before it was cool.
She writes novels, short stories, plays, screenplays and creative nonfiction. Some of her short fiction has appeared in The Medical Muse, red. a journal of arts, Earth’s Daughters and Earthships: A New Mecca Poetry Collection. She has a M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of New Mexico.Art Editor
Dianne Schlies is a practicing artist and has taught studio art since 1986. She received her M.F.A. from SMU at Dallas, Texas in 1990. She has studied or worked with David Bates, Mel Bochner, Squeak Carnwath, Harmony Hammond, Ed Harris, Joyce Kozloff, Mary Ellen Mark, Duane Michals and Robert Rauschenberg. Schlies presently teaches Drawing and 2-D Design in Albuquerque, New Mexico.