Septembers's picks from our fellow magazines.
- The Pitch Pipe Forest - Barbara A. Barnett
A young musician and her sister must navigate a mystical, musically tuned forest to create a melody capable of opening a portal, hoping to rescue their mother who vanished in this enigmatic world, where each tree's note holds the key to a mysterious realm.
- Interlocking Grains of Light - LM Zaerr
He rubbed black sand over me with a cloth, over the wavy hair pulled back from my face and falling to my shoulders, over my arms reaching out, one higher than the other, over my legs, one stepping forward. He lifted me easily, though I was three times his weight, moving me from standing to lying to resting on my side so he could better reach each part of me. He worked with finer and finer sand, then pumice paste, and then soft leather until I stood clean and polished, alive in interlocking grains of light.
- "A Hero's Tale" - E. Florian Gludovacz
“Your most expensive beers! Line them up!” I examined each bottle closely, paying special attention to the caps. I chose the flashiest six and pushed away the rest.
I opened the first bottle, carefully setting the cap aside, and emptied it in three long draughts that soothed my parched throat.
"The name’s Cormyn. THE Cormyn, legendary hero, though times have been hard and heroing isn’t what it used it be. Heck, I didn't even want to be a hero, I just wanted to visit exciting places."
"So what’s with the bottle caps?"
"Ah, now that’s a story. I’ll tell it to you while I finish my beers..."
- A Spell Forgotten - P.H. Low
"It is your fault, they say, when you lose your magic."
- DEATH UPON THE TURQUOISE ROAD - Gregory Mele
Here, near the Road’s end, the caravansary of Pàekilâr lay awash in the smells and decadence of civilization, if few of its luxuries. A copper gong set atop the adobe lookout tower clanged, marking the midday hour, as if the flames cast by the Sun God’s burning shield to bake the moisture from a man weren’t sign enough. From within the dirty-white walls came the soft patter of a heavy, snakeskin drum and the hissing of rattles, accompanied by the agitated orgling of a male llama in rut.