As you may have noticed, we are somewhat behind schedule when it comes to releasing new issues of Scheherezade’s Bequest. There has been so much going on for us behind the scenes–where once our staff was based in the US, the UK, and Australia, now we are in the US, Malaysia, and France. At the rate some of us move around the globe, we are lucky to have an issue at all. But we do! And we also have an important announcement to make, so be sure to read all the way to the end of this short editorial or you’ll miss it.
Before we go on, we must offer our congratulations to JoSelle Vanderhooft, whose poem Blood, Snow, Birch, and Underworld, which appeared in our December 2011 issue, was nominated for the Rhysling Award (http://sfpoetry.com/rhysling.html), given by the Science Fiction Poetry Association for best genre poetry. Well done, JoSelle!
In this issue of Scheherezade’s Bequest we’ve got five short stories and three poems, two of which are by the same author. Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingdé’s villanelles were too good to pass by, so we’ve opened and closed with his Stone Soup, based on the German folktale of the same name, and Drakestail Sea, from the French folktale Drakestail. In between them, we have tales of a dauntless girl and a curious moon, a steadfast boy and a sister who could not keep faith with her brothers, and in the middle of it all we find ourselves spellbound. We also have one of fantasist Paul Willems’ stories in this issue–The Colors of the World–as translated by Edward Gauvin.
Companion updates to Cabinet des Fées include Germany’s Märchen Straße — An Introduction to the German Fairy Tale Road by Amanda White, who shares images of her travels up Grimms’ road, Planting a Magical Garden by Theodora Goss, who reveals the magical and mythic properties of the plants that might be found in a witch’s garden, and finally, Virginia M. Mohlere has given us audio reviews of Soulless by Gail Carriger and Hounded by Kevin Hearne.
Before we make our announcement, we’d like to remind you that Demeter’s Spicebox is still open to submissions. Please consider joining us in our fairy tale experiment!
We’d also like to let you know that Cinderella Jump Rope Rhymes is now available in digital editions from the publisher’s website, and from Amazon. Remember, half of the proceeds from this chapbook are being donated to animal charities of our choice (you can read more about our cause here). Please support us if you can!
So here we are. We are somewhat sad to announce that there will only be one more online issue of Scheherezade’s Bequest following this one. We have been offering fairy tale fiction and poetry online, for free, since 2005, sometimes on a schedule and sometimes not. (Oops!) We remain very grateful to those of you who have been long-time readers, to our new readers, and to everyone who has let us know how much our fiction and poetry means to them. This is not, however, a goodbye to Scheherezade’s Bequest. The real announcement is that we are taking SB into print!
We have decided to temporarily cease the online publication in order to focus our efforts on a three issue print volume of Scheherezade’s Bequest. We are finalising the guidelines now, and will be opening to submissions on the first of July. We’ll be looking for fiction, graphic fiction, poetry, and artwork. These will be themed issues; for our first issue will be looking at the Loathly Lady, and how our perceptions of beauty are shaped. We’ll post more information in June, before opening to subs.
We hope you enjoy this current issue of SB and look forward to the next.
Until then,
Erzebet, Donna, Virginia, Nin