I have an interest in history, be it major world events or simply pop culture history, and I wanted to include things like my love of ’40s music, pop art, vintage food, the moon landing, and yes, even Star Wars, in a single story, but I didn’t know how to pull it off. This story finally came about in an almost accidental way. I’m a life-long insomniac, and I woke up in the middle of the night, so as I sometimes do, I got up to write. The opening line just came to me, and I started free-writing from there, the first draft flowing out of my exhausted mind ..read more

I have a confession to make: I think I’m burning out on writing “Asian American” literature. I know this is wrong of me. I know all writing is political. I know sharing our stories is an important way for us to work past media stereotypes, find each other, and reconstruct our collective histories. I have reread Babel and On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous and the Green Bone Saga over and over, as if by repeated consumption I could etch them beneath my skin ..read more

In this, our final issue of Fantasy Magazine: Short stories by Ruoxi Chen (“Fandom for Witches”) and P.A. Cornell (“Once Upon a Time at the Oakmont”); flash fiction by Sonia Sulaiman (“Negative Theology of the Child from ‘The King of Tars'”) and Wen Yu Yang (“Homecoming”); poetry by Joshua Effiong (“The Equation of Time”) and Adesiyan Oluwapelumi (“music in the garden”); and an essay by PH Low ..read more

As short fiction lovers, anthologies hold a special place for us. Anthologies over the decades have been the battlegrounds of political movements, as well as markers for shifts in genre communities. We grew up reading them, and we still see them as wonderful places: they often contain amazing work, and interesting things are still happening by virtue of their publication. Nowadays, editors/publishers are creating spaces for a broader range of perspectives through anthologies – bringing out books with an awesome array of stories ..read more

This story had two distinct points of inspiration. The first was that I wanted to write about a sort of Faustian deal but from a new perspective. It doesn’t make sense to me that a malevolent entity would separate humans from animals; at some point, if you’re so far above the mortal world, wouldn’t humans and animals look the same to you? What would a deal like this look like if it were offered to a wolf, and why would a wolf take it ..read more

In this issue of Fantasy Magazine: Short stories by Davida Kilgore (“My Dear, My Love”), Hana Lee (“Bari and the Resurrection Flower”); flash fiction by Joshua Lim (“Voices of the Kings”) and B. Pladek (“The Runners”); poetry by Ubong Johnson (“Kumbaya”) and Marie Brennan (“Damnatio Memoriea”); and an essay by AT Greenblatt. Enjoy ..read more

In this issue we’re proud to bring you short stories by Lowry Poletti (“Dread of the White Dog”) and Sam Kyung Yoo (“Set Yourself on Fire”); flash fiction by Angela Liu (“The Cursed Universe Inside Your Eye”) and Alex V. Cruz (“Bacá”); poetry by Zaynab Iliyasu Bobi (“Brief History of Monsterification”) and Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe (“A Mortal’s Guide to Attaining Godhood in the Era of Chaos”); and an interview with a few of the many anthologists doing interesting work in the field. Enjoy ..read more

Many years ago, a writing instructor said that in order to write a story, you need to figure out who the story belongs to. He was talking about the narrator, the lens of the story. I thought it was good writing advice at the time ..read more

What came easiest was portraying Bari’s complicated, tangled emotions of love and resentment for her family. I think children of immigrants, particularly eldest children, will experience my story differently from everyone else. It’s a feeling that’s hard to put into words, but I tried ..read more

Most of my writing is fictionalized autobiography, and as I’m getting older I cull through my life experiences looking for my more interesting dramas. I was thinking of my first marriage and how my husband left me high and dry, but he was still able to get U.S. citizenship. I moved to New York as we were going through our divorce and everything I touched turned to gold ..read more