About the Editors
Editor-in-Chief
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 Pebble Lake Review, The American Poetry Journal, Arsenic Lobster, The Same and Verse Daily.
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.
Fickle Muses Blog
June 17, 2007
The word “chimera” has been coming to my attention a lot lately. I find it interesting that a word can have such diverse connotations. In mythology, a Chimera, or Chimaera, refers to a beast with a goat’s body, lion’s head, and a snake’s tail – oh, and it breathes flames. Genetically speaking, it refers to two dissimilar tissues in one being or two or more species in one body. People, plants, or animals exhibiting hermaphroditism are also referred to as being chimerical. I wonder at the notion of calling someone with mixed male and female traits a word equated with a monster. But then that is a topic for another blog, on a another Web site, far, far away.
The third meaning of chimera, the one that’s been tickling at the edge of my fancy, is the one that means fantasy, or according to MSN Encarta, “a wildly unrealistic idea or hope or a completely impractical plan.” How this word evolved from a mutated creature to a vain dream, I am not sure, but my own chimera does seem at times as mythical and unfeasible as a goat with a lion’s head. Yet, I keep trudging the writer’s path, honing my craft, submitting manuscripts, fighting off imaginary monsters burping up all-too-real fire and threatening to turn me to cinder and ash. The connection of these definitions is tenuous, but one I’m determined to make, for no other reason than poetic irony. I’m also determined to mispronounce the word with a “sh” sound instead of a hard “k,” clearing-of-the-throat, sound. I was tickled – before I realized my mistake – with the onomatopoeic quality of the word when I thought it sounded like shimmering. I imagined a desire, an unrequited dream, on the horizon, wavering like a mirage above the hot tar. It’s very romantic, if not quixotic, to think of a fantasy as a fire-breathing dragon made of incongruent parts. The real question is this: if you do manage to sneak up on it – what the heck do you do next?
– Leslie Fox
June 15, 2007
Today, it's been one year since Fickle Muses went online to start collecting submissions (6 months since our first weekly issue). To our readers and contributors, thanks for your support!
– Sari
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
May 2007 entries
April 2007 entries
March 2007 entries
February 2007 entries
January 2007 entries