MYTHOLOG is a paying market that operates not-for-profit. It is a quarterly collection of stories and poems, essays and reviews, writers and editors, illustrations and artists, that find myth in places odd and ordinary.
We aren't hardwired to genre or media. We'll publish things that fall between the cracks and perhaps stick their claws up to horrify or tantalize us, literature on the mythskirts of a genre. We're interested in anything that is part of the modern mythos or part of the construction of myth, from the ancient and traditional to contemporary culture, whether it be dark, bright, erotic, mysterious, adventurous, dystopian, folkloric, or fantastic. We define myth as universality of theme and story. The thread of continuity for us is mythic development.
Myth, for us, does not exist merely as a local and historical category of literature. Rather, it is the presence of a universal theme, even when the author decides on local and historical contexts. Myth isn't simply contained in particular explicit elements such as the gods, the sidhe, or unicorns. Myth can make use of or be completely devoid of such magic elements.
We do want living stories. While truly personal writing evokes universal themes, we're not interested in literature that is so "personal" that the universal is buried alive, only to be divined by the enlightened gravedigger. The genius of myth is that it persists, because it typifies, liturgizes, and recapitulates the human condition. That is what we look for, publish, and extol in MYTHOLOG.
Do remember, if mortal you are, that every house stands on the borders of Fairyland, do you but look to see it. -- Grey Walker
Genesis and Journey
MYTHOLOG was founded in October 2002 by Asher Black and Clear Glass, released its first (Winter) issue in December of that year, and became a paying market in Autumn 2004. Authors like Brian Ames, and J.R. Cain, as well as Terry Dartnall have included our stories in their anthologies. MYTHOLOG is listed at Ralan and Spicy Green Iguana, as well as Speculative Literature Foundation. Our fiction has been mentioned in Broad Universe Catalog and Eidolon. For other respected links, see our Links Page. For more about our past, see our Issues Archive.
With peer-judged submissions, high production values, and high standards of professional ethics and copyright adherence, MYTHOLOG demonstrates the relative ease with which electronic publication may equal or surpass the professional qualities of print publications. Furthermore, breaking some assumptions about professional publication itself, MYTHOLOG does not pay writers by the word, but insists that the length of a piece of writing should be that demanded by the story. We buy stories, not words. Since it did not pay writers during its first two years, MYTHOLOG also demonstrated the capacity of free publication to rival the professional qualities of paid publication. Finally, in regard to censorship, MYTHOLOG has taken a simple stance: The internet, like a library, is not a "safe" place. It's a place that evokes and represents the whole range of human experience. While we censor for literary sophistication, we do not censor for the implications of the content. MYTHOLOG is a free speech electronic publication.
See also, the MYTHOLOG About Us page at aboutus.org and the feedback at StumbleUpon.
"Dreams." She spoke almost in a whisper. "I dreamt oddly all night."
"About any particular thing?"
-- Feeding Time by Brian Ames (Autumn 2003 issue)
Summary
Our Mission
The Process