The Arcana Issue
No. 19, summer 2023
**Please note: Orders will be fulfilled beginning January 3 when we return from our Office Holiday Shutdown. ALL DISCOUNTS WILL BE HONORED AS ADVERTISED**
This issue of F(r)iction was written in the stars. The stories within coexist in the past, present, and future, linking ambitions to loss and opportunity to bygone moments. There is magic here, and horror, and hope that’s welled deep within ourselves or discovered in the vast, inky darkness of space. In these pages, we explore the powerful knowledge in the Tarot, and the sublime terror of the unknown, revealing time and time again that there is something truly supernatural and extraordinary lighting our way on this journey of life.
Join us for our Pioneering Writer Feature with the Nebula, Hugo, and Locus Award-winning speculative fiction author Rebecca Roanhorse, who brings us a truly stunning graphic short about finding one’s meaning among the stars. Dig into K-Ming Chang’s tale “Divination” about looking into the future and Charlie Claire Burgess’s tarot-infused creative nonfiction “Fools and Believers.” For poetry, relish the vibrant language and divine diction of “Toward Light,” our Community Feature with Writers Without Margins, and a suite of poetry by Taisia Kitaiskaia. And there’s even a cheeky otherworldly quiz by Holly Black to kick the issue off.
Arcana is anything mystical, paranormal, or uncanny. This issue exists to bear witness to events that defy explanation, to catalogue experiences that deny objectivity, and to illuminate the unknowable.
Please Note:
- We may split large print orders into multiple packages. We are not responsible for any import tax you may be charged to receive your order.
All proceeds support our nonprofit mission to change lives through the power of storytelling! For more information about our parent nonprofit, please visit BrinkLit.org.
In this issue:
- Editor’s Note, Words By Dani Hedlund, Art By Zach Meyer
- So You Think Your Wife Might Have Been Stolen Away to Faerie? A Quiz, Words By Holly Black, Art By Sam Dow
- Whale Eye, Words By Dan Tremaglio, Art By Braeden Sherrell
- Three Poems, Words By Taisia Kitaiskaia, Art By Hailey Renee Brown
- Every Woman Is A Haunted House, Words By Audrey R. Hollis, Art By Carly A-F
- Fools and Believers, Words By Charlie Claire Burgess, Art By Enrica Angiolini
- Where She Keeps His Handprints, Words By Melissa Bowers, Art By Nicole Sagal (AKA qiorno)
- The Domesticated Satan: A Guide, Words By Laura Maylene Walter, Art By Braden Maxwell
- Farewell, Space Drifter, Words By K. B. Carle, Art By Julian Mateus
- Toward Light: A Community Feature with Writers Without Margins, Words By Barbara Brewster Lewis, Diane Funston, Martin Rodriguez, Stratusfier, Art By Tyler Champion
- From Maiden to Evil Queen in Seven Easy Affirmations, Words By Katrina Smith, Art By Sam Dow
- Divination, Words By K-Ming Chang, Art By Braden Maxwell
- Three Poems, Words By Jessica Kim, Art By Hailey Renee Brown
- Hunting Season, Words By Stephanie Ogrodnik, Art By Daniel Reneau
- Starlit Journeys: A Pioneer Writer Feature with Rebecca Roanhorse, Words By Rebecca Roanhorse, Art By Isabel Burke
- Bone, Words By Jillian Smith, Art By Kayla Rader
- The Great Merlan Dies in Agony Live on Stage!, Words By Chelsea Sutton, Art By Bradley Clayton