Editorial

Welcome to the second annual All Crime issue of Mythaxis! Not only that, but the capstone issue of my fifth year as editor of the zine, a fact that gives me no small flicker of pride.

This time around we aim to give you a bit of everything. We have stories ranging from the modern to the classic mode, with Jess Simms’ cut-throat corporate hostilities at one extreme and Arlen Feldman’s escapades on the carnival circuit at the other. We arguably experiment with form: Michael Betterndorf’s quartet of character studies tells a tetraptych tale; David Sheskin’s break-neck bulletin reduces people to their base statistics and serves them up as a monoparagraphic mélange. And courtesy of Kirk Bueckert and P.R. O’Leary we have, respectively, a monster that surely cannot really be and the possibility of monstrousness we all have the potential to embody.

Add to this a smattering of opinion, with Bill Ryan’s latest longform essay and my own short reviews of other crime fic published around the web in 2024, and I’m sure you’ll find something to keep your mind and hands off killing the in-laws during this festive season! So let me hold you back no more (or, as the case may be, begin) – go forth and enjoy!

…

…oh, hmm, hello, well, since you’re still here: I’m going to break with untold years of Mythaxis tradition and engage in a little shameless self-promotion. And the reason? Well, almost exactly one month ago, I learned that my first dedicated crime short story had been accepted into the forthcoming anthology Motives Unknown, featuring twelve stories by authors with a connection to the north of England. It’s to be released by plucky indie publishers Dead Ink Books in May 2025, and you can check out the cover (and maybe even order a copy) here. I’m sure I wouldn’t be so crass as to review my own work in next year’s crime-fic round up…

…well, reasonably sure.

Anyway, I love crime writing, and it’s as much a privilege to add to what’s out there personally as it is to present to you the pieces in this very issue by our talented contributors. So enough from me, and over to them!