Introducing the June 2024 Issue of Worlds of Possibility

The June 2024 issue of Worlds of Possibility has gone out to paid subscribers, who can get their copy here: https://www.juliarios.com/the-june-2024-issue-of-worlds-of-possibility.

If you would like to buy an individual copy of this issue instead of subscribing, you can do that here: https://www.patreon.com/juliarios/shop/worlds-of-possibility-june-2024-236618

This issue contains seven stories, three poems, three original illustrations, and two reprint illustrations. To the best of my knowledge, I do not use AI.

Table of Contents:

• Princess Mildred and the Dragon: a story by R. J. Howell, 1,450 words. With an illustration by Jenn Reese.
• Fabric Hoard: a poem by Priya Sridhar, 81 lines. 
• So, Your Child Turned Out to Be a Phoenix: A Few Words of Advice and Responses to Common Concerns Expressed by Parents, from Dr. V. Goldfinch, PhD: a story by Stephanie Burgis, 600 words. 
• Little Known Facts About Dragons: a story by Adria Bailton, 1,121 words. With an illustration by Jenn Reese. 
• A Rahokan's Gem: a poem by Ian Li, 16 lines.
• Draco Urbis: a poem by Marie Brennan, 10 lines.
• Child and the Bocwyrm: a story by Joshua Gage, 3400 words. With an illustration by Ana Niki. This illustration also serves as the cover art for this issue. 
• A Hint of Cinnamon, a Whiff of Mint: a story by Amanda Saville, 1,215 words.
• A Day at the Beach: a Story by Lena Ng, 416 words. With two illustrations by Julia Kim. 
• Lessons From My Road Trip With a Sea-wife: a story by Devin Miller, 1,300 words.

Before we get into this issues contents, a fundraiser update:

We continue to witness genocide in Palestine, and I am continuing to donate to individual GoFundMe pages for families who are trying to evacuate to safety. I’m happy to report that Hanan Abu Basheer’s fundraiser met its goal and her family members safely evacuated to Australia! There are so many more families who still need help! If you would like to join me in helping two families, you can donate to:

• Ossama Zaqqout’s fundraiser to help bring his extended family to be with him in Canada. I’ve highlighted this one before, but it still has a way to go.
 
• Nour’s fundraiser to evacuate her family to Germany. This family includes a baby who is less than a year old.

If you would like to see a lot more resource links related to Palestine, I recommend checking out Laura Mandelberg’s essay from the December issue.

This is the year of the dragon, so it seemed fitting to me that several of the pieces I received in my latest open submission call were about dragons. I have selected a sampling of them for you to enjoy!

“Princess Mildred and the Dragon” by R. J. Howell and “Child and the Bocwyrm” by Joshua Gage both explore the literary lives dragons may lead. R. J. Howell’s story is accompanied by one of two reprint illustrations Jenn Reese created in 2021, while Joshua Gage’s story features an original illustration by Ana Niki, which also serves as the cover art for this issue.

“Fabric Hoard” by Priya Sridhar is the first of our three poems for this issue, and it also features a dragon with an unusual kind of hoard.

We then swerve slightly away from dragons to a different fiery creature with “So Your Child Turned Out to Be a Phoenix” by Stephanie Burgis. But don’t worry, we bring the theme right back to dragons with another meditation on how children grow in “Little Known Facts About Dragons” by Adria Bailton, which is accompanied by our second Jenn Reese reprint illustration.

Next we have more poetry. Ian Li’s “A Rahokan’s Gem” lets us catch a glimpse of dragon parents, while “Draco Urbis” by Marie Brennan is a mirror cinquain especially for everyone who has ever seen the looping structure of a freeway interchange and thought it looked a bit dragonlike.

Our last dragon themed piece is “A Hint of Cinnamon, a Whiff of Mint” by Amanda Saville. This is the first of three lesbian stories, each of which show women in different kinds of relationships. We start with a couple just in the first stages of getting together. This one is also a transition piece for overall issue themes, bringing us from fire to water. It’s summertime in my part of the world so it’s only natural that we end this issue at the seaside.

Longtime readers of Worlds of Possibility may remember Lena Ng’s story “A Saturday Out” from the August 2022 issue. That story features a married couple, Katie and Jessica, and it inspired the iconic rocket bike cat illustration by Julia Kim, which appeared on stickers and on the outside case of the hardcover version of the first Worlds of Possibility anthology. “A Day at the Beach” is a sequel to “A Saturday Out” and we get to see what our favorite cat and his human friends are up to now! We also get to meet a new friend on this outing, and I think you’ll understand why this story is the perfect follow-up to Amanda Saville’s story when you meet her! This story is the shortest story in the issue at 416 words, but I still couldn’t resist commissioning not one, but two new Julia Kim illustrations for it. And they are utterly delightful!

Finally, Devin Miller’s “Lessons From My Road Trip With a Sea-wife” takes us on a drive down the West Coast of the United States with a woman who is attending her ex-girlfriend’s wedding. The Sea-wife in this one is definitely not a dragon, but I’m pretty sure she does have a hoard of her own…

Individual content notes appear in the back of the ebook issue, and will also be listed at the top of an individual piece's web page.