“We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.”

--Anaïs Nin

Issue 2012.24

Short stories

• ‘Je me souviens’, Su J. Sokol - art by Soussherpa
• ‘Secrets of the Sea’, Jennifer Marie Brissett
• ‘The Harpy’, Laura Heron - art by Rebecca Whitaker
• ‘Safecracker, Safe’, J.C. Hsyu - art by Christina Cartwright

Novelettes

• ‘Arrow’, Barry King - art by Cécile Matthey
• ‘Courtship in the Country of Machine-Gods’, Benjanun Sriduangkaew - art by Tais Teng

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We’ve been very excited for a while about the issue that you hold in your hands (or more likely are reading on your computer or mobile device) now. The first couple of stories had already come in when we published the last issue, so we’ve known about some of the wonderful content we had lined up for about three months. This is another very strong issue, full of beautiful stories and artwork (starting with the absolutely stunning cover by long-time TFF supporter Cécile Matthey), with political content including student protests and civil rights, climate change, women empowering and freeing themselves from male patronage, colonialism narratives and fighting back. In fact that’s the one thing that everybody in this issue has in common: fighting back.

Whether monsters, superheroes, traitors, lovers, parents, children or cyberpunks, our protagonists or antagonists are struggling, kicking out, running away, hacking the machine, staying alive, making love, blowing things up, remembering the past, not giving up on the future, and finding endless new ways to fight back against injustice, oppression, exploitation and marginalization. We could all learn lessons from them.

Enjoy the stories.

Djibril al-Ayad, September 2012