“This unrestrained exploitation of the common goods of nature does not generate wealth, but wears down and impoverishes the planet. It is time to fight for the good of humanity and for a new story.”

—Sônia Guajajara

Issue 2023.66

Short stories

• ‘One Day’, Frances Koziar - art by Sebastian Timpe
• ‘Boxes Full of Memories’, Sean R. Robinson - art by Fluffgar
• ‘Out of Bounds’, Anna Ziegelhof - art by Cécile Matthey
• ‘Between the Shadow and the Soul’, Davian Aw - art by Toeken

Poetry

• ‘The Fungal Force: A History’, Colleen Anderson - art by Melkorka
• ‘Mycelial’, Lisa Timpf - art by Dr T. Eratopo
• ‘Smells of Brine, Witching’, Devin Miller - art by Dr T. Eratopo

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The cycle of life and the race to the bottom are fundamentally incompatible. Even if we need to be philosophical about the inevitability of death, perhaps taking comfort in the knowledge that death feeds into new life. Even if we know that the ecocidal anthropocene—for all the suffering it will cause, up to and including our own extinction—will surely leave rotting organic remains on which the next cycle of life can feed. (And even if we did manage to destroy the planet, a passing comet may pick up some amino acids with which to seed a Panspermian process in a galaxy far far away.) However philosophical we are, we don’t welcome extinction; there is too much created by humans (and a lot that isn’t) that we love. So we fight, despite our apparent species-wide self-loathing, for a future for humanity.

I take art as a reminder of what we love about our ambivalent little species, and here is our contribution to beautiful and useful art for this quarter: stories and poems and artworks from thirteen of our favorite creators! Whether the stories are slices-of-life and love, parables of memory and mourning, rollicking adventures or escapist fantasy, they recall why the Earth is worth fighting for. More than one piece is set in a virtual world, reminding us that when you have the freedom to be someone else, you are truly allowed to be yourself. We also, strangely, see a recurring theme of mushrooms and fungi through several of these pieces: sometimes standing for the connectedness of life; or representing networks and new ways to draw power from that which binds us; or emblematic of the mulching of death and recycling into the fertile ground to feed new life. Renewal, not raw consumption, preserves life.

And so please enjoy the wonderful work from Anna, Cécile, Colleen, Davian, Devin, Fluffgar, Frances, Lisa, Melkorka, Sean, Sebastian, Dr T. and Toeken. Please send your love and comments below the blog post at the link on each page, and please join us again in the fall for the next installment. One love!

For Sinéad/Shuhada 💔 (1966–2023).

Djibril al-Ayad, July 2023

Comment on the stories in this issue on the TFF Press blog.