Volume 1, Issue 1
Fiction | Poetry | Nonfiction
Featuring: Alexis Henderson Dennis Mombauer Stephen Scott Whitaker September 2016
Cover Art By: Devin Francisco www.heliosquarterly.com
“The sun is new each day” - Heraclitus Publisher/Editor-in-Chief:
Elizabeth O. Smith Creative Director:
Morgana Harp Authors:
Contributors:
Jennifer Moore Tara Campbell Armel Dagorn Dennis Mombauer Aimee Ogden Gerri Leen Diana Estigarribia Peter Hagelslag Holly Schofield Alexis Henderson Stephen Scott Whitaker Photographer: Alexandra Soman Artist: Sigied Himawan Yudhanto
Poets: Richard King Perkins II Linda Neuer J. J. Steinfeld Robert Beveridge Nonfiction: Jun Cola Adam Lovasz Cover Art: 42 © Devin Francisco
(http://devin-francisco.deviantart.com/)
Theme: Miscommunication HQM Volume 1, Issue 1
Editor’s Corner: New Horizons Elizabeth O. SMith It’s scary going out on a limb, especially when you’re backing it with your own money. I’ve always been fascinated by the power of a short story and poetry in general. I remember reading The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury and imagining myself in his shoes. I wanted to collect all my story ideas already written and on the tip of my tongue for the public to consume. Years have passed, and that urge has never really gone away. So here we are, new horizons on the way. I’m a jack of all trades and a master of none. A game developer, author, artist, chocolate fanatic, poodle aficionado, entrepreneur, and lifelong student, it never crossed my mind before that I could merge my love of the arts with my passion for the short story format in a magazine. Having never been the type of person to do things the right way, I’ve kickstarted a quarterly magazine with two issues at the end of the year. The theme miscommunication has a special place in my heart for two reasons: I can never find the right words to say, and stringing language together always leads to a gap in understanding. What better way to express stumbling in the dark with this new venture, than to have this issue grapple with how and why we try to connect and communicate with each other? Being passionate about genre fiction, and a woman of color, I will feature the hard work of those on the margins from here on out. Eos•Quarterly, Goddess of Dawn and sister to Helios, will be a dedicated space for stories up to 2,500 words, art, photography, and longer poetry. You can view their stories as well as exclusive interviews on www.heliosquarterly.com during February, May, August, and November between official issues. Cheers and enjoy! 1
Ventriloquist
Richard King Perkins II
I am replete with suspension, but have no expression. You’re greeted on a sloping cliffside with circuitry muted. Pulleys have no words, but the thing I call a heart keeps the most essential few. I’m writing them here before your muscles fatigue waiting for pistons that will never move.
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Resonance Linda Neuer
Only the original foundation is intact, all history replaced with central heating and plastic pipes. But the pacing in the attic doesn’t sound like mice. Why this pacing? Why this chill? If they are lonely, why not join us? Are they too polite in their pain to ask for help? Shouldn’t they provide solace for the lonely? Why can’t they sing our children to sleep with ancient lullabies? Are we shivering from their cold embrace? In one of the rooms, in one of the trunks, are photos of a life we had. We are blurs on film. I want to touch you, but my fingers are frozen, transparent as glass, and numb to your flesh.
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Voices in An Especially Ominous Night J. J. Steinfeld
when you hear voices (voices almost like visions almost like frightened animals given voice, fleeing wilderness) in an especially ominous night you trapped by fitful sleep, by deceived sleep, by sleeplessness, voices as yells, screams, shouts, the roaring of confusion, as whispers articulate and inarticulate, in other languages, words from other worlds, other times, other regrets, otherness as diction, as warning, as wistfulness, as love even, voices enhanced, augmented, voices in a film about someone else’s life and exploits and misshapen fate voices authentic and inauthentic the differences between them in this especially ominous night hardly worth enumerating voices disguised, reviled voices alterable, revocable voices before humiliation before mortification before the degradation of dispirited mortality before the beginning of time rehearsed for the end of time you lie there and listen your mind some sort of recording device ready to play it all back when the time comes for wordlessness and proving the voices wrong‌ you did belong just like the especially ominous night and all the godly and ungodly voices
BINASA © Sigied Himawan Yudhanto [cranenoir] (http://cranenoir.deviantart.com/)
A Scavenger of Words J. J. Steinfeld
Idiomatic idiotic remarks as the clock tick-tocks away into the memory of time.
What does that drivel mean? Perhaps I should have said, or even sang out, Idiotic idiomatic remarks, the order, you know, is meaningful and full of meaning.
You should be fed to carrion eaters that have no time for words only for feeding on fools. Birds of prey or praying birds would that be?
You and your language, nothing but a scavenger of words. Are you the idiom or the idiot?
I am silence and time and I have captured you. Not as long as I collect words and arrange them one by one on that timeless saving something resembling a lover’s heart and a path away from captivity.
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Bulimic
Robert Beveridge
You tell me yes, tell me again after each time you eat the flesh of human desire of human consumption you vomit out the fatigue you feel at being one of many one of the mindless pack of maddening humanity look at the little boy turn his head until his neck sprouts—you can be that way too only then when you have realized you must take the good with the bad only when you see that axiom can you grow in your humanity only when you can stop vomiting that dead grey flesh will you feel human again
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Poets’ Bios Richard King Perkins II Richard King Perkins II is a state-sponsored advocate for residents in long-term care facilities. He lives in Crystal Lake, IL with his wife, Vickie and daughter, Sage. He is a three-time Pushcart nominee and a Best of the Net nominee. Writing for six years, his work has appeared in more than a thousand publications including The Louisiana Review, Bluestem, Emrys Journal, Sierra Nevada Review, Roanoke Review, The Red Cedar Review and The William and Mary Review. He has poems forthcoming in Hawai’i Review, Sugar House Review, Plainsongs, Free State Review and Texas Review. ••• Linda Neuer Linda is from Miami, Florida. Recently, some of her poems have been published in Jupiter, Quantum Poetry Magazine, Tattoo Highway, Lily, Sangam, Abyss and Apex, and Astropoetica. ••• J.J. Steinfeld J. J. Steinfeld is a Canadian fiction writer, poet, and playwright who lives on Prince Edward Island, where he is patiently waiting for Godot’s arrival and a phone call from Kafka. While waiting, he has published sixteen books, including Disturbing Identities (Stories, Ekstasis Editions), Should the Word Hell Be Capitalized? (Stories, Gaspereau Press), Would You Hide Me? (Stories, Gaspereau Press), An Affection for Precipices (Poetry, Serengeti Press), Misshapenness (Poetry, Ekstasis Editions), Word Burials (Novel and Stories, Crossing Chaos Enigmatic Ink), Identity Dreams and Memory Sounds (Poetry, Ekstasis Editions), and Madhouses in Heaven, Castles in Hell (Stories, Ekstasis Editions). His short stories and poems have appeared in numerous anthologies and periodicals internationally, and over forty of his one-act plays and a handful of full-length plays have been performed in Canada and the United States. ••• Robert Beveridge Robert Beveridge makes noise (xterminal.bandcamp.com) and writes poetry just outside Cleveland, OH. Recent/upcoming appearances in Chiron Review, Pink Litter, and The Literateur, among others.
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“Signs are an extremely personal language that we develop throughout our lives, by trial and error, until we begin to understand that God is guiding us.” - Paulo Coelho
signs and symbols © Alexandra Soman (http://psycheanamnesis.deviantart.com/)
Welcome To Earth Jennifer Moore
“We come in peace,” they lisped, lulling us into a false sense of security with their round
childlike eyes and empty silken lips. Peace. That’s what it sounded like, without teeth or tongues to give proper shape to their words.
We lowered our guns, welcoming them to the planet.
Only it turned out it wasn’t peace they’d come in after all—it was pieces. Their poisonous
pulsing body sacs came next, venom squirting from every pore. Then the whipping laser-tails, barbed tongues, and razored fangs.
“Surrender or die,” they snarled, their voices loud and clear now, even over our screams. •••
BIO: Jennifer’s fiction and poetry has appeared in numerous publications on both sides of the Atlantic, including Mslexia, Daily Science Fiction and Short Fiction. She is a previous winner of the Commonwealth Short Story Competition and has published two children’s chapter books with Knowonder, writing as Jaye Seymour. Jennifer studied English at Cambridge University and holds an MRes on Witchcraft in Literature from the University of Strathclyde. She lives in Devon, England.
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THIS IS JUST A PREVIEW! ••• Buy the full issue on www.heliosquarterly.com or www.radiantcrownpublishing.com
Colophon
Helios Quarterly Magazine (ISSN: 2473-9189) is a science fiction, horror, and fantasy periodical founded in 2016. It aims to publish quality fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and art that illuminates the darkness. HQM wants stories and poems that grab ahold of a reader from the opening lines all the way to the finish line. Works that push boundaries, are succinct, and well developed are smiled upon. Thank you for your ongoing support of genre fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. That includes marginalized voices through Eos•Quarterly, a place dedicated to diversity and the dawn of equal representation in the arts. The reading periods are the 1st through the 15th in the months of January (March Issue), April (June Issue), July (September Issue), and October (December Issue). Below is a list of individuals who contribute to HQM’s success in innovative ways. Contact editors@heliosquarterly.com for any questions, concerns, or ways you can get involved.
Solar Charioteer David Rae “The Sun Catcher”
INFORMATION ISSN: 2473-9189 Volume 1, Issue 1 Theme: Miscommunication Radiant Crown Publishing, LLC
POETRY BY:
Information:
Linda Neuer J.J. Steinfeld Robert Beveridge Richard King Perkins II
ISSN: 2473-9189 September 2016 Volume 1, Issue 1 Theme: Miscommunication Radiant Crown Publishing, LLC
FICTION BY:
Twitter:
Gerri Leen Aimee Ogden Tara Campbell Armel Dagorn Jennifer Moore Peter Hagelslag Holly Schofield Alexis Henderson Dennis Mombauer Diana Estigarribia Stephen Scott Whitaker
NONFICTION BY: Jun Cola Adam Lovasz
PHOTOS BY: Alexandra Soman
ARTWORK BY: Devin Francisco Sigied Himawan Yudhanto
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Solar Charioteer: David Rae “The Sun Catcher”
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