Welcome to the Archives. This is where all our stories eventually come to live after each new issue leaves the front page. We like to think of this as a vast library building which we’ll keep adding to for years to come. A good page to bookmark!
ISSUE NO.1
April 2nd, 2020
edited by Samuel J. Stephens, Nathan Gilmore, & Philip J. Palacios
Stories:
BLOODY STARS | THE MAN WHO WAS A PARADOX | THE CONFESSIONAL | MARKSMAN’S MUSINGS | ARDENT’S ORDERS | THE DESIGN OF ‘HALO’ | WHY ANGLO-SAXON POETRY? | MUSURDVITHA PART I
ISSUE NO.2
May 2nd, 2020
edited by Samuel J. Stephens, Nathan Gilmore, Philip J. Palacios, & Diana Massengale
Stories:
FOUNDING READERS | THE MOON BEARS | NATURE’S BODY | SPRING CAROUSEL | WHAT’S ‘WARHAMMER 40K’? | SERIAL BREAKTHROUGH | SOUL FOCUS | MUSURDVITHA PART II
ISSUE NO.3
June 2nd, 2020
edited by Samuel J. Stephens, Nathan Gilmore, Philip J. Palacios, & Diana Massengale
Stories:
DUNGEONS & CRYPTOS | WARNING! | THE PATH OF VANHA | THE CLOCKS OF GOD | AN ELEPHANT IN THE BUSH | THE ROAD TO EN-DOR PART I | THE FALL OF ELANIA | MUSURDVITHA PART III
ISSUE NO. 4
August 2nd, 2020
edited by Samuel J. Stephens, Nathan Gilmore, Philip J. Palacios, & Diana Massengale
Stories:
THE FIREWORK HEART | GRAHAM VS. GRAHAM | A DREAM OF THE ELEMENTS | MELIÉ | ALL THE BURNING BULLETS | ONE TOO MANY UNDEAD | SUMMER BUTTERFLY | THE ROAD TO EN-DOR PART II
ISSUE NO. 5
September 5th, 2020
edited by Samuel J. Stephens, Nathan Gilmore, Philip J. Palacios, & Diana Massengale
Stories:
MEN WITHOUT CHESTS | KAREL ČAPEK’S R.U.R. | DRONE SKIES| SYNTHETIC SUICIDE | METER’S RUNNING, MR. BOT | PROGRAMMED FOR DECAY | LOST DAUGHTER | FRITZ LANG’S METROPOLIS
ISSUE NO.6
edited by Samuel J. Stephens, Nathan Gilmore, Philip J. Palacios, & Diana Massengale
Stories:
TERRARIUM | PIERCING SHADOWS | THE GAMES OF MADNESS | FRITZ LANG’S DOCTOR MABUSE | OLD OCTOBER | WEREWOLF MUTINY | A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH | DATE OF THE LIVING DEAD
October 5th, 2020
SEASONS QUARTET
by PHILIP J. PALACIOS
Stories:
SPRING CAROUSEL | SUMMER BUTTERFLY
THE AUTUMN TREE | WINTER’S MELODY
November 25th, 2020
ISSUE NO.7
edited by Samuel J. Stephens, Nathan Gilmore, Philip J. Palacios, & Diana Massengale
Stories:
A DEMON’S CHRISTMAS | THE GODS OF THE ISLES | MARGOT’S OBJECTIVE | AN INKLINGS CHRISTMAS | THE LEGEND OF KRISTOFF | A VERY MURRAY CHRISTMAS | MY WINTER CHURCH | WINTER’S MELODY
December 10th, 2020
ISSUE NO.8
edited by Samuel J. Stephens, Nathan Gilmore, Philip J. Palacios, & Diana Massengale
Stories:
BETWEEN GODS & MONSTERS | THE SONG OF YOSHITSUNE | AELFWYNN, LADY OF MERCIA | THE EPIC BOOK OF SAMUEL | THE CAMILLAD | THE SWAN QUEEN’S LOVE | THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES | HEAVENSFIELD
February 15th, 2021
ISSUE NO.9
edited by Samuel J. Stephens, Nathan Gilmore, Philip J. Palacios, & Diana Massengale
Stories:
A STATEMENT OF PURPOSE | A VISITOR FROM ULSTER | CONCORD | HALLELUJAH SHORE
April 15th, 2021
ISSUE NO.10
edited by Samuel J. Stephens, Nathan Gilmore, Philip J. Palacios, & Diana Massengale
Stories:
THE SILENCE OF TREES | NIGHT OF THE MONOLITH | SILENT KILL | DIVINE ADVENT | PROSERPINE’S MUTINY
June 2nd, 2021
ISSUE NO.11
edited by Samuel J. Stephens, Nathan Gilmore, Philip J. Palacios, & Diana Massengale
Stories:
THE SPECIAL SEED | IN THE FAUN’S LIBRARY | STARCHILD UR-CARATH | THE PATRIOT & THE IMPOSTER | DINER DAMES DON’T CRY | THE ADVENTURE OF THE BRONZE EMBLEM
July 2nd, 2021
BONES & BADGER SERIES
edited by Samuel J. Stephens, Nathan Gilmore, Philip J. Palacios, & Diana Massengale
Stories:
ONE TOO MANY UNDEAD | THE GAMES OF MADNESS | A VERY MURRAY CHRISTMAS | SANGUINE SHENANIGANS
ISSUE NO.12
edited by Samuel J. Stephens, Nathan Gilmore, Philip J. Palacios, & Diana Massengale
Stories:
ITHIDROTH | BRESSON’S BALTHASAR | THE LAST NIGHT
January 16th, 2022.
The Shadow of the Wood
A Novel by Samuel J. Stephens & Benjamin Wolaver
ISSUE NO.13
edited by Samuel J. Stephens & Nathan Gilmore
Stories:
VAL LEWTON AT R.K.O. | THE VEILED | CHRISTMAS SONNETS
November & December, 2022.
ISSUE NO.14
EPIC POETRY II
edited by Samuel J. Stephens & Nathan Gilmore
Illuminations of the Fantastic is proud to present the second issue of Epic Poetry. With its rich language of simile, high diction, and subjects of heroic gravity and adventurous romance, the epic form remains an exciting canvas for poets of today. Here are six more installments of epic verse, and an essay, diverse in voice and metre. Jordan M. Poss presents the world of pagan Germanic peoples in his version of the hero Sigemund’s beginnings in The Waelsings’ Revenge; Alex J. Taylor returns with The Lay of St. Boniface, the story of the missionary monk to Germany in the eighth century; Alicia Joy Taylor continues the story of the apostolic missions with the The Epic Acts of the Apostles Part II; Nathan Gilmore imitates John Milton’s high, organ-like sonority in The Epic Book of Samuel Part II; With The Loss of the West, William G. Carpenter visits the Puritan England of Milton and Cromwell with a selected passage of an upcoming full-length epic on the English civil war; Samuel J. Stephens’s Opera Angelorum is a poetic tour of the history of literature, asking the important question—can civilization survive without books? Stephens expands on these thoughts in the essay ‘Considering Epic Poetry.’
June 7th, 2023
SHORT POEM CORNER
EDITION #1 | MAY 16 2023
Announcing the debut edition of our Short Poem Corner! Collected herein is a bouquet of sonnets and other fascinating verses. Poets include David Mattson, Elisabeth Joireman, Stefanie Kate M. Watchorna, Timothy E.G. Bartel, Nathan Gilmore, and Sam Stephens.
