Featured Article

Featured Article
Allen Ashley

Let me introduce Allen Ashley. Based in London, UK, he works as a developmental editor and a creative writing tutor. But you can read all that in his bio. In this magazine. He has been a part of The World of Myth Magazine since November of 2021. He has been a steady contributor over the years, sending me poems and stories. All of which I have taken great pleasure in reading.

Here at The World of Myth Magazine, we try to foster a community of writers that support, encourage, and celebrate each other. Cheer each other on when one has success, because we all know that success, as a writer, can be measured in publications, popularity, and print, even when we should be proud of just putting words on paper.

The Featured Article has always showcased an author in the current magazine that the editor felt stood out among the rest of the submissions. One that the editor felt was not necessarily better than the other submissions but offered something different. For our milestone issue, I wanted to celebrate the achievement of one of our authors.

Allen Ashley submitted a story to us in June of 2025. Merlin's Hole. It was both a fantasy story and a science fiction story, but I put it in fantasy. I am a sucker for anything to do with Camelot. The story ran in our June issue, and as I do every month, I move on to the next issue, celebrating our authors' wins online as they get accepted to this magazine or anthology here or there.

In April, I received a very excited email from Allen. His story, Merlin's Hole from our June 2025 issue, had been selected for reprint in the prestigious anthology The Best of British Science Fiction 2025. It is published by NewCon Press. Now, while this is a feather in the cap of our little magazine, as our name is sitting beside such big-time magazines, it was more of a thing of pride for me. Not because we had printed a story worthy of this type of recognition, but because one of our own was being honored for their hard work. I was like a den mother, proud of one of her charges. I was ecstatic for Allen.

Quote from Allen Ashley
Allen Ashley World of Myth story reprinted in Best of British SF

I had known about The World of Myth Magazine for maybe two years before sending anything in for consideration. I first submitted to, and was accepted for publication by, The World of Myth Magazine back in 2021 with a flash called Has Anybody Seen Our Spaceship? Since then, I am pleased and lucky enough to consider myself a regular contributor.

My story Merlin's Hole was published in the June 2025 issue of the magazine. That's great news in and of itself.

However, earlier this year, 2026, I was informed that my story had been selected for reprint in the prestigious anthology The Best of British Science Fiction 2025, edited by Donna Scott, which would be published by award-winning UK publisher NewCon Press.

The resulting book was officially launched over the Easter weekend 2026.

This inclusion is a big deal for me, my first time in this particular Best Of.

But I think it's an even bigger deal for The World of Myth. Other stories in the anthology come from Big Name magazines and journals such as Analog, Asimov's, Clarkesworld, Shoreline of Infinity, and so forth, paying venues with a big reach and readership. For an independent journal and publisher to get noticed and to be placed in this company is quite an achievement. To my knowledge, and please correct me if I am mistaken, this is the first time that something originally published in The World of Myth has been picked up for reprint in this sort of anthology.

So, I am really glad to share the news with everyone, along with some photos.

The link is here:
https://www.newconpress.co.uk/info/book.asp?id=275&referer=Hp

As far as my memory is concerned, this is the first time something published in The World of Myth Magazine has been selected for reprint from an outside publisher. I could be wrong, and will take all and any corrections.

So, congratulations, Allen Ashley. You deserve this distinction; you earned it, and your story, Merlin's Hole, is a wonderfully entertaining tale about black holes. You can read it here:
https://www.jayzomondarkmyth.com/darkmythproductions/theworldofmyth/138/index.html