Introduction

Boooooo Mythketeers!
It's our annual Halloween edition! I can happily say, when we put out the call, you all showed up in spades! Well done, you! This issue is jam-packed with scares and creepy stories, poems that make you want to sleep with the light on, and artwork that would turn your hair white. I am so happy that when we put out a call, you answer.
It is October, can you believe it? The year is racing to a close at breakneck speed! As I write this, I am spending the last few days at the cottage. In two days we will be closing up for the winter, and I won't be back in my little bunkie on the cliff above the water until May. It is sad because it is so beautiful here and so inspiring, but it holds much joy as well. I am wrapping up my time before I can see my beloveds. While the cold means the end of summer and all it brought into my life, it also means that I will be traveling and seeing the rest of my family. That is excitement enough to keep me warm until I go. I have a couple of months left before that happens, but I am starting the preparations now.
This is an interesting time of year. Some believe the veil between the living and the dead becomes thinner. Some believe it is easier for our loved ones to communicate with us. Some believe it is the end of the harvest and time to withdraw into ourselves and do some internal reflecting over the colder months. Others see it as a celebration, and some see it as a time of fear. But whatever you see it as, it is an ending and a beginning. The summer has completely flown, and Fall has wrapped her mantle of brightly colored leaves around us. The trees are looking more and more bare as the days go by, the wind is holding more of a cold nip than a warm caress, and the animals have their winter preparations well in hand…paw. Many of the birds in my area have already begun their trek south. The geese calls and the constant training flights have ceased, and the robins and the sparrows are silent as they have left. The chipmunks are scurrying, and the red squirrel outside my bunkie is barking commands and shouting warnings almost daily. He even yelled at me this morning!
But while it marks the end of the summer, an end to the warmth and laughter of the outdoors, and barbecues, of beach days and bonfires, it begins the season of sweaters and crisp forest walks. Of nights so clear you can see all the stars in the heavens. It begins the journey to the new year, the promise of changes you want to make, maybe even the beginning of a season of writing for some. While the trees pull their resources in to protect them over the winter, and the wildlife go to sleep or fly away, there is still hope, still joy, still enchantment to be found. Just be still, be silent, and be ready to hear it, or see it, when it happens.
I want to congratulate Peggy Gerber on winning Member of the Month. Her piece was amazing and well-deserving of the title! You can find it in September's issue.
Congratulations to VAM, Vincent May for gracing our October cover.
We have several new contributors this month, so I want to say a big old World of Myth welcome!
I always have so many things I want to say when I sit down to write this, but as soon as I start putting the words on paper, they fly away just like the birds.
So I will end this intro with this. If you feel down in any way as the days turn colder and the nights get longer, remember this: the sun always comes back. The days always get longer, and the warmth, be it from a sweater or a warm cup of chocolate, will always be there. You just have to find it.
Until next month
Stephanie J Bardy
Editor of Ghosties, Ghoulies, and all things that go Bump in the Night