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"Love is in the air…" or so they say. It is the month of predictions, love, and for me, a birthday. Welcome to our February issue Mythkateers. February always seems to be a hard month for people. Whether it is the dark dreary days, the commercial reminder that you may be single, or the shortness of the light before we hit daylight savings, emotional downswings seem to be at a all time high in February. I considered this while compiling this month's issue. We can see the entire gamut of those emotions within this issue. Love, the romantic kind, kindness, exuberance, misery, and loneliness. Each story, each poem, each piece of art, reflect some of that emotion. For me February can't be over soon enough. I am not a fan of the forced commercial love, nor am I a fan of getting older. I left those emotions at the gate so to speak, (yes that was a poor reference to Michael A Arnold's art review of The Gates of Hell) because I wouldn't let it tarnish my editorial eye on each piece submitted. This month brought me joy in a usually joyless month. Each piece is a wonder in itself and I enjoyed my job, as I always do. It also caused me to reflect on what "love" can look like. I love my job. Each email I open, my heart races with anticipation and excitement. I grin and read the correspondence and then open the document like a much-awaited gift. I fall into the story, get moved by the poem or lost in the intricacies of the art. I learn something new in the reviews and get a good laugh from Myth Master and his shenanigans. As strange as this may sound, I have a relationship with this magazine. Some days it makes me laugh and think the deep thoughts, and some days, it makes me cry and feel the emotions long best buried. But each and every month, I fall in love with it all over. This intro kind of turned into a love letter to you all. To every person who has contributed and been a part of this in some way, this is to you. From writer to reader, you are all a part of this wonderful relationship. Thank you. Ok, mushy crap over. Congratulations to Chris Bice on last months win. I need your shirt size sir. Please read these stories, experience the poems and digest the art. Read the reviews and just enjoy the labor of love that this magazine is to all of us who work on it. Hugs and such, Stephanie J Bardy
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