Thank you for joining me for this final installment of a three part post which introduces Hearth & Heart, a quarterly short story zine. Part one, introduced the 2015 Summer edition and in part two, I write about the 2015 Autumn edition. Which brings Hearth & Heart into the present...
Having finally released Hearth & Heart 2015 Autumn Edition retroactively, I felt free to move into the present and begin work on a brand new zine. On September 22, 2017 Hearth & Heart 2017 Autumn Edition was released, which is a blend of very old stories and very new stories. This issue stretched my writing muscles a bit, but I also had to dust off my artistic skills as an illustrator, which had grown very rusty.
Conversation With A Prince was written in 2017 for this edition of Hearth & Heart. It's one of those stories that is 99% true. The frontispiece (pictured here) is my one and only pastel which I did in 1992. It seemed appropriate to use here.
On the Way Upstairs was a fragment of story from 2015. I had stopped writing it just as the character takes the first step on the staircase. I was intrigued with how the story began, so was really happy to pick up the threads and finish it. This is 100% fiction, and in fact found myself facing the challenge of writing about something I had no practical experience with. It was a fun one to write. Sort of a time travel yarn with a nautical flavor. The illustration for that was part pencil sketch and part collage.
The Dream Catcher was a story written in 1990. I was very young and it shows in the writing style. Still, I liked the message it conveyed. There are elements of my childhood in it as well as some elements of a grandmother of mine. I've been in love with the idea of flying ships since I was 4 years old. This story has all of that. The illustration was a pencil sketch of a flying ship against the moon and is mounted it on a background photo of stars taken by the Hubble Telescope.
Getting the Boot - A Story in Elfland was another fragment of story begun in 2010. I picked up the threads for this story because I didn't have enough material to release this edition of Hearth & Heart. Once I began writing it again, it was difficult to wrap it up. This story seemed to want to go on and on, and really had to stick to a specific number of pages in order to make it into this issue. It ends with a touch of humor. I had started an illustration for this story, but as I said before, my skills were rusty and I ran out of time, choosing instead to use a watercolor painting done in 2013. Oddly enough, it works very well with this story.
The final essay appears on the back cover and is called A New Story. It's a descriptive little piece that describes the life of a story.
I really had fun writing the stories for this issue and putting it together with the illustrations. It pushed me out of my comfort zone, and I was surprised at how enjoyable it really was.
To find out more about Hearth & Heart Volume 2 2017 Autumn edition, go to Pegana Press.
Join me next Monday when I'll be introducing Hearth & Heart Volume 2 2017 Winter Edition, scheduled for release later this month.
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