Black Petals Issue #93 Autumn, 2020

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BP Artists and Illustrators
Mars-News, Views and Commentary
Justin Alcala: A Horse for Us All-Fiction
Matthew Penwell: Bless Be Him-Fiction
Shiloh Simmons: Coffin Birth-Fiction
John Cox: Don't Teach Cats Latin-Fiction
Ken Hueler: I, Said the Fish-Fiction
R. A. Busby: Not the Man I Married-Fiction
Jude Clee: Notes from a Bathroom Stall-Fiction
M. W. Moriearty: Scarecrows-Fiction
Robert Masterson: Sharper Than She Ever Imagined-Fiction
Michael Steven: The Mirror-Fiction
Kevin Hawthorne: The Song-Fiction
Marlin Bressi: The Man on the Box-Fiction
Terry Riccardi: Winter Hunt-Fiction
Stephen J. Tillman: Angry Tammy-Flash Fiction
Andreas Hort: Pay the Price!-Flash Fiction
Sam Clover: Piety and Parm-Flash Fiction
Deisy Toussaint: Parasite in the Shadows-Flash Fiction
Outnumbered-Flash Fiction by Cindy Rosmus
Mickey Sloan: Basement Beldam-Poetry
Daniel G. Snethen: Grandmother Screamed-Poetry
Daniel G. Snethen: Pumpkin Tanka-Poetry
Daniel G. Snethen: Yellow Death-Haiku
Theresa C. Gaynord: The JuJu Man-Poetry
Theresa C. Gaynord: The Widow Paris-Poetry
Theresa C. Gaynord: Funeral at the Louisiana Bayou-Poetry
Theresa C. Gaynord: The Old Hag-Poetry
Loris John Fazio: Halloween Prayer-Poetry
Marilyn Lou Berry: My Darling, My Sustenance-Poetry
Chris Collins: Nature-Poetry

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Well, here we are again, boys and girls, with another great issue of Black Petals. The Covid-19 still marches on and elections are just around the corner and one thing we will not involve ourselves in here at BP is politics. We are in the business of entertainment and we know that we compete with all the other forms that may entail. How in the heck do you compete with radio, TV, the Internet, Social Media, etc., using only the written word and some illustrations? We do it, ladies and gents, by using only the best that comes our way. For every story that makes it here, I must write many more rejection letters, some of them encouraging those who are obviously talented, others blowing off the hacks, posers and wanna-be’s who are just not willing to invest the time and hard work that it takes to succeed in this type of competitive market.

Over the years, BP has given a lot of writers their very first publication and we were always glad to do that, whenever we saw a budding talent and a person who displayed the patience and stick-to-it-iveness to hang in there in spite of piles of rejection slips.

Along the way, I’m sure we’ve made a few enemies. So be it. We won’t dwell on hurt feelings or misunderstandings. We will look forward, always, to the next exciting issue and the next gifted and unknown talent who reads our guidelines and says, “Shit yeah…I can do that…”

Not everyone in this issue is a newbie—there are a few folks you’re going to recognize from past issues, but a lot of the folks you’ll read this time are new faces around here, but that was not the reason they got picked. They got picked because of new ideas, new ways of expressing themselves, or maybe a new take on an old idea. This being the Halloween issue, we tried to keep it as creepy as we could and we held a few pieces over that could have been published earlier, just so they could appear in this one.

I hope you like what we’ve put together and also, don’t forget to check out our sister mag, Yellow Mama, which is also coming out today. I know my friend, Cindy Rosmus would love to have you come visit. Thanks for reading and don’t be a stranger…

Wichita, KS, 10/15/2020

Editorial Staff:

Kenneth James Crist—Editor Emeritus

Anne Stickel—Managing Editor

Cindy Rosmus—Art Director

Ann Marie Rhiel—Assistant Art Director





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