Editor’s Page – Yellow Mama Issue #97 (Apr. 15, 2023)
Hi
all,
Last issue I opened with tragic
news: the passing of Ann Marie
Rhiel, Yellow Mama’s Assistant Art Director. We will miss Annie. She was
YM’s AAD for six years. We intend to reuse many of her phenomenal art pieces to
illustrate stories and poems, and occasionally as a cover for YM and Black
Petals.
I’d like to introduce
Bernice Holtzman, YM’s new Assistant Art
Director! Bernice’s phenomenal paintings and collages have appeared in shows at
various venues in Manhattan, including the Back Fence, the Producer’s Club, and
the Black Door Gallery. She has been illustrating for YM since Issue #89 (Dec.
2021) and for BP since Issue #98 (Jan. 2022). She also filled in for Ann Marie
as YM’s AAD when Ann Marie was ill, finding (and actually doing) illos for
numerous stories and poems. Welcome, Bernice!
Fiction-wise, this issue has
everything from chocolate lovers, to
disappearing species, to flatware coming to life!
In Kenneth James Crist’s
tale, time-traveling cowboy John Cook and
Madeline are “Moving South” for a new adventure. Flash fiction god Paul Beckman
teaches us how “Stunning Redheads Are Trouble.”
Food allergies figure big in
two unlikely stories: In Kevin
Hopson’s story, the victim has “A Love for Chocolate,” but that’s not what
kills him. Cecilia Bennett’s “The Secret Ingredient” gives us two rival
contestants in a cooking contest.
Noir fare includes C. A. Rowland’s
“Night Sight,” in which an
almost-blind thief plots a sure-fire heist in the dark. In David Hagerty’s “Ban
the Box,” an ex-con learns that going straight is not as easy as it sounds. And
in Roy Dorman’s “Just a Small-Town Boy,” corrupt hick-town cops meet up with a
hitman.
Other cool stories include Gay
Degani’s “My Special Garden,” which
boasts everything a good wife needs to grow; and Brandon Doughty’s “The
Loneliness of a Reseller,” about a workaholic’s far-out cry for help.
Our poetry lineup includes a
trio of disturbing works by Peter
Mladinic and four by Bengali newcomer, Partha Sarkar. Also check out awesome
poems by Daniel G. Snethen, Bradford Middleton, YM artist Sophia Wiseman-Rose,
Meg Baird, and others.
Full-length
and flash fiction stories (and some poems) are
individually illustrated by our gifted artists: Kevin Duncan, Darren Blanch,
Hillary Lyon, Steve Cartwright, Michael D. Davis, Henry Stanton, Sophia
Wiseman-Rose, John Sowder, Sean O’Keefe, Bernice Holtzman, Joseph Richkus, and
Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal.
And
DAMN, check out Hillary Lyon’s “Springtime Noir” cover!
If
you want to submit full-length fiction, flash fiction, or
poetry, check out our guidelines page.
Also, please sign our guestbook! If you have
comments about Yellow Mama or any stories or poems we publish,
you may leave comments there.
And check out our revised Archives to catch recent stories or poems
by your favorite writers you might’ve missed.