Editor’s Page for Yellow Mama Issue #83 – Dec. 15, 2020

Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays, all!

If I don’t sound cheery, maybe it’s ‘cos this is the FIFTH issue I’m introducing, while the pandemic rages on. Another lockdown is looming. And too many deaths.

Aside from COVID crises, Yellow Mama recently experienced a personal tragedy: On November 25, veteran poet Paul Spicer passed away. An amazing poet and great guy, Paul was a beloved member of the YM family, and we will miss him terribly.

Because of this, Issue #83 is dedicated to Paul Spicer. Please check out our tribute to him, on the navigation page.

At Yellow Mama we do our best to provide escapism from the sorrows and real-life horrors we face every day. This issue even features some Christmas-themed stories.

In Roy Dorman’s “Dead Bodies Everywhere,” a mad scientist girl in an elf cap tries to reanimate “stray” corpses. In Kenneth James Crist’s “Billy at One o’clock,” Billy dies on Christmas but visits his friend via an antique clock. Jeremiah Minihan’s “Ghost in the Factory” has a Dickensian feel, but without chains rattling. “In a Nearby Church,” by Bethany Cody, features an “accidental” poisoning at a yuletide gravesite. Gay Degani’s “It’s Xmas and Maureen Feels Like Death Warmed Over” gives us a street-smart child, longing for a special gift. And Jacqueline Doyle’s “Prospero’s Last Party” is a modern-day holiday takeoff on Poe’s “Red Death” festivities.

Other fine stories include Zach Wilhide’s “Gravedigger Sunrise,” in which two “clean-up” boys muse about being buried alive and Joe Surkiewicz’s nostalgic “Communication Breakdown,” in which a coveted Zeppelin album is the best excuse to kill.

And, for something completely different, check out Michael Dioguardi’s “What Happened After His Head Oozed.” At YM we rarely get political, but this flash story should give both sides a good laugh.

Our holiday “Poetry Extravaganza” includes twenty-two poems, featuring the last two from the late David Spicer, as well as fine poems from Meg Baird, John D. Robinson, John Short, the Nielsens (ayaz daryl and his wife Judith Partin), and others.

Full-length and flash fiction stories (and some poems) are individually illustrated by our gifted artists: Kevin Duncan, Hillary Lyon, Noelle Richardson, Steve Cartwright, Ann Marie Rhiel, Henry Stanton, Michael D. Davis, A. F. Knott, Keith Coates Walker, Darren Blanch, Sean O’Keefe, Cynthia Fawcett, Londyyn Thomas, John Thompson, Terry Butler, W. Jack Savage, and Lonni Lees (Welcome back, Lonni!).

And let’s hear it for Mike Kerins’ freaky yuletide 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.

 Most of all, thanks for reading!