Editor’s Page for Yellow Mama Issue #107 – Dec. 15, 2024

Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays!

What a strange year this has been. Between global turmoil, and unrest in our own backyards. Friends and family members on opposite sides. Despite our differences, let’s try to enjoy the holidays. Hey, we all have stuff to be grateful for.

Our Christmas/Holiday Issue #107 is the perfect follow-up to our Halloween issue. We have some fun seasonal stories.

In Joan Leotta’s “Light Show,” a Christmas wonderland in a local park turns deadly for two couples. In Hillary Lyon’s tale, “The Perfect Gift” is a “perfect” match for the recipient. “Six Fisheys,” by yours truly, shows how being one fish short can destroy Christmas Eve dinner. And, though it’s not a “holiday” story, Victor De Anda’s “Diamond Dust” features a bromance gone bad in the snowiest place ever—Antarctica!

Jersey noir rules, ‘80s style, in two stories. In Dan DeNoon’s “Dance Partner,” a budding reporter harasses a crime victim’s family for a photo. And, in William Mesce’s “Worker’s Comp,” two mopes avenge the barmaid by involving her abusive boyfriend in a heist.

Other awesome stories include Bruce Costello’s “Ode to Anton,” for Chekhov lovers. Bernice Holtzman’s “The Doll” is everything the narrator longs to be. In E. E. Williams’s tale, “The Glow” from a cell phone screen drives a husband mad. And Kenneth James Crist’s “All the Food Groups” features the garbage disposal from hell.

Our poetry lineup features four intense poems by Craig Kirchner, well as powerful works by Peter Mladinic, Michael Keshigian, John Grey, and others.

Full-length and flash fiction stories (and some poems) are individually illustrated by our gifted artists: Bernice Holtzman, Jack Garrett, Kevin Duncan, Hillary Lyon, J. Elliott, Sophia Wiseman-Rose, Luis Cuauhtémoc Berriozábal, Steve Cartwright, Michael D. Davis, Kelly Moyer, Darren Blanch, Joseph Richkus, Cynthia Fawcett, and W. Jack Savage.

And check out Mike Kerins’s “Scary Santa” 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 Archives I and II, to catch recent stories or poems by your favorite writers you might’ve missed.

And thanks for reading!