Issue One: The Great Escape

Of course, all fiction, especially speculative fiction, is to some degree about escape. Stories allow us to escape from the icy cold fingers of winter seeping under our bedroom windows, the long dull grind of the last three hours of work on a Friday, from frightening nights when we are children and upsetting news when we’re adults. Stories are the ultimate medicine.

The characters in this, the first issue of Basement Stories are, like us, all running away from something – from the circus, from the cold grip of an unwanted suitor, from the hopelessness of their own situation, from vampires, God, their past, death, and of course, from themselves.

We’re happy to bring you a wide array of stories for this issue. “Dancing Lessons” by Aaron Polson is a beautiful little story about the relationship between a dead man and a little girl. “Nor Youth Nor Age,” by Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, is the story of two parents who have been left behind – in more ways than one – by their runaway son while “The Last Man After the War” by Erich William Bergmeier shows us parents who are unaware of where their children are or if they’re even alive, and receive troublesome visitors. Rajan Khanna and Gary Cuba wrote, respecively, “Flowing Shapes” and “You Can Get Anything You Want at Simon’s Place,” two very different takes on the concept of finding yourself. We have two vampire stories this issue. “The VC and Her BFFL,” by Spencer Koelle, is the tale of an undead cheerleader. “The Passion of the Vampire” by Ericka Kahler, shows us the more painful side of vampirism. Last, but certainly not least, is “The Paper Man Escapes the Great Broken Heart” by George Potter, a story about Frank Zappa, rock n’ roll, and magic.

We’re also delighted to publish a slew of great poets in our first issue. WC Roberts’ “Life Gone On,” is a poem wherein the narrator discovers the dangerous potential of heat. “Dust Particles” by Samuel Mae, has some of the best alliteration you’ll see for a while. Kelsey Willis wrote “Persephone,” a retelling of a very old story. “Caravan,” by Marina Lee Sable, is a quietly epic story of a long journey. And “Wings,” by Edgar Mason is, I think, about dreams.

Speculating about the meaning of poetry is dangerous and could result in angry emails from authors, so let’s move along to our cover artist. The absolutely gorgeous woodcut that serves as our very first piece of cover art is “Passion” by Rhiannon Rasmussen-Silverstein, and we honestly had aesthetic problems putting our magazine’s name on it, it’s so lovely on its own. Before I leave you and let you get to what you really want to read, there’s a quote from “The Paper Man Escapes the Great Broken Heart” that stuck with me as James and I went through the process of (poorly) building the website, (slowly) reading all of your submissions, and constructing this first issue. “Doing what you love always pays you back.” I hope so. I hope this magazine pays you back, too. I know we’re not going to have very many readers – such is the nature of the internet, and of small ezines – but if any of these stories provide you with an escape, that’ll be enough, I think.

Let us know what you think of the issue, of what you liked or didn’t like, of what you thought worked or didn’t. We want every issue to be better than the next. Thanks for reading Basement Stories.

Until next time,

Carol Kirkman
Editor – in – Chief
Basement Stories