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Artist, Heather Oliver             

Stone Telling: Speculative Poetry

On September 15, editor/writer Rose Lemberg is launching Stone Telling, an online magazine of speculative poetry.  The inaugural issue will contain poems by Ursula Le Guin and Calvin Johnson.  It will also contain an essay by me about songs of the Akrítai — the Byzantine border guards.  An Akritikón sung by the famous Cretan singer and lyre player Nikos Ksilouris will accompany the essay.

Image: the cover for issue 1 of Stone Telling; Friendship (1906) by Mikalojus Konstantinas Chiurlionis

9 Responses to “Stone Telling: Speculative Poetry”

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  2. Thanks for posting this! It’s always great to see this cycle of songs abroad. Not to mention hear our Kretan archangel’s voice…

    I’ll have to make a note to post this everywhere on the web come the 15th…

    Interestingly, I just sold a story titled “On Marble Threshing Floors” (= sta marmarenia alonia, in case it doesn’t register right away), inspired by, well, it should be obvious to you. 😉 It focuses on the Amazon Maximu.

    Apologies for the shameless spam, but I just thought it might interest you. Great minds think alike and all that. :p

    Let me know if you’re interested in reading it, and I’ll send you the publication details.

  3. Athena says:

    Christine, need you ask?? Of course I want to read your story. Speaking of thinking alike, I mention Maximo and the Amazons in the essay, including the findings of female chieftain skeletons in the Black Sea kurgan tombs.

    I’ll make another announcement on the 15th, accompanied by an image that may or may not get included in the essay (I don’t know how much space Rose has, although online constraints are looser than print).

  4. Cool. 🙂 And this reminds me to go write a Wikipedia entry for Maximo, but I’ve left those books in my old home… Poor gal deserves to be more than a footnote in Digenis’ entry.

    The story will appear in Cabinet des Fees (http://www.cabinetdesfees.com/), one of my favorite ezines, in their January 2011 issue. Very fitting, since this story is very dear to my heart. 🙂 When their editor sends me the contracts, I’ll tell her about your article, because they may be interested in linking to it.

    And since publication date is so far in the future, I can always email you the .doc file. 😉

  5. Athena says:

    Small world! Erzebet and I have exchanged e-mails, she knows of my work.

    I’d love to see a preview of the story, thank you so much! And if the Stone Telling article appears without its images, I’ll send you the file that contains them.

  6. Small world indeed. And I’d love to see those images, if they don’t go with the article.

    I’m emailing you at the gmail address of your contact page.

  7. Athena says:

    Dear Christine, the story is beautiful and the touches are just right. I can hear the echoes very plainly — but then you and I grew up with these, they’re in our blood. Please send me the original Greek quatrain, and I’ll see if your (already excellent) translation can be improved.

    Tell Erzebet that I’ll be happy to write a mini-review for the story and do reciprocal links to my Akritai article. Two decades ago, I wrote a different version of this encounter myself, which got published in the now-defunct magazine After Hours. I’ll mail you the file.

  8. Sue Lange says:

    Congratulations, Athena. Nice cover on that first issue.

  9. Athena says:

    Many thanks, Sue. I hope you like the article!