Stone Soup Magazine: January 2021. Volume 49, Issue 1, 48 pp.
Editor’s Note
One of the stories in this issue is called “A Place in the World,” and that phrase perfectly captures how I see the pieces in this issue cohering. How do you—do we, does anyone—find their place in the world? What happens if your place has already been determined or selected for you? What if you don’t like that place? What if your “place” is physical—but then you move? What if you feel like you have no place? These questions have been much on my mind lately as my family and I were displaced for several months because of the fires in our corner of California; they are all questions worth exploring in any medium, and I hope you will do so.
I usually talk about the writing in these notes because most issues are built around the themes I find in the writing, and the artwork follows. But the art we publish, and especially the art in this issue, is simply incredible—imaginative, skillful, beautiful, surprising. For instance, in Mountain and Trees, the mountain seems to be floating—or perhaps it is a lake. The ambiguity is unsettling and gives the piece a mysterious, magical quality. Or in Music to my Ear, I love how the curves of the violin visually echo the curves of the inner ear. Though I don’t have the space to talk about each piece, please spend time looking carefully at all of the art in this issue, noticing what the pieces make you feel or think and why.
Till next time,
– Emma Wood, Editor
Contents
stories
5 When the World Woke Up by Maggie Shelton
6 Jennie’s House by Bo-Violet Vig
11 The Alien Who Copied Everyone by Dana Yehia
21 Sawterra by Rose Amer
25 A Place in the World by Timothy D. Cho
34 The Director by Anya Geist
43 The Famous Painting by Jinhui He
personal narratives
31 Riverside Kingdom by Lydia Taylor
poetry
15 The Moon by Alex Cole
18 The Ambassador by Emma Catherine Hoff
47 The Swan by Gabe Horowitz
art
cover Winter by Leonardo Cavaliere
4 Mountain and Trees by Djin Thornton
7 Through Light and Color by Lauren Yu
10 Invisible to Human by Emi Le
16 Two Drawings by Paris Andreou Hadjipavlou
20 The Little Mermaid by Rebecca Wu
30 Spring by Sloka Ganne
35 Music to My Ear by Keira Zhang
42 Raindrops on Roses by Apoorva Panidapu
48 Honor Roll
