A collection of all the articles we’ve published over the past month, for those who like to savor their Magpies’ tidings as an issue.
November Issue, 2026
“Tell all the truth but tell it slant: Letter from the editor, November, 2026
November ramblings.
The Ghost in White: Edo Horror and the Birth of Sadako
In the age of endlessly reproducible digital images, the deeper metaphor feels even more familiar:
The haunted image no longer needs a well, a cassette, or even a television. It only needs somewhere to be seen—and someone willing to pass it on.
Three Stops
“The cemetery stood on an island. People said that one day the island would disappear beneath the water. My father wanted to record the place before that happened. So we began keeping notes and drawings of everything we noticed there.”
Fiction: Moving Day
The sixth trip up the stairs I see them. Sometimes you can go the whole day without seeing anyone, and I thought it was going to be like that. Little did I know.
Raven Season: Karen Clarkson
“The mischievous Raven existed at that time because he always had.”
Fiction: Every Dream Come True
“And though it’s always sweet sorrow to part, you know you’ll always remain in my heart, Good night, sleep tight and pleasant dreams to you, Here’s a wish and a prayer that every dream comes true.”
The Mā-hua-tsìng & The Strait
Set between the muddy paddy fields of Taiwan and a cold college room in California, this story weaves together Taiwanese bird ecology , traditional Taiwanese street delicacies and a linguistic misunderstanding. It explores how food, nature, and intergenerational love can cross geographical and historical oceans when words fail.
Criticism in World Literature and Cinema: A Unified Perspective
At its core, criticism asks a fundamental question: how do artistic works produce meaning?
Mistress of a New World
The Blazing World — via a dizzy mix of animal-human hybrids, Immaterial Spirits, and burning foes — tells of a woman’s absolute rule as Empress over a parallel planet. Emily Lord Fransee reflects on what the book and its author Margaret Cavendish can teach us about empire, gender, and imagination in the 17th century.
