HIRAETH PUBLISHING’S
FEBRUARY 2025 NEWSLETTER
THIS JUST IN:
A new restaurant has opened up in Punxatawney, PA, with a specialty in Panko woodchuck nuggets, locals having determined that they are tired of shadows (to say nothing of winter). In the town square, a sundial has already been erected with Phil’s defleshed vertebrae serving as a gnomon, one that is expressly incapable of ever casting a shadow, regardless of the position of the sun, condition of the sky, or time of year.
In related news, the owners and managers of hotels and ski resorts in Aspen, CO, have established a fund to feed, rear, and train the Punxies, Phil’s numerous progeny, in the art of casting shadows. At this time, however, President Trump has placed a hold on the distribution of these funds until efficiency and national security evaluations have been conducted by, respectively, Elon Musk and Secretary Noem. A final report is expected no earlier than 2 February 2029.
In international developments, President Trump announced plans to encourage Vladimir Putin to negotiate a settlement of the war in Ukraine by sending one hundred mating pairs of Punxies to Russia, where they have no natural enemies who will eat them except for a certain governor and an ex-governor who are obviously on a see-food diet. There the Punxies will reproduce like rabbits did in Australia…unless Putin agrees to come to the negotiating table. This could well lead to peace in our time, or to a new chain of McDonald’s that serves a different sort of Big Mac, Quarter-Pounder, and McNugget. More on this as the restaurant chain develops an appropriate special sauce and sesame seed brioche.
AND NOW, BACK TO OUR REGULAR PROGRAMMING:
As announced previously, in one way or another:
THE MARTIAN WAVE AND THE FIFTH DI… UPDATE
REPEATING: The March 2025 issue of The Martian Wave and the April 2025 issue of The Fifth Di… will be the last issues of the respective publications by Hiraeth Publishing. Submissions will continue to be read for suitability for two of our other ongoing publications: Shelter of Daylight, and Cosmic Crime Stories, and for a new SF/F digest called Jupiter’s Eye (introduced below).
New guidelines for Shelter of Daylight are posted at: https://www.hiraethsffh.com/shelter-of-daylight
The new submissions address is shelterdaylight@yahoo.com
New guidelines for Cosmic Crime Stories are posted at: https://www.hiraethsffh.com/cosmic-crime-stories-guidelines
The new submissions address is cosmiccrimestories@yahoo.com
JUPITER’S EYE
Jupiter’s Eye is a digest of science fiction and fantasy and (very few) darker short stories, poems, and art. It is published in April, August, and December. In general, there will be three stories, three poems, three illustrations, and one article in each issue, so competition will be intense. Editors are the Hiraeth Staff. We look forward to seeing your work. Guidelines are posted here: Jupiter's Eye Guidelines | Hiraeth Publishing
ELDER THINGS EXPEDITIONS
Elder Things Expeditions is the seventh in our series of Lovecraftian anthologies. In it, we explore three sections of time in exploration of Antarctica leading to revelations about the nature of the denizens, normal and paranormal, residing there. Reference can be made to funding by Miskatonic University, but be careful how you deal with the names and events that may be protected by copyright. Pay rate for stories is at least semi-pro. Guidelines, which must be read, are posted here: Elder Things Expeditions | Hiraeth Publishing
DRABBLE CONTEST:
Drabble Harvest #13—Hunting With the Wolves is now closed. Winners will be announced in March, and the associated publication will be released shortly thereafter. A new contest will also be announced in March. Stay tuned for further bulletins.
ICYMI: ANNOUNCING A NEW IMPRINT FROM HIRAETH PUBLISHING
Now Hiraeth Books has an imprint called Into The Light. Books under this imprint will focus on Christianity. Currently, we are open to submissions to a digest called MEDITATIONS. See below. The first novel under Into The Light, “Miracle at the Foundry,” was released in September. It is to be noted that this imprint in no way affects our genre publications under Hiraeth Publishing.
We have opened an e-mail address for Into The Light. It is into the light books @ gmail dot com. You will have to combine it. The editors who work at that address are: Teri Santitoro, Francis W. Alexander, and Tyree Campbell. Just below is the submissions blurb for Meditations.
ICYMI: ANNOUNCING A NEW ANTHOLOGY OPEN TO SUBMISSIONS…
The title of the anthology is MEDITATIONS: a Minimalist Poetry Anthology for Christians. We are looking for haiku and tanka written in the spirit of Christian love and peace. It is imperative that contributors read the guidelines. Guidelines are posted and may be read here: https://www.hiraethsffh.com/meditations
Also to be published under the INTO THE LIGHT imprint is an anthology of short fiction titled “At the Hour of Our Death.” Hopefully February. Watch for it.
DIGITAL STORE REMINDER
We have two digital stores, one for PDFs, the other for ePubs. This is the link to our digital store: https://www.hiraethsffh.com/digital-store Come check out our titles!
COLOR INTERIOR ART
Printing in color can be prohibitively expensive. However, the current issues of Drabble Harvest #11 and the Winter (January) Illumen both feature color interiors. You’re invited to check them out. We expect to continue this process with Drabble Harvest, Illumen, and a few other publications, such as Flash Digest.
SCIFAIKUEST FEBRUARY 2025 ONLINE EDITION
Edited by t.santitoro
This edition is available on our site. It is not the same as the print edition. Come read and enjoy! Here’s the link: https://www.hiraethsffh.com/scifaikuest-online
STORE SALES:
Next up, and at the risk of being somewhat repetitive, because we want our storytellers and poets to be read, and our artists to be seen:
THERE’S A SALE GOING ON!!!
IT’S STILL GOING ON!!!
BUY ALL THE BOOKS YOU WANT AND USE THIS 20% DISCOUNT CODE:
​
BOOKS2025
THIS DISCOUNT CAN BE USED AS MANY TIMES AS YOU WISH, SO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT!
GO TO OUR SHOP AT WWW.HIRAETHSFFH.COM
NO MASKS, NO WAITING, AND WE NEVER CLOSE!
LASTLY, BOOKS MAKE GOOD HOLIDAY AND BIRTHDAY PRESENTS…
NEW RELEASES:
WHAT’S NEW, PUSSYCAT?
​
SCIFAIKUEST FEBRUARY 2025 (#87)
Scifaikuest is a quarterly digest of minimalist poetry, such as haiku, scifaiku, tanka, cherita, fibonacci, haibun, senryu, gogyoka, saturne, and others. Also included are articles relevant to poetry and to minimalist poetry. In this issue:
​
Featured Poet: Royal Baysinger
​
The Richard E. Schell Page
The Geetanjali Lachke Page
The Gary Davis Page
…and much more!!
​
Cover art by Richard E. Schell
​
Ordering Links:
Print: SCIFAIKUEST February 2025 | Hiraeth Publishing
PDF: SCIFAIKUEST February 2025 | Hiraeth Publishing
ePub: SCIFAIKUEST February 2025 | Hiraeth Publishing
SPACEPORTS & SPIDERSILK FEBRUARY 2025
Spaceports & Spidersilk features science fiction and fantasy for ages 9 to 99. It presents adventures on other planets and in imaginary worlds. Inside these pages you’ll find visitors from other worlds, dragons, magic, and strange friends.
Stories
Valaxian Bakeries Contest for Budding Space Cadets Award by William J. Joel
The Haunted Classroom by William Shaw
The Right Side of the Road by Lydia Volokh
Boots by DJ Tyrer
Space Station Zero-G by James Fitzsimmons
The Field Trip by Ellie Murphy
Thaw by Alex McNall
​
Poetry
Familiar Moon by Greer Woodward
Tanka by Lauren McBride
The Space Creature Crew by Guy Belleranti
A Dragon’s Allergies by Brian Rosenberger
A Dog’s World by Lisa Timpf
Before Plants by Jamie Manias
Wicked Woods by Leigh Therriault
​
Illustrations
Dragon Reading Material by Lisa Timpf
Renfield by Michelle St. James
Cover art “Cat Spells” by Barbara Candiotti
Ordering links:
Print: SPACEPORTS & SPIDERSILK February 2025 | Hiraeth Publishing
PDF: SPACEPORTS & SPIDERSILK February 2025 | Hiraeth Publishing
ePub: SPACEPORTS & SPIDERSILK February 2025 | Hiraeth Publishing
CRIMSON BLADE BY MIKE ADAMSON
In a world of billions of humans, vampires keep a low profile. Lucinda Crane, changeling, is five centuries old, but her loyalties have always remained with we mortals. Unknown to police, ignored by science, she wages war against her own kind and all the countless occult threats to life in a world that has chosen to believe in nothing...
Ordering Links:
Print: www.hiraethsffh.com/product-page/crimson-blade-by-mike-adamson
PDF: www.hiraethsffh.com/product-page/crimson-blade-by-mike-adamson-1
ePub: www.hiraethsffh.com/product-page/crimson-blade-by-mike-adamson-2
CATS AND DOGS IN SPACE BY LISA TIMPF
Cats in lab coats, running experiments on us. Robot dogs roaming Mars. Space-faring canines who mistake alien vessels for fetch toys. There are just some of the images you’ll find in here. With inspiration from myths, news stories, nursery rhymes, personal experience, and a lifelong interest in science fiction, the poems are written in a variety of styles for your reading enjoyment. Reaching from the distant past to the far future, and points in between, Cats and Dogs in Space invites you to have some fun re-imagining man’s best friend—and whatever it is that cats call themselves.
When we beamed the book to the future, here’s what readers had to say:
“Purrfectly delightful! Enjoyable for readers of any stripe. Some of these poems are enough to make a cat laugh!” Festus, ship’s cat aboard the Silver Starr Spaceliner Frederika.
“Meaty as a prime rib bone, and just as much fun to chew on! I’d give it two thumbs up—if I had opposable thumbs . . . ” Pepper, K-9 Operative, Galactic Space Services
So there you have it! Get your claws on a copy today!
Ordering Links:
Print: www.hiraethsffh.com/product-page/cats-and-dogs-in-space-by-lisa-timpf
PDF: www.hiraethsffh.com/product-page/cats-and-dogs-in-space-by-lisa-timpf-1
ePub: www.hiraethsffh.com/product-page/cats-and-dogs-in-space-by-lisa-timpf-2
THE DRAGON’S BITE and Other Flights of Fancy BY MATIAS F. TRAVIESO-DIAZ
Where can you find Pandora, Medusa, Mozart, Charles Mason, Little Red Riding Hood, Nithoggs, dragons, Billy Bob Morton, brownies, Oxlicker, Prometheus, the Dalai Lama, and Roger? Why, right here in this collection of fantasy and slipstream tales from long ago and tomorrow. There are tales to mystify, classify, spotify, and thrill to, with a cast of characters even George Lucas (who is not in these tales) would find difficult to match. Read them all at once, or one at a time. You’ll have a better grip on reality and even a handle on surreality…and you’ll never want to let go of either.
Ordering Links:
Print: www.hiraethsffh.com/product-page/dragons-bite-other-flights-of-fancy-by-matias-f-travieso-diaz
PDF: www.hiraethsffh.com/product-page/dragons-bite-other-flights-of-fancy-by-matias-f-travieso-diaz-1
ePub: www.hiraethsffh.com/product-page/dragons-bite-other-flights-of-fancy-by-matias-f-travieso-diaz-2
CROTALUS BY TYREE CAMPBELL
This is a $1.99 romantic horror short story available in ePub and PDF.
Summary: It’s the 25th anniversary of Lydia and Phil. She’s thinking diamond; he’s thinking beer and a pizza, followed by some squeaky bedsprings. The war has lasted for a quarter-century of snarking and back-biting. Welcome to the dark side, Lydia.
Ordering links:
ePub: CROTALUS by Tyree Campbell | Hiraeth Publishing
PDF: CROTALUS by Tyree Campbell | Hiraeth Publishing
ALSO DUE OUT IN FEBRUARY:
​
SECRETS OF THE NETHER MOOR BY ALLISON TEBO
AT THE HOUR OF OUR DEATH EDITED BY TOBY CAMPBELL
POSSIBLY OTHER PUBLICATIONS…
ICYMI:
SHELTER OF DAYLIGHT JANUARY 2025
Shelter of Daylight features positive science fiction and fantasy short stories, poems, and illustrations. In this issue:
Short Stories
The Wolf Who Cried by Maureen Bowden
The Ugly Fairy by Matias Travieso-Diaz
Rover by Gustavo Bondoni
Shoebox by Sandra Siegienski
On Holy Ground by Mitchell D. Kowitz
​
Flash Fiction
The Caged Bird and the Fairy by Matias Travieso- Diaz
Poetry
Eadon by Lee Clark Zumpe
let there be worlds aplenty by Lee Clark Zumpe
trailblazers and visionaries by Lee Clark Zumpe
Ordering links:
Print: SHELTER OF DAYLIGHT January 2025 | Hiraeth Publishing
PDF: SHELTER OF DAYLIGHT January 2025 | Hiraeth Publishing
ePub: SHELTER OF DAYLIGHT January 2025 | Hiraeth Publishing
​
FLASH DIGEST JANUARY 2025:
In this issue:
Features
Movie Review: Lola by Lee Clark Zumpe
​
Stories
We Do What We Must by Denise Hatfield
Mission Hephaestus V by Richard E. Schell
Once More, With Feeling by Tyree Campbell
FCB by Barry O’Farrell
The Chicken Dilemmas by Scott Virtes
The Contest Winner by Matthew Wilson
​
Illustrations
Mystic Librarian by Sandy DeLuca
Red Forest Woman by Sandy DeLuca
Ordering links:
Print: FLASH DIGEST January 2025 | Hiraeth Publishing
PDF: FLASH DIGEST January 2025 | Hiraeth Publishing
ePub: FLASH DIGEST January 2025 | Hiraeth Publishing
ILLUMEN WINTER 2025
Illumen is a quarterly digest of science fiction and fantasy poetry, including minimalist forms such as haiku, haibun, empat perkataan, cinquains, and others, as well as more traditional formats for poetry, such as rhyming and free verse and experimental.
Featured Poet: Jane Stuart
Plus Amanda Niamh Dawson, n a spencer, Peter Roberts, Sandy DeLuca, and many more.
Color interiors by Sandy DeLuca and April Lefleur
Ordering links:
Print: ILLUMEN Winter 2025 | Hiraeth Publishing
PDF: ILLUMEN Winter 2025 | Hiraeth Publishing
ePub: ILLUMEN Winter 2025 | Hiraeth Publishing
THE RED FOIL
by t.santitoro
When Soefee Sparrow’s roommate and ex-lover, Tayla Block, goes missing aboard a space mining station, Sparrow—a rocket-horse jockey—suddenly finds herself under suspicion of murder. Despite the mining company's main source of income—megatons of industrial minerals and gemstones—no one but Soefee seems to be searching for their leading geologist. Were gemstones being stolen from the mining company? Did it have anything to do with Block’s disappearance? Why was everyone being so tight-lipped? What happened to Tayla Block, and why wasn't anything being done to find her?
Enter Jicob Elfrendini, an undercover agent for IBCP, a division of Law Enforcement employed to ensure against the theft of valuable gems. But Elfrendini has secrets of his own. And then a woman’s dead body is found at the bottom of a mine shaft and, together, Soefee and Jicob must work to find out who killed Tayla Block—and WHY?
Ordering Links
Print: https://www.hiraethsffh.com/product-page/red-foil-by-t-santitoro
PDF: https://www.hiraethsffh.com/product-page/red-foil-by-t-santitoro-1
ePub: https://www.hiraethsffh.com/product-page/red-foil-by-t-santitoro-2
THE FUTURE ADVENTURES OF BAILEY BELVEDERE
By Tyree Campbell
As the societies of Earth collapse into chaos and destruction, Bailey Belvedere, a U.S. Army Intelligence officer fighting for her very survival, steals aboard an alien spacecraft, and soon finds herself given the authority and power by a superior alien entity to intervene in various problems in the Galaxy. Along the way she frees a world from interstellar slave traffickers, deals with an AI who becomes pregnant, inadvertently destroys a waffle house, fights against the abductors of a special child, and generally finds herself in some sort of trouble one moment to the next.
Ordering Links:
Print Edition: https://www.hiraethsffh.com/product-page/further-adventures-of-bailey-belvedere-by-tyree-campbell
PDF Edition: https://www.hiraethsffh.com/product-page/further-adventures-of-bailey-belvedere-by-tyree-campbell-1
Without further ado, then: browse, read, buy, enjoy. If you have any questions or comments, send them to us at hiraethsubs at yahoo dot com. See you at Punxatawney!
Tyree Campbell
Storyteller and Managing Editor
Febrewery 2025