In this issue:

Experience the motley horrors of World War II, as featured author JJ Lee reunites us with his man of mystery and monsters in ‘The Man in the Long Black Coat: Bekker’, and Robin Malcolm unearths long-buried secrets in ‘The Bumblebee’s Daughter’. The secrets continue in field and forest on Canada’s west coast with Chuck Lim’s ‘The Red Tiger’ and KT Wagner’s ‘Cabin Fever’. Meanwhile, appearances intrigue and deceive in Adam Fout’s ‘Black Glass’ and FJ Bergmann’s ‘Yellow Paint’. Magpies are the only birds that can recognize themselves in a mirror. Fitting that our Magpie Award for Poetry winners — Susan Haldane, Jack Waldheim, and Roxanna Bennett — captivate us with their reflections on humanity. A journey through the generations awaits vampires and travellers alike, as Tyner Gillies in ‘The Lord of Lawn Ornaments’ and Susan Pieters in ‘The Map According to Me’ show us that, indeed, wherever you go, there you are. And intrepid adventurers seek their fortunes, whether by horseback to Paris in ‘The Shepherdess’ by JM Landels, or by Model A to California in The Extra: Frankie Ray Goes to Hollywood by Mel Anastasiou.