Introducing Interlude, New Job Openings, & Crowd Surfing With God
Songbirds, thank you all endlessly for your gorgeous contributions to & kind words on Issue V: Cadenza. As you know, these past weeks have been difficult for the world—& so, the HM team is holding reminders like this close, & playing songs like this on repeat, & remaining beyond anything hopeful that we will survive this horror, too, as we've survived each one before. & to help us in that mission are words for tremulous evenings, & art for quiet afternoons, & music for obvious reasons. As the cadenza era folds to a close, we look forward into the next six months laced with a song only as ephemeral as it is infinite.
Introducing interlude.
(the keystrokes of transitory—the movement in the rest—the inhale before the storm.)
An interlude is a short piece, or portion of a piece, that resides & serves as a transition in between two main pieces of music. It is also the theme for Half Mystic Journal's sixth issue, dropping December 2018. Send us your best writing, art, & music. We're so excited to hear from you.
Interested in joining the magic in a more permanent way? Half Mystic is now hiring for various positions across the spectrum of our press. More information here; if you're an editing, social media, writing, or marketing expert with an interest in contributing deeply to a growing small press, you might be a perfect fit to join the HM team.
Finally, one more note that Half Mystic Press' latest book, Crowd Surfing with God by Adrienne Novy, is available for preorder now. This book is a coming of age journey through poems: a story of self-acceptance that discusses growing up with a rare genetic disorder & mental illness, family & being in a multifaith household, pop culture, & the acts of playing & listening to music bringing you closer to yourself & to healing. It embodies HM's mission beautifully & fully, & we're thrilled to gift it to you this August.
Hanif Abdurraqib said of the book: “Crowd Surfing With God is a book of consistent breaking and re-fixing. I love most how the book pulls at the edges of all of Adrienne Novy’s many parts, stepping outside the binaries of love, loss, identity, genre, and all manner of things holy. There is sharp language, and palpable imagery, yes. But what works best about the book is how it grabs a reader by each arm, dragging them into many new directions, where something new and impossibly bright is waiting to be discovered.”
Caitin Stickels said: “All of us cry and yet still the next day arrives, whether we like it or not, but it presents itself with an invitation to move forward in life. Strength lives within vulnerability. This book is a prime example of just that. It’s inspiring to anyone who has felt like a bit of a misfit, a black sheep, or a burden. It’s a gift to be able to share our stories and rise above, so I hope that it is well received and keeps on inspiring others to live through our pain. Those who get to read this can find relation and comfort in the most sincere manner and are lucky to have stumbled upon such an eye opening book. Thank you, Adrienne.”
& Bianca Phipps said: “Throughout this book, Adrienne asks the reader to not only reveal their softness, but revel in it. This book is a dance party, a late night confession, and a victory anthem to belt in the car. It invites us to praise the music that saved us and the people we sing along with. Holy is our survival. Fierce is our living. Let us celebrate what created us by not destroying us, and sing the chorus one more time.”
More very soon, but if your interest is piqued, you can preorder your copy of Crowd Surfing With God today. As well, don't forget to share your work with us for Issue VI: Interlude (writers, artists, musicians). Explore all these wild bright places with us, these songs in silence, these eye-lit surrenders. We're grateful for your support now & always.