Introducing Grazioso (&: Welcome to Half Mystic Press)

And here we hold one more issue of Half Mystic Journal in our hands: a home true & unwavering in every shade of night.

HM’s Issue III: Nocturne was rich, abrupt, & unlike any of our previous issues – &, judging from the nonstop gorgeous messages you have been sending us since it dropped, you are just as in love with it as we are. Thank you, dear songbirds, for sending us your dark & gorgeous writing & art & music. We have a feeling that they will carry us & our readers through so many storms. Now, though, the HM team grows tired of darkness. So here we stand, waiting for the next wonder to fall into our arms, & this, finally, is the music we come to:

grazioso.

(the dream-bright waltz – the soft-stained song – the place where sunlight settles & nothing really hurts.)

Grazioso is an Italian musical term defined as “graceful, smooth, or elegant in style”. For this issue we are looking for nothing less than your brightest & most velvet work, lucid & true & flowing. Writing & music submissions are open now for Issue IV: Grazioso; speak to us in sun-language, send us your symphony. The issue will be published this December, & how grateful we are to have the chance to share it with you.

And now to something slightly bigger…

You may have noticed, dear songbirds, that our website looks a wee bit different than when you last saw it.

We are so honoured & delighted to welcome you to the new Half Mystic: a joint small publishing house & literary journal with a redoubled mission of celebrating music in all of its forms. After publishing three successful issues, our team is ready to take on a newly mellifluous challenge. We couldn’t be more excited to unveil Half Mystic Press, a small press that will be publishing three to five books of contemporary poetry & prose per year, in addition to our semiannual issues.

Please note that, unlike in our journal, HMP will be publishing books that are not overtly music-themed. When we ask for music, we mean rhythm, we mean story, we mean luminescence & chaos, pulsing loneliness, ordinary madness, thunder on loop, violent quietude, shivering wonder. We mean truth. We mean work that we can’t help but listen to on repeat, work that makes us believe there is something bigger than all of this endless static.

Just as with the journal, submissions for the press will be open on a rolling basis, with a few short breaks during high-volume submission periods. More information on how to submit a manuscript is right here.

The midnight drive slows; the shadow dance comes to an end. Now we take a deep breath & open ourselves to light.

Submit music to Half Mystic’s Issue IV: Grazioso here. Submit writing to Issue IV or your manuscript to Half Mystic Press here. For updates on what our team is up to, sign up to receive letters from us right here.

Thank you so much for your support. How excited we are to write these next notes in our score with you, to lean forward into song.