Something a Little Mystic
Here is a formula for magic.
First: you string together dots and lines. Smooth them out with curves and zig-zags, if you’d like, or scribble notes in the margins – raise the volume here; play gracefully; now back to normal speed, if you please. Place a clef at the beginning to serve as a language; arrange it all on a canvas of five horizontal bars. And now – you bring people to tears or to laughter or to their feet. You remind them of all those wonders they didn’t realise they had forgotten.
How utterly ridiculous. How utterly incredible.
Lately, I have had days that have felt cold and bleak and never-ending, and yet, here is a funny thing: even during the times when I feel most alone, music has yet to desert me. What a powerful and underestimated sort of loveliness.
You know, I think it’s time to pay it back.
Here is a formula for magic –
– or, perhaps not magic. Something almost like it, though, something very close. Something grounded in reality yet shrouded in enchantment; something that has made its home in the sparkling in-betweens. Born from stardust, bathed in sunbeams, magical and mundane all at once. A shattered epiphany of afterthought. A finite timeless paradox. Something, perhaps, that might be known as –
Half Mystic.
(Or: an independent journal dedicated to the celebration of music in all its forms. A home for creators with études nestled between their ribs and sonatas shivering beneath their spines.)
So here it is – finally, finally, finally! I have been working on this for the past few months (and may I say: not being able to tell anyone was torture), and I am so incredibly delighted to tell you that Half Mystic is real and it is happening, right now.
And something that’s possibly even more exciting: I want you to be part of it.
You see, I need fellow music-lovers to help me take my baby journal to higher places – people who understand and adore music just as much as I do. And I would be so absolutely honoured if you lovelies could be those people, and work with me to turn Half Mystic into a haven for those with grace notes coursing through their veins.
Which is to say: staff applications are open right now. There are spots open for writing, art, and other specialists – if you’re a music lover, I do believe there is a place for you on the team.
Or, if that is not quite your thing, never fear – we do need contributors for Issue I! The theme for this issue, chosen after much deliberation, is Allegro: the skipping pulse, the desperate escape, the dash of fastfastfaster. But of course, twist it as much as you’d like – the more creative, the better.
So this is the project I have been working on! It is something I’ve scoured the magazine scene for – and while there are dozens of independent literary journals, I’ve yet to find an independent music journal. And so, I absolutely cannot wait to see Half Mystic grow into something that all of us can be proud of – something that draws talented contributors from all over. And even more – I cannot wait to work with you on making that a reality.
This will be real and enchanting and magical and mundane and finite and timeless and paradoxical.
But mostly?
It will be a whole lot of fun.