Dear Reader,

 

     Hail, well met, and welcome to The Death Emporium! We have every story about death you could ever want! Death stories not your thing? We’ve also got the world’s longest gestation period, some dragons that may or may not be there, a brand new, top-of-the-line government agency, the newest models of lunacy gods and cat teeth, and the best urban fantasy you’ve ever seen! Make sure to stop by the art section for our two-for-one sale on dismembered arms, this year only! Also, make sure to find us at thesanctuarymagazine.com for exclusive online content! Feel free to look around and remember, every day is a good day for pushing up the daisies at The Death Emporium!

 

     At The Sanctuary, we treasure speculative works because they can show us something about our world from an entirely new perspective. Genre and slipstream work has lived so long under beds and in old bookcases behind newer, more "respectable" literature, but slowly the world is changing, and people are beginning to realize the breadth and depth of speculative work and what it brings to our culture and our imaginations.

     I truly believe that the stories that we carry with us make us who we are. I hope that within these pages you find something that makes you think, brings you to tears, punches you in the gut, or makes you want to wash out your eyeballs, because that is what good stories do. So dive in, join us in staring in horror at “Hellions,” looking curiously at the night sky during “Derek Selway’s Livestreamed Journal,” striking back at the world with “White Rabbit,” and remembering that it’s the tiny moments that really matter while reading “Enchanted Blooms.”

     We named this issue The Death Emporium because the meaning and commodification of death was a theme in many of our pieces. But these pieces are not just about death, they are also about birth, recognition, survival, love, exploration, and imagination. Because hope can be found in the darkest of times, and love and light can be found in the oddest of magazines.

     This issue has gone through long hours, countless arguments, some really sketchy tarot readings, and far too many chai lattes. We received an overwhelming number of incredible submissions from all over the world this year, and selecting pieces was a taxing process, but I am incredibly proud of the magazine that we have put together this year, and I can’t wait to share it with you. The Death Emporium awaits.

 

Momento Mori,

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Sarah French

Editor In Chief