Q: Who are you? And why do you think you know so much?
A: I'm a 30-something, unknown writer, who just signed a contract with Unbridled Books to publish my first novel "The Evolution of Shadows." I earned my BA in English Creative Writing from Kansas State University and my MFA in Writing and Poetics from Naropa University. Occasionally, I teach composition to uninterested community college students. Most of the time, however, I work as the inventory manager for an independent bookstore, frequent coffee shops and bars, and say obnoxious things without meaning to.
Q: What's with the name of your magazine?
A: The first storyteller was the tribal shaman and the stories the shaman told became the myths of the tribe. Those myths eventually became the religions we have today. At one point, before religion became a dogmatic tool for oppression, the dual impulses of faith and art were unified. As religion became more frightened of imagination and wonder, of self-expression as a means to reach our holiness, art broke away. I've borrowed or mutated a lot of these ideas from other, greater thinkers. The Project for a New Mythology was mostly inspired by Joseph Campbell's interviews with Bill Moyers (the PBS special "The Power of Myth" and the companion book) but also by John Berger's "Ways of Seeing" and "About Looking," plus Edward O. Wilson's book "Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge." All of it is succinctly collected in a quote from Bosnian writer Dzevad Karahasan, who wrote: "For, let us not fool ourselves: the world is written first - the holy books say that it was created in words – and all that happens in it, happens in language first." The old mythologies, created by the primitive shaman and now mutated into codified, dogmatic religions, are failing us – they have become proscriptive and prescriptive rather than descriptive of actual experience. We need a new mythology, and art is where we'll find it.
Q: If you're so into finding a "new" mythology, why the Minotaur on everything? That's an old myth.
A: The past is an important part of any future as George Santayana pointed out with his famous, almost overused line "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
The Minotaur happens to be my favorite myth. When I was putting together the first issue, Mark Bradshaw presented me with the Minotaur drawing and asked if I'd like to use it for the cover. We hadn't talked much about the magazine at that point, I had mentioned the name to him, but his drawing was a wonderful collision of circumstance. So, it stuck.
Q: How are submissions selected?
A: Right now, all submissions are reviewed and selected by me. I look for things that I find well-written, interesting, artful, and mature.
Q: Where can I get a copy?
A: Right here on this website under the Current Issue button. You'll need to email me for the User ID and Password.
Q: How much is a copy?
A: Free.There are plans in the works to make special, limited edition, hand-bound copies of current issues and to sell them. That plan has not been finalized and no prices have been set.
Q: When is your submission deadline?
A: With the magazine now being a biannual, the spring deadline is February 28th. The Fall Deadline is August 31st.
Q: How can I order a back issue?
A: Send an email to me telling which issue you are interested in. Some issues are permanently sold out. If the one you want is still available, I'll direct you to the P4NM Paypal service to make a donation of at least $5.