Editor’s note
Welcome to the Fall issue of the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable. We are busy picking apples and prepping a pot of soup for the chilly days of autumn.
We’ve also pulled together some great reading for you. Our featured story, “String Theory,” by BWG member DT Krippene, takes a humorous look at one way to trigger memory.
We are also featuring the Honorable Mention stories from our 2026 Short Story Awards. In “Our Better Angels,” author Phil Giunta offers a science fiction tale about sacrifice for the greater good. In Rob Sheely’s “Mustard,” we learn about the peculiar effects of a familiar condiment. An enchantment goes awry in “Ned’s Bedevilment” by Claire A. Murray. And in “Dr. Marlo Leads the Insect Revolution” by Roger J. Johns, the sky’s the limit.
This issue also includes my interview with mystery author Misty Simon. Our spotlight feature focuses on Mizuki Yamagen, one of the winners from our 2025 Short Story Award. And Literary Learnings delves into eco-horror and climate fiction.
I’ll use this space to remind you that our 2027 Short Story Award opens for submissions on January 1. The theme is historical fiction, and our judge is Catriona McPherson.
Grab a cup of warm spiced tea and settle in to be entertained!
Announcing
Illusive Worlds
Sweet, Funny, and Strange® Tales
of
Science Fiction and Fantasy
BWG’s 9th anthology, Illusive Worlds: Sweet, Funny, and Strange® Tales of Science Fiction and Fantasy, publishing date is October 16th. However, It is available for preorder now, and the ebook is only 99¢ (for a very limited time).
Featured Story
“String Theory” by DT Krippene
With my feet propped on the printer stand, I stared at the cursor on a blank page of my current manuscript. The local heatwave must have short-circuited my brain’s memory synapses. Whatever I needed to remember dangled out of reach, as if mocking me.
The twenty-year-old outdoor AC condenser outside my home office wailed like a dying coyote on another triple-digit day with ninety-five percent humidity. Sweat beaded on my bare chest despite the old 180-degree oscillating fan from my college days rattling on the corner of my office desk. It had been two years since the last time Pennsylvania weather went bonkers. At least then, I got a decent fiction magazine story out of it with “The Wrathful Goddesses of Spring.”
Also in this issue
“Our Better Angels” by Phil Giunta
“Mustard” by Rob Sheely
“Ned’s Bedevilment” by Claire A murray
“Dr. Marlo Leads the Insect Revolution” by Roger J. Johns
Interview with author Misty Simon
Literary Learnings by Dianna Sinovic
Spotlight on Mizuki Yamagen