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The New Mythic: A Sci-Fi & Fantasy Collection
Six writers - six worlds - six incredible stories.
Cooling Engines: A pathfinder must navigate his way through intrigue and deceit in the crumbled remains of civilization.
Glyphlight: A bloodcurdling whisper follows two young siblings looking for their lost father in the bowels of a dark mine deep beneath the earth.
The Traitor: A warrior clan tracks a sandship full of riches. But when the blood starts spilling, old debts arise and loyalties are tested.
Enter Elias Schmidt: A man before his time alters history irreversibly with his human-like machine. But not everyone is satisfied in this AI-orchestrated paradise, where everyone “should” be happy.
Town Hall Steps: Four mates unwittingly party through the evacuation of Sydney, and must now find their way to safety through the zombie horde.
The Stolen Sword: A young survivor of the clan war finds a priceless artefact, but when he attempts to barter it with the emperor, he discovers that the most powerful man alive wants something else entirely.
Dark tales, alternate fantasies, a mythology that never was - The New Mythic is a collection of short stories like no other.
Including beautiful, full-page illustrations for both Digital & Paperback versions.
The New Mythic: the new voice of 21st speculative fiction. An all-new anthology of chilling horror, apocalyptic science fiction and awe-inspiring fantasy, by an award winning ensemble of international writers.
Cooling Engines: A pathfinder must navigate his way through intrigue and deceit in the crumbled remains of civilization.
Glyphlight: A bloodcurdling whisper follows two young siblings looking for their lost father in the bowels of a dark mine deep beneath the earth.
The Traitor: A warrior clan tracks a sandship full of riches. But when the blood starts spilling, old debts arise and loyalties are tested.
Enter Elias Schmidt: A man before his time alters history irreversibly with his human-like machine. But not everyone is satisfied in this AI-orchestrated paradise, where everyone “should” be happy.
Town Hall Steps: Four mates unwittingly party through the evacuation of Sydney, and must now find their way to safety through the zombie horde.
The Stolen Sword: A young survivor of the clan war finds a priceless artefact, but when he attempts to barter it with the emperor, he discovers that the most powerful man alive wants something else entirely.
Dark tales, alternate fantasies, a mythology that never was - The New Mythic is a collection of short stories like no other.
Available in paperback and digital.
Authored by: James Healy, Matan Elul, Paddy Boylan, Phoenix Raig, A.R. Eldridge and Alexandria Burnham.
- GenresHorror
184 pages, Paperback
Published November 29, 2022
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17 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 1, 2023
I was kindly gifted this book of short stories from one of the authors, A. R. Eldridge, for an honest review. Thank you.
I find it hard at times to rate/review a compilation of stories as a whole. The New Mythic has six short stories written by six different authors. They range from sci-fi, fantasy, and a bit of horror. As a whole, I enjoyed the book. As always with a short story collection, some stories stood out more than others. It took me awhile to finish for various reasons, but really should have been a quick read. The first three stories didn't capture me the way that I had hoped and I struggled to want to pick up the book. The last three however, I flew through quickly. (I had also been sick for quite some time, so that may have had something to do with speed)
Each story began with a black and white illustration depicting a scene. All of the artwork was wonderful.
I'm going to talk a little about each story individually, and put what genre I think each story fits into.
1. Cooling Engines - It took me three times starting this one to really get into it. Sometimes short stories can be hard to get into because they start in the middle of a story. This is how I felt about Cooling Engines. I also predicted the ending. This reminded me of a tale of people moving through the old west almost. It was a group of people, crossing the country on foot, with wagons, etc. (dystopia)
2. Glyphlight - This story gets a bit scary. We have two children searching for their father in an old mine. We have a possible monster and a mysterious illness. I liked Glyphlight much more than Cooling Engines. (horror)
3. The Traitor - I was lost the whole time reading this. I think it was about land pirates raiding a ship across the desert. (sci fi)
4. Enter Elias Schmidt - Here we have a man who has basically created a world wide AI system. I am not super knowledgeable about AI, nor do I understand most high levels of technology, but this was a fun, exciting story that I wanted more of. (sci fi)
5. Town Hall Steps - Zombies. I wanted more of this. (horror)
6. The Stolen Sword - Two brothers trying to survive after a war, and one has powers. They end up in the emperor's palace and one brother is put in a contest to possibly be the next emperor. This had good magic, battles, quick character development. I wanted more. (fantasy)
I find it hard at times to rate/review a compilation of stories as a whole. The New Mythic has six short stories written by six different authors. They range from sci-fi, fantasy, and a bit of horror. As a whole, I enjoyed the book. As always with a short story collection, some stories stood out more than others. It took me awhile to finish for various reasons, but really should have been a quick read. The first three stories didn't capture me the way that I had hoped and I struggled to want to pick up the book. The last three however, I flew through quickly. (I had also been sick for quite some time, so that may have had something to do with speed)
Each story began with a black and white illustration depicting a scene. All of the artwork was wonderful.
I'm going to talk a little about each story individually, and put what genre I think each story fits into.
1. Cooling Engines - It took me three times starting this one to really get into it. Sometimes short stories can be hard to get into because they start in the middle of a story. This is how I felt about Cooling Engines. I also predicted the ending. This reminded me of a tale of people moving through the old west almost. It was a group of people, crossing the country on foot, with wagons, etc. (dystopia)
2. Glyphlight - This story gets a bit scary. We have two children searching for their father in an old mine. We have a possible monster and a mysterious illness. I liked Glyphlight much more than Cooling Engines. (horror)
3. The Traitor - I was lost the whole time reading this. I think it was about land pirates raiding a ship across the desert. (sci fi)
4. Enter Elias Schmidt - Here we have a man who has basically created a world wide AI system. I am not super knowledgeable about AI, nor do I understand most high levels of technology, but this was a fun, exciting story that I wanted more of. (sci fi)
5. Town Hall Steps - Zombies. I wanted more of this. (horror)
6. The Stolen Sword - Two brothers trying to survive after a war, and one has powers. They end up in the emperor's palace and one brother is put in a contest to possibly be the next emperor. This had good magic, battles, quick character development. I wanted more. (fantasy)
December 3, 2022
Let me start off by commending the six authors who were able to come together to create this book. The reason I'm giving this book 3/5 stars is that I'm not a big science-fiction fan, but I do love fantasy (spellcasting, epic battles, etc). I loved the artwork displayed before each story, and that the artists were credited on the copyright page (as they should be). Alright, now I decided to give this book a shot to see if it could persuade me to start loving sci-fi. Also, I'm big on supporting other authors. This book didn't convince me to hope on the sci-fi train, but who knows maybe in the future. I would have liked more fantasy within the book. Out of the six short stories, the more memorable ones to me were "Glyphlight" by Matan Elul and "Town Hall Steps" by A.R. Eldridge. The pacing in the two short stories and the characters held my interest. "Town Hall Steps" would be my favorite. The humor, the imagery/sensory, the characters, the suspense, and the way the author used descriptive language. As I was reading I was able to imagine that I was right there in the zombie apocalypse.
Overall, I believe this book as a whole is best targeted to sci-fi readers.
Overall, I believe this book as a whole is best targeted to sci-fi readers.
December 5, 2022
The New Mythic is a collection of six short stories - with a great variety from AI-robot future sci-fi, horror with zombies and other monsters and sword & sorcery fantasy. If you love speculative fiction, you will absolutely find something here you adore.
Each story is fully realised in its own world, with compelling characters and satisfying arcs - in particular, Cooling Engines starts off really tense! This is a thoughtful collection where time and careful detail have clearly gone into each one. The action sequences are great, and The Traitor and Glyphlight stand out for their wonderful prose.
This book is YA appropriate.
Each story is fully realised in its own world, with compelling characters and satisfying arcs - in particular, Cooling Engines starts off really tense! This is a thoughtful collection where time and careful detail have clearly gone into each one. The action sequences are great, and The Traitor and Glyphlight stand out for their wonderful prose.
This book is YA appropriate.
February 13, 2023
It took me a while to read this because I kept putting it off, but once I started I finished it pretty fast. I think I read the first two stories in 1-2 days and the rest in the weekend later.
I really liked Glyphlight because I like that the characters were young and sensitive and I hate when horror stories have characters no one cares about.
Enter Elias Schmidt is also very cool because of the creativity of the world the writer made. The Stolen Sword has a lot of awesome action.
I really liked Glyphlight because I like that the characters were young and sensitive and I hate when horror stories have characters no one cares about.
Enter Elias Schmidt is also very cool because of the creativity of the world the writer made. The Stolen Sword has a lot of awesome action.
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June 27, 2025I don't want giving particular stars review since it would be impartial (given that I knew them as my writing mentors), however I would say some of my favourites pieces from this book are Glyphlights and Town Hall Sydney (even though horror isnt my favourite genre). And I would do honorable mention for My Name is Elphias (since Scifi is my thingy) and The Stolen Sword (sounds like complicated fantasy worldbuilding but Ally's writing was easy to comprehend).
December 8, 2022
It's been some time since I've read anything by new and up-and-coming authors, and searching about for new science fiction to read one day I discover this
By far the best story collection I've read in some time. Collections can be lacklustre, this one was not. Fantasy and sci fi, leans towards the dark. A great little read. I was pleasantly surprised 5/5
By far the best story collection I've read in some time. Collections can be lacklustre, this one was not. Fantasy and sci fi, leans towards the dark. A great little read. I was pleasantly surprised 5/5
January 10, 2023
Thrilling and terrifying tales! This was a compelling collection of great stories.
March 7, 2023
From the entertaining to the thought-provoking, The New Mythic is a solid anthology of fantasy/sci-fi stories that is bound to resonate with many readers. A pleasure to read.
June 12, 2023
Some good stories here, especially "Glyphlight" and "The Stolen Sword" (which should probably be made into its own novel).
February 6, 2023
A short anthology with a couple of decent stories but also a couple of stinkers. The two stories I enjoyed most were The Traitor and The Stolen Sword.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews