Pagan Anthology of Fiction

As many of you know, Pagan Fiction contest winners were announced early this year. The top prize went to April for a story titled "A Valkyrie Among Jews". The winning story appears in the current issue of PanGaia Magazine. (1) The theme of that issue is Pagans & Money.

Thirteen stories were chosen among hundreds of entries. These thirteen will appear in the Pagan Anthology of Fiction. P.A.N will appear in stores in October of 2008. The publisher is Llewellyn.

BBI Media publishes the following magazines: SageWoman ("for Goddess loving women", PanGaia (for earthwise men and women), New Witch (for Pagans 18 - 35, it's motto is "Not your mother's broomstick") and now, Crone, a magazine for women 49 and older.

The Owner and Editor of BBI is Anne Newkirk Niven. Anne and her family recently moved from Northern California to a lovely little town just outside out Portland, OR. Speculation has it that living in close proximity to Powells Books - the largest independent bookstore in the United States and a booklover's wonderland - was a motivating factor.

Whenever folks visit my partner and I here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest we take them to Powell's Books and release them into the stacks equipped with a sandwich, a compass and a whistle. I made this joke recently about our local landmark on a dive boat in Hawaii without mentioning the name of the store, and two people turned around to me and said "Sounds like Powell's". It turned out that both parties were from Oregon. Well, no surprise there. Some of the nicest people we met on our recent trip to the Big Island were from either California, Oregon or New Zealand. (I run across wonderful folks from New Zealand on many of my trips. Why are New Zealanders such good travelers? Why are they so much fun? I really have to go there someday and find out.)

Sia

(1) You can go to their website to order the current edition of PanGaia online or find a list of stores in your area that carry this magazine. In my experience, most Pagan and/or New Ages age stores carry at least one of BBI Media's publications.

Photo: Bast, British Museum