i44 fourth upload

Author: MythaxisMagazine

content/issue-44/editorial.md

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+What did I say last time out? That it's time to wind down the editorialising in favour of the things that really matter, like enjoying great creative writing and maybe even doing a bit more of my own? Yeah, I think that about sums it up.
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+On the subject of the first, we do indeed have six great new stories that as well as delivering your crime neat also mix it with comedy, horror and science fiction, including contributions from one returning contributor and one world fiction debutant, plus another longform non-fiction essay and a cluster of bite-sized recommendations from amongst the short stories I've read elsewhere online.
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+In fact, 2025 has predominantly been about crime reading for me. Of the nearly 70 books I'll have finished come the end of the year, 40 were crime novels of one variety or another, two were collections of classic shorts (Dashiell Hammett's *The Continental Op* and *Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman* by E. W. Hornung, this last pair contemporaries of Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan-Doyle respectively), and one a novella (*Leystone* by Stephen Volk, whom I intend to read much more of in 2026). I won't go into detail about the novels here, because several will feature in [my largely defunct blog](https://cartesiantheatre.wordpress.com/)'s single annual post, presenting my top ten reads of the year, and I wouldn't want to spoil *that*. 
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+This shift is no coincidence, as the uptick in my crime reading over the last few years has coincided with an increasing urge to venture out with my writing into the genre. In [my previous crime issue editorial](https://mythaxis.co.uk/issue-40/editorial.html), I didn't so much swallow my pride as vomit it forth due to the sale of my first short crime story – a tale of drug dealing at a late-90s rural disco called **The Ends**, which has been available for over half the year in the **[Motives Unknown](https://deadinkbooks.com/product/motives-unknown-a-northern-crime-anthology/)** anthology. And it's a nice collection, my pride has only increased since I had a chance to read the pieces it now lives alongside. You should go support *Dead Ink Books* and buy a copy!
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+Since then, I've been planning a novel spinning off characters from *The Ends*, strongly inspired by the writing of Derek Raymond, from whose *Factory* series came one of my favourite books of the year. I also finished the first draft of a short genre-straddling fantasy/action/legal thriller novel, now undergoing revision into a not-so-short version of the same. If you're reading these words before New Year's Eve, there's a pretty good chance I'm working on draft two as you finish this sentence.
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+If you're reading these words after New Year's Eve… let's be honest, I'm probably *still* working on it.
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+Anyway, that's enough for this supposed-to-be-vestigial editorial. Forgive me as I take a final moment of your time in order to thank: you, for reading our stories; our contributors, for writing them; Micah Hyatt, for his fantastic audio production efforts; and Marty Steer, without whose work behind the scenes *Mythaxis* would long since have become a nostalgic memory.
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+### I wish you all a *Happy New Year!*