Dear Mused Readers:

With our second issue out we are ready to shrug off the doldrums of winter and welcome spring. Say it loud - Hey SPRING! Let's end this thing called winter. Let's live in teeshirts again!

At least, that's how we feel here in the virtual offices at Mused - home of the the BellaOnline Literary Review. We feel like...like little cave gnomes. Creeping into the bright light of the sun, blinking furiously, shaking cobwebs from our noses. It's nicer out. Little flowers bravely burrow  through chilly muddy wintry dirt... trees tease with swelling buds, and a veil of green steals over Mirkwood Forest. We feel like celebrating, growing wings and a 'flighting to the Misty Mountains' flowering meadows (well-illustrated by Melissa Knoblett-Aman's Cloudy Peaks.)

That's what this issue of Mused is about. Shaking off the cold and unfolding your magical wings.

Begin your journey at the door, as Shades of Rock, our cover photo, entices readers to wander the imposing path to the secret Kingdom of Mused. Trod the broken, cobblestone streets of Jennifer Tiszal's Heart Surgery. Knock on the door of Medieval Church Knocker with Lisa Shea, enter, and kneel before the elemental May Queen (in Patricia Maulding's Three Fates). Luxuriate among Maulding's tent of silks and furs in A Courtesan's Regret before leaving for the mountain country with Connie Werner Reichert's Love Did Not Give Up On Me. Roam the Mused wilderness with Kim Ross' Scars, to experience the chilly, final silencing of a magical creature.  

Hike down the countryside to Melissa Demiguel's  La Manche-Bretagne Sleeve of Coast, (bring an apple for the pony), to beg a wish of Cynthia Parker's Sand Goddess, by the sea. Make it a good wish. Walk the shore, flinging stones into the crashing waters of Dan Florio's Welsh Story.

Tour more of our realm with the earthy witch of Melissa Weise's Girl. Lie down to Dream of Kali and Weep with Andrew Gill, as Lisbeth Cheever-Gessaman's Oracle of the Blue Infinite watches over your vulnerable mortal soul.

To awakening refreshed for another journey into Mused,

Jill Florio
Editor in Chief

Post Note: In the interest of new beginnings, we also expanded our menu of Musings. Plays is the newest Department, accepting both theatrical debuts and brilliant screenplays. We kick off the Plays Department with the brilliant Bell, a whimsical exchange between a "Dictator on holiday" and a bemused passerby. It's a fun work. And we like fun here.

Now, to open my wings again and consort with Elves...





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