Hello, and be Well Come to year "Two" at The World of Myth! Whether you want to call this an 'Anniversary' or a 'Birthday' for all of us doesn't really matter. What does matter is that on September 6th, 2004, something small and fragile was born; something that during the past twelve months has grown and matured, fallen down and picked itself up again (on more than one occasion--we have the bruises to prove it), has made mistakes (and has hopefully learned from them), has made a few enemies (who in the public eye has not?), but has also garnered a great number of friends, and has managed to have a whole 'truckload' of fun while doing it. This past year has seen its share of highs and lows for us here at The World of Myth--some of us have, at times, been down lower than others--but we have also witnessed some amazing highs and we have all shared in a somewhat unexpected success, as well. And so, this month, we celebrate our collective Anniversary/Birthday and I for one want to voice a hearty, heartfelt, "Thank You" to everyone who has helped us climb this (at one time, seemingly unsurmountable) mountain. But, for all of our success, I realize that we have only reached a plateau on this rocky hillside and our climb is not yet finished--far from it, in fact. The coming year will no doubt present its own set of obstacles which we must overcome, if we are to continue with our hard won success. But, I am sure that with the continued support of our staff, our contributors and especially our loyal readers, we will manage to achieve new heights and reach an even higher standard of excellence with our 'little' magazine, "The World of Myth."

Now, I wasn't supposed to do this, but under the circumstances, I just can't help myself. We always give a general 'Thank You' at times like this, but it doesn't really mean very much, unless you personally 'Thank' the people involved. So, here we go. I want to Thank the people who have made this 'Anniversaryday' possible, because without them, well, we might still be watching reruns of 'Gilligan's Island' for entertainment, instead of busting our humps every month putting this rag together for all of you out there to enjoy. Okay, so I don't really have the time, or space, to mention every single person who has ever submitted a piece of artwork, a poem, a story, or has offered up their precious time to help us keep this hungry beast fed and alive every month (not to mention cleaning up after it). But, I will try to do the best that I can.

Our humble appreciation and thanks go out to: The shadowy Myth Master (and debuting this issue), the Creature of Myth, Movie Goer Grim and his new sidekick, Balcony Betty and Reaper Rick. L.Craig Woods, Caesar F. Castro, Creep Creepersin, Kevin Magnus, Rebecca, the Gurl of Myth Lofgren, MOK, Majikaa and L.M. Mercer (and a personal 'Happy Birthday' goes out to L.M. this month), as well as our new contributors. I'm sure I left out one or two others and if so, I apologize for my omission. Okay, yeah, there is one more person I should perhaps mention. I suppose. A person, without whom, none of the rest of us would even be named as a part of this mighty effort. I speak, of course, of our fearless leader, David K. Montoya. All of this is, after all, his brainchild, his creation, his rapidly growing creature of the web. Without David at the controls, he who spends days and sometimes weeks preparing everything you see before you every month, changing each little word and comma, every line and letter into an 'html' computer language gibberish, so we common mortals can actually read, see and understand what is put before us--well, without our 'Captain' at the helm, we would have all been sunk, long ago. So, we give a special 'Thank You' to Mr. Montoya for guiding us through the troubled and sometimes turbulent waters of this entire past year. Hang in there, everyone, we still got some traveling to do!

All right. I suppose we should move on to more current events. This month, we have pulled out all the stops to bring you a bigger, better issue of "The World of Myth" than ever before. For the very first time, we have managed to bring together the Terrible Trio of Movie Reviewers, as Grim, Betty and even Rick conspire to annoy you with their personal opinions regarding what's worth watching at, 'The Movies.' We have a full slate of poems this month, as we present TWO new poets to our little corner of the universe, along with our regular contributors, Rebecca, L.M., Majikaa and Kevin. So, help us welcome to the poetry corner, Shaddow and Poppy--we hope they will return with more lyrical efforts in the near future.

David K. Montoya has really knocked himself out this month, as he answers readers questions posed to him from last issue in the Interview section and shares with us some of his art work, as well. David also decided to prepare his own tribute to our first year of survival, so stop by the rekindled Commentary section to check that out. Then, since he had so much spare time on his hands, he has presented us with another chapter of 'The End', and I suppose I should also mention that Mr. Montoya did manage to capture the Member of the Month award last issue--congratulations, boss!

The Art Gallery is full this month, as Rebecca Lofgren offers us a couple of her drawings, and MOK has returned from his enforced hiatus, to share his thoughts on my (hopefully) total health recovery. I myself even attempted to offer up a drawing, to celebrate the release of my book, "Dreams of Darkness, Dreams of Night." I don't want to take up any more room than necessary to 'hawk' my book, so I have entered pertinent information in a 'Dreams of Darkness... FYI' section, which you may find at the lower left of this page.

Our new Fan Fiction section is now up, but unfortunately it is 'empty', since no one bothered to send in any submissions this past month. A large number of readers voted to open up this section, and we would very much like to keep it open, but we obviously can not do that, if we have nothing to present to our readers. So, think about it, you guys. If you have 'any' Fan Fiction stories out there that you would like to share with our readers, send them in, before it's too late. Even if it is not your very best effort, even if you're not sure it's good enough, send it in anyway--we can work on it with you. That's what they pay me the big bucks for--oh, wait a minute. (Damn!) Well, send it in, anyway, we'll work something out.

Stop by and see what's new in the Movie Trailer section--they are changed and updated on a regular basis. And, let's not forget the stories. Along with 'The End', L.M.. Mercer presents another chapter of 'The Greenhouse Murders' and I myself finally felt well enough to offer up a story for your (hopeful) enjoyment--one which also deals, in a manner of speaking, with my recent illness--'Dead and Ferried'.

So, that should keep everyone busy for a little while. On a final note, I would like to thank all of the readers who voted for the 'Member of the Year', last month. I also want to thank those who voted for me, since it seems I am now "The World of Myth's" first 'Member of the Year'. We have seen a lot of talent flow through these pages this past year and I am honored to have been picked as one of the 'top' members who have contributed to this effort. True, not everyone voted for me, and that just proves that the fan base is spread out, covering just about all of us. But, we live in a democracy and whoever has the most friends, wins! So, thank you all for your support and we hope you continue to stop by and see what we have to offer, during Year Two of "The World of Myth!"
Enjoy!

Terry D. Scheerer
Editor in Chief