BIRDY FEATURES
BIRDY FEATURES
THE TEMPLE OF DUMA VEIL
By Joel Tagert w/ Art by Ali Hoff
When the mages finished, Haverna was a blazing ruin. It had been the greatest city on the continent, home to a million souls. In the bazaar, merchants had hawked everything from steel spearheads to aromatic spices, women in bright silk dresses walked with baskets full of fish and fruit, child beggars pulled at your tunic as you sampled chewy candies. It was a place to overwhelm the senses, full of riotous life and color.
Now it was an inferno, the flames hundreds of feet high, the smoke blacking out the sun. It was, we were told, the only option, and this was hard to argue with, considering the trouble we had containing the infected. It was the job of the cavalry to finish off any who made it past the barricades, and I personally must have killed twenty or thirty with my broadsword. Most of the men chose maces instead, leery of getting their blades caught in the skulls of the afflicted.
ARE YOU DEAD TO THE WORLD OR JUST PLAIN DEAD?
BY BRIAN POLK W/ART BY JASON WHITE
Do you feel like there are times in your life when no one notices your existence? You say words, have feelings, complete projects on time and under budget at work, and no one acknowledges any of it? You may chalk it up to the fact that people don’t give a shit about anyone other than themselves, and so of course, they’re not going to pay attention to you. So while it’s understandable that you feel dead to the world, have you ever considered you might actually be dead? After asking yourself the questions below, you will be able determine whether you just might as well be dead or you actually metamorphosed into the spiritual realm (which must mean you are an aggrieved soul with unfinished business in the physical world, but that’s not the subject of this article; at some point, I may do a part two — “What To Do Now That You’ve Realized You’re An Aggrieved Soul With Unfinished Business In The Physical World — but until then, this is all about realizing whether you feel like the walking dead or are in fact no longer living).
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THE VOICE OF SILENCE
BY MAGGIE D. FEDOROV
I awake with a start to the slamming of a door. A quick glance around the room reminds me that I had left the window open as I slept. The cat looks at me with an expression that clearly means to say: “I’m awake from my nap and it’s your fault, I know it.”
It is dark still, could be any time of night. Early morning perhaps. I glance to my left for a time check, and am at first confused by the definite lack of digits illuminated on the clock I keep there. Great, power’s out.
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ENTER THE YARNIVERSE WITH THE LADIES FANCYWORK SOCIETY
BY QUINN FATI
As they tell it, Ladies Fancywork Society was created accidentally by a mad scientist dipping cosmic yarn into a petri dish. From birth, they have been used to coordinate diplomatic efforts between this universe and the Yarniverse. Meow Wolf was blessed with such a collaboration for the latest corner of our multiverse, Denver’s Convergence Station. We were able to catch Tymla Welch, Jesse Dawson, and Lauren Seip — when they weren’t crocheting cars to send to space — to ask a few questions about their Convergence Station installation (“Midge the Swamp MOMster”), as well as the Yarniverse itself and the Fast & Furious franchise. Their astro-engineer, Jess Eaton, was unable to make it.
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THE BALLAD OF BLUE
BY GRAY WINSLER W/ART BY CAITLYN GRABENSTEIN
The dragon Blue, whom you may know,
The one who lost his fire,
He flew the cerulean seas,
With wings that never tire,
Every vein flowing with flame,
A creature to admire.
Until the day the skies grew gray,
And thunder boomed with ire,
A bolt of light struck from the night,
And pierced Blue’s body entire.
Blue fell from the sky to the sea,
Unconscious to his mire.
Beneath the swells his body sunk,
Dimming his inner fire,
Falling deeper and deeper,
Drained of all his desire,
Hanging limp in the sea’s current,
The dragon lost his fire.
He slept beneath the waves until,
An anchor broke his rest,
And from the sea his body rose,
To break the water’s crest,
Frightening the old fisherman,
Whose boat Blue took to rest.
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BIRDY MAGAZINE
Denver's Only Magazine.
Birdy Magazine is independent work produced by independent artists and writers. Submitted and served up fresh for you. We produce a beautiful, highly-collectible printed book every month as a love letter to this classic medium and to the creators whose works we feature.
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CAROUSEL ARTIST CREDITS:
Mark Mothersbaugh, Technology Watches Over us | Issue 097 // Austin Parkhill, Pipeline Tutu | Issue 096 // Jonathan Dodd, Poke | Issue 086, February 2021 // Jonny DeStefano, Land Sea Sky | Issue 063, March 2019 // Amy Guidry, Expatriate | Issue 084, December 2020 // Ray Young Chu, Karate Kat | Issue 007, July 2014 // Krysti Joméi photo // Peter Kornowski, Untitled | Issue 096, December 2021 // Jonny DeStefano, Vivid Crimson | Issue 047, November 2017 // Krysti Joméi photo, IndyBlu // Peter Kornowski, Crash Landing | Issue 087, March 2021 // Derek Knierim, What You Started | Issue 072, December 2019