Dear readers, writers and friends! Have you ever heard the songs of the ancient gods, met a lighthouse keeper, or studied so intensely for an exam that even a zombie apocalypse would seem like an insignificant event? These are just some of the topics of poetry and fiction in our ninth issue.

As always, in “The Evening Universe,” you will find excellent poetry, as well as exciting fiction and two-sentence stories with unexpected endings.

And let me say a bit more about our non-fiction, since I’m sure that this genre is very important for any serious literary magazine.

For most Westerners, witches exist only in fiction or in medieval history. But in the Soviet Union in 1980s and in Russia till the middle of 2000s, many people believed that magic and psychics are some phenomena that were just forbidden by the authorities. How it was? If you want to know, just read Sasha Krugosvetov’s memoir essay “The Help of a Witch.”

Let me also recommend you Matthew Gall’s essay that’s called just “H.” In the title, he meant the chemical symbol for Hydrogen. I am sure that Matthew’s essay has no use in science research, but his work is truly philosophical and humorous at the same time. I had a lot of fun as well as food for thought while reading it. I hope you will enjoy it too.

Sincerely yours,
Maxim Sviridenkov,
founder and editor-in-chief of “The Evening Universe”