‘Solstice Ritual’: New Cover Art by Herman Lau

A Winter Landscape

Solstice Ritual by cover artist Herman Lau invites in a chill along with the contents of Pulp Literature Issue 45, Winter 2025.

About Solstice Ritual, Herman says, “The tiger inked on her sternum begins to hiss, and she knows she is not alone.” This is Herman’s third Pulp Literature cover, the first being Purple Siren for Issue 22, Spring 2019, and Black Tortoise Kowtows for Issue 34, Spring 2022.

Solstice Ritual

Solstice Ritual by Herman Lau

 

And, here’s a look at what you will find in our winter issue …

Solstice Ritual by cover artist Herman Lau challenges us in a winter landscape where myth and folklore lurk.

Adopt a revolutionary spirit with feature author George McWhirter’s ‘Grillo, the Story of a Cricket’, and defy the oligarchs in ‘Baba Yaga and the Bear’ by Gregg Chamberlain.

Poet Dan MacIsaac takes us back to ancient Crete with ‘Pholoe’, while DA Cooper brings blessed sleep to Valhalla in ‘Ragnabeðtími’.

In ‘Their Grandfather’s Chair’ by JM Landels, Allaigna’s sisters are forced out of their comfort zone and onto separate paths, while returning to childhood memories is prickly and uncomfortable in ‘The Past as Foundation for the Family Home’ by Shelley Lavigne and ‘Say Cheese, Jesus, Please’ by Rina Piccolo.

The writing muse strikes at inopportune times in ‘How to Write a Novel in Ten Days During the Zombie Apocalypse’ by Jakob Drud and ‘Take My Hand: Enter Night’ by Mel Anastasiou.

And flash fiction from Hummingbird Prize winners Cheryl Skory Suma, Adam Fout, and Soramimi Hanarejima offers a look at difficult relationships in their many incarnations.

Issue 45, Winter 2025 is on sale now. Get it here!

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Herman Lau

Herman Lau is a freelance artist from Edmonton, Alberta. His interests in illustration stem from the stories and games he grew up with, mythologies full of movement and characters to inspire his drawn illusions. His artwork has been published locally and internationally, including at an exhibition at the Museum of American Illustration in New York and in a collection at State Library Victoria, Australia. He has also run children’s visual art programs for non-profit organizations and galleries and provided graphic facilitation services for various municipal groups and initiatives. Find more of Herman’s work at paintedmonk.wordpress.com, and on Instagram at paintedmonk.