Corrected – “Boisterous Blooms” issue is out!

Click on the picture to jump to the Spring 2026 (Volume 5, Issue 1) or HERE for PDF or HERE for Magazine Style (through Calaméo).

While Winter is clinging on and the soft smile of Spring is peeking around the corner. It can be difficult to stay positive in the depths of Winter with the darkness, brittle ice, and piles of dirty accumulated snow. In a recent storytelling workshop, I asked the participants what gift did they wish to give to their audiences at the end of their story? Why were they telling them that particular story? With what image, thought, question did they want to leave their audience?

Among the participants was a couple. The wife said that her husband struggled with that question. He grew up in poverty and his story was about how he and his older sister would pull all of their younger siblings around the neighborhood on a sled on Christmas Eve, while they all waited for Santa. His epiphany was that he and his older sister were trying to give hope to their younger siblings. In telling his story, he wished to give hope to his audience.

As storytellers we can give hope to our listeners. When things look dark and bleak, as in the depths of winter, we can offer our listeners the colors, textures, smells, sights, and sounds of better days, of Spring. There is magic and power in words and we are all wondrous magicians. We can give them the gift of hope. We can be the light in the darkness.

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The deadline for contributions for the next issue of The Story Beast is May 15 for the Summer 2026 issue. The Summer issue’s theme is Cerulean Sighs. Thanks for reading. 

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