What is Rune Bear? Well, other than a blue bear etched with tribal tattoos—snowbound guardian of Northern Wastes—Rune Bear is a digital literary magazine devoted to the strange, surreal, supernatural, and speculative. By strange, we mean horror and weirdness. Spooks, shrieks, slippery organs on the ground. By surreal, we mean non sequitur and wildness. By supernatural, we mean elements beyond the framework of our rational, natural cosmos. By speculative, we mean all things fantasy and science-fiction and onward—any realm other than ours. An important limitation is that all prose and poetry must stay below three hundred words. We find that this allows writers to explore clever ideas without having to expand them unnaturally. We want strange writ, dreams-put-to-paper, fiction flash grenades, glimpses of other worlds, some freak or fate or finale that dwells in day dreams and keeps us up at night. Currently, we have a Weekly section that publishes every Thursday morning. We also accept unsolicited artwork of our mascot which is posted on our Instagram account. In the meantime, we cannot pay contributors, but we hope that three hundred words isn't a sacrifice, and that the literary resume-building is worth the time and labor. There are no submission fees. Rune Bear was started by two literary-minded couples. The editor-in-chief and Surreal Editor is Desmond White, a decently-published, balding fellow with a inborn fear of hail. Strange Editor J. Motoki is a horror fiction writer and an editor at Coffin Bell. Stuart Warren, published author and Norway enthusiast, oversees all things Speculative. Finally, Alyssa Warren, who works for a company that publishes Christian literature, is the Supernatural Editor. Stuart and Alyssa reside in the sunny-side-up suburbs of Santa Barbara, California, while Desmond and J. run amok in the beer gold plains of Parker, Colorado. The magazine represents our interests, passions, dreams, sins, ambitions, and general restlessness.