Dear Reader,
Hello, and welcome to Issue Twenty-Five!
This issue marks The Collagist's two-year anniversary as a publication, and so I'd like to again say thanks to all our staff, our past contributors, our many readers: It's been a great two years, and I'm so happy to have shared them with you.
Of course, with the passage of time comes change, and unfortunately this issue finds one of our blog editors Ariana Lenarsky leaving us. Ariana's done an amazing job raising the bar on our interviews, and I couldn't be happier with the time I've spent working with her and getting to know her through her work here. Good luck to her in her own writing, and also wherever her editorial skills land next.
Another change, but this time an addition to our editorial ranks: Bess Winter is joining us as our new Podcast Editor, and will be working not only to do audio readings and interviews with our contributors, but also to cultivated "creative audio" pieces for the magazine. If you're interested, you can submit through our Submishmash page, according to these guidelines:
The Collagist is considering creative audio for future issues. We’re looking for work that extends beyond the page, 1-10 minutes in length. Some production assistance is available for those with a vision but limited tech abilities. Submit a written description of your project detailing any assistance you’d need, or submit the finished piece in 128 kbps mp3 format.
I'm very excited by the potential of this new category to bring in even more innovative, exciting work. We're also looking for music for our podcast, so if you're interested in our possibly using your work, please write Bess at collagistpodcast@gmail.com.
In Issue Twenty-Five, we have new stories by David Hollander, Megan Martin, and Hilary Plum, as well as excerpts from The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson, Luminarium by Alex Shakar, and Demolishing Nisard by Alex Chevillard, all releasing this month.
Jonathan Callahan’s three-part novella "ボブ (Bob)," serialized across issues 24-26, continues this month with Part Two.
This month's poetry includes new work by Eugenia Leigh, Bridget Lowe, Albert Abonado, and Michael Bazett.
Our non-fiction this month includes an essay by Jacob S. Knabb, as well as book reviews of Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day by Ben Loory (reviewed by Gabe Durham), Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead by Barbara Comyns (reviewed by Matt Dube), The Great Frustration by Seth Fried (reviewed by Tracy O'Neill), I Hotel by Karen Tei Yamashita (reviewed by Lacey N. Dunham), and Nothing or Next to Nothing by Barry Graham (reviewed by Paula Bomer.)
As always, thanks to all of our contributors for letting us publish their fine work. We appreciate your time and talents, and can't thank you enough for sharing them with us.
Sincerely,
Matt Bell
Editor
The Collagist