Dear Reader,
The second issue of any magazine is a dangerously unsteady thing, with much potential for disappointment. Much like the musician's dreaded sophomore album, rushed out without the benefit of years of touring that usually help shape the previous effort, second issues of literary magazines are often put out without some of the benefits that tend to result in almost everyone having a good first issue.
For instance, like many debut issues, much of The Collagist's first effort was solicited—Not all of it, of course, but enough that at least half of the issue was already completed before we announced the magazine or opened up for submissions. Now that we're on to Issue Two, I'm happy to report that not a single work in this issue was the result of a solicitation (except for the novel excerpts, which, perhaps obviously, are different animals altogether). Every other story, poem, and essay in this issue came through open submissions during the last two or three months. I hope the fine writers of Issue One will understand when I say that this makes me even more excited to be publishing this next set of writers, if for no other reason than each and every one was a happy surprise to find in my inbox.
In this issue, we have new fiction from Elizabeth Crane, Angi Becker Stevens, Sean Lovelace, and Jonathan Callahan, as well as a novel excerpt from Edward Falco's upcoming novel, Saint John of the Five Burroughs, which the San Diego-Union Tribune claims "seeks… to dissect innocence and experience down to the rumbling guts," while also describing Falco as "William Blake with cinematic potential."
Our second excerpt this month comes from Stephen Elliott's just-released memoir The Adderall Diaries, which Kirkus called a "a refined, beautiful work of art,” noting that Elliot's themes of "crime, murder, drugs and sadomasochistic sex… actually encapsulate the nature of truth, self, love and memory, and the limits of art to get at them all." Erik Anderson's essay "a" rounds out the non-fiction offerings this month, delivering a series of digressions structured around an idea so elegantly simple that to reveal it here would be to sell it short. Luckily, if you happen to miss it, Anderson has already drawn you a map. Literally.
In poetry, we have five sets of poems from six accomplished poets, including individual efforts by Jason Bredle, Jamaal May, Rachel Contreni Flynn, and Christopher Kennedy, plus the co-written poems of Elisa Gabbert and Kathleen Rooney.
Our book review section has already doubled in size since our first issue, and this month includes reviews of Welcome to Oakland by Eric Miles Williamson, Some Things That Meant the World to Me by Joshua Mohr, The Withdrawal Method by Pasha Malla, Changing by Lily Hoang, The Country Where No One Ever Dies by Ornela Vorpsi, The New Valley by Josh Weil, and Vengeful Hymns by Marc J. Sheehan, as well as a video review of Mati Unt's Brecht at Night.
Throughout the month, we'll be continuing to provide even more content at our blog, where we'll again be featuring interviews with many of our contributors as well as podcasts of them performing their work. Our podcast has also been listed at iTunes, and can be subscribed to by clicking here.
Finally, I'd like to announce our 2009 Flash Fiction Contest, open immediately for entries. The contest will be judged by Issue One contributor Kim Chinquee, the author of two collections of flash fiction and poetry, Oh Baby (Ravenna Press) and the forthcoming Pretty (White Pine Press). Prize money starts at $100 and then climbs upward based on the number of entries received, and the winner will also be published in our December issue.
As always, thanks to all of our contributors for making this another special issue. Thanks also to everyone who reads the magazine, everyone who sends us submissions, and of course everyone who helps pass the word by e-mail, blog, Twitter, Facebook, smoke signal, or carrier pigeon. We couldn't do this without you, and wouldn't want to try.
Sincerely,
Matt Bell
Editor
The Collagist