Dear Reader,
A couple weeks ago, I started the daunting of task of getting rid of some of my books, in an attempt to stop the slow buckling of my shelves and to rid my floors and end tables of their leaning piles of paperbacks. While trying to decide which books I might be able to live without—a ridiculously involved task for a dedicated packrat like myself—I eventually ended up in front of the corner bookshelf in my office, which held almost nothing but literary magazines.
At first, I thought that I'd give away most of the magazines. Some of them were ten years old or older. Others were magazines I'd only bought single issues of, never to read the magazine again. Some were magazines that are now defunct, or that published kinds of work that I no longer read very often. I grabbed a box and began clearing what I could off the shelves.
But then a funny thing happened: I started reading the magazines again, thumbing through and finding stories I'd forgotten over the years. Some were by writers I'd never heard of and never saw again. Other contributors were strangers then, but have somehow become people I'm lucky to have as friends. Others so impressed me on that first long-ago read that I've since devoured everything they've written, so that they've become integral components of my literary DNA.
As an editor, I have the privilege of working closely with the writers we publish. I tend to read an individual piece several times before I accept it. More often that not, I make at least some editorial suggestions, which requires me to do my best to have a deeper understanding of what a writer is doing and how they do it, so that I can try and only suggest what is most useful. And then, as we're preparing for print, I get to read the work again while proofing layouts, writing interviews, and recording podcasts. It's a rare thing to get to spend so much time with individual works their writers, and it's one of the finest rewards of editing this magazine.
Now, what does this have to do with you, the reader? Only my sincere hope you'll take the time yourself to get to better know these writers, both here in the magazine and through the interviews and podcasts that will appear on our blog this month, and of course through the wider world of their already available and upcoming works. These are all writers whose work has rewarded me not just the first time I read it, but also the third and the sixth and the tenth. I hope they'll have the same effect on you, whether that happens now, while the issue is fresh in your mind, or years from now, when it'll still be here waiting on the Internet for you to return for a second like.
In Issue Three, we have new fiction from Matthew Derby, Roxane Gay, Sarah Norek, and Catherine Zeidler, as well as novel excerpts from Norman Lock and Dzanc's own Hesh Kestin. You'll also find poetry from Rick Moody, Mary Biddinger, Peter Jay Shippy, and Ross White, plus non-fiction from Greg Bottoms and Kelley Evans.
In book reviews, you'll find coverage of The System of Vienna by Gert Jonke, The Trespasser by Edra Ziesk, Midnight Picnic by Nick Antosca, and Rasskazy: New Fiction from a New Russia, edited by Mikhail Iossel and Jeff Parker, plus a video of David Rhodes' Driftless.
As always, 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.
Our 2009 Flash Fiction Contest remains open for entries as well, and I hope you'll considering sending in an entry or two. 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 (and possibly some finalists) 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 takes the time to post about the issue to their blogs, Facebook, or anywhere else. We appreciate all of your efforts, and can't thank you enough.
Sincerely,
Matt Bell
Editor
The Collagist