've always been skeptical of theme issues in literary magazines. I'll say
that up front. If the job of small press is to nurture writers and to
present the best possible work available to them, then requiring particular
themes for each issue would seem a limiting thing at best, a convenience
for the editor, an easy way to say "this fits, we can accept this," or
"this is not what we're looking for."And hey, I'm a writer too. The idea of writing on a particular topic I may or may not be interested in for a magazine that may or may not even want my piece seems a little silly.
This issue is different, though. (--Yeah, right. --No, really!) and it inaugurates a new tradition here at BPQ, here at the end of our second year of publishing online. Every summer, we've decided to put an entire issue at the service of one particular writer. That writer will have complete freedom in what s/he decided to include in the issue, the plan being that the issue, then, becomes an expression of that writer, a manifestation of an aesthetic, a way to see not only great work but to climb inside the workings of a practicing professional's gestalt. It's a way to see how the inner gears turn.
It is appropriate that this issue's editor is Robert Sward. If you've read any electronic literary magazine, it is my guess you will have come across some of his work. I believe I'm not wrong in my guess that Robert is one of the first highly-experienced, credentialed, much-published writers to take electronic publication seriously, and consequently he has been read and appreciated worldwide. We're pleased to have him with us for this issue. (And hey, it's a good year for Robert, too. His book "A Much Married Man," an excerpt of which appeared in BPQ, is appearing shortly from Ekstasis Editions. You may also enjoy his Earthquake Collage, a multimedia electronic chapbook.)
All our usual awards are in place for this issue, of course. Let us know what you think. We do read each note personally, and though we may not have time to answer (even electronic manuscripts have a way of piling up) we do appreciate hearing from our readers. You are, after all, the reason we're here in the first place.
What else? Well, it's humid here in Virginia. The covers of all the books scattered around the office are curling up, like wings, and though the cicadas have left us our ears are still ringing a little with their echoes, and even Gus, the BPQ dog, smells a little moldy. We're hunkering down beneath air conditioners and imbibing frozen concoctions of our own invention, and we're reading until our eyes bug out.
Won't you join us?
For the Staff...
- Doug Lawson
