No, not the 1976 update of the classic BBC spy series (the one that caused all the confusion in the UK over what to name Marvel’s new movie), but rather Hilary Gan and Kimberly Lojewski, who aren’t actually superheroes or spies (that we know of), but are two excellent young writers who have previously graced the pages of JDP and will be appearing in the upcoming Second All-Star Issue (due out this Wednesday).

(Also, I promise not to use paretheticals for the rest of the year after this post.)

For the May issue, we wanted to do something special in anticipation of the geek-gasmic joining of the Whedonverse and Marveldom in a little art house picture known as The Avengers, which opens next Friday.

(Unless, of course, you live in Australia where The Avengers opened like two weeks ago. Or the UK, where it opened Wednesday. Or India where you could see it today. Seriously, what the hell? When future historians discuss American decline, the fact that we got The Avengers half a month after the rest of the world is going to be the moment they point to as when things started to really get bad.)

Anyway…Our idea was to super-friend together a few of our favorite writers in an invitation-only issue to give you some extra-yummy prose to read while standing in line for the most anticipated film of the summer that doesn’t involve Anne Hathaway wearing cat ears.

You already know the other two all-stars, yt sumner and Ryan Werner. Heck, we gave them their own posts on here back in January and February, respectively. But we just wanted to take a quick moment to say a few words about Hilary and Kimberly.

Hilary made her debut in the pages of JDP a couple years ago with a story that would become a JDP classic. “The Pragmatist” appeared in the November 2010 Issue and was subsequently named a Million Writers Notable Story, as well as being nominated for a Pushcart. Since then, her non-fiction essay, “Gymnopédie Paris,” has appeared in The Fiddleback and she’s gone on to pursue her MFA in Fiction at the University of Arizona. Hilary has a stubborn insistence that all biographical statements about her must include her love of fluffy kittens. Finally, she has a story upcoming in the inaugural issue of Belletrist Coterie, also due out in May.

And in one of those cosmic coincidences that we adore, Belletrist Coterie was founded by and is edited by whom? That’s right, Kimberly Lojewski. Not having read Belletrist Coterie, we can’t quite vouch for it yet, but a) with Kimberly at the helm and b) it’s upfront emphasis on storytelling, we’re pretty psyched for the first issue.

When she’s not being inherently cool (like all editors), Kimberly writes like an amazing SOB and pursues her MFA in Fiction at UMass Amherst. Her story, “On the Hiding of Buried Treasure,” is one of my favorites from my short run as online editor of JDP. Previously, her work appeared in places like Aesthetica Creative Works Annual, Gargoyle, The Drunken Boat, and Danse Macabre. Her short story, “The Mouth as the Source and the Center,” in BloodLotus #22 was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, while “An Arctic Mirage Sounds A Lot Like Rusty Crickets” appeared in PANK, is about Muktuk princesses, and is eight kinds of awesome. You should go read it now.

In her spare time, Kimberly is pursuing both her ship captain’s license and her hot air balloon pilot’s license. (Seriously.) All of which makes us reconsider that statement about her not being a spy.

We can’t wait for you to read all the lovely words Kimberly and Hilary and Ryan and y.t. have in store for you. (And while you’re waiting for the new issue, feel free to check out the first All-Star Invitational Issue, which also turned out pretty nifty.)

That’s all for me (and my damn paratheticals.) Have a great weekend and here’s hoping The Raven is better than I’ve heard.