Our one-hundred-twenty-eighth issue is in full bloom! Fall might be the spooky season, but spring is the season of jump scares. You’re ambling down the sidewalk on an overcast day, enjoying the room-temperature air and chanting the four items you plan to purchase at the co-op under your breath so you won’t forget them. Then, right between miso paste and vegan jerky, the smell of lilacs launches itself into your face like a purple panther. Reeling from the concussive blast of fragrance, you take a few stumbling steps toward the street, plunging into a puddle of violets where pollen-drunk bees bump chummily into your shins. Instead of Bernard Herrmann’s shrieking strings, you hear a merry quartet of robins in a nearby dogwood. “Gotcha again, you fuckin’ dunce!” they seem to chirp. 

It’s this element of surprise—the sudden appearance of an unexpected image that delights the senses—that ties the stories and poems of this issue together. I won’t spoil any of them here; the joy is in the discovery. (Pro tip: read these out loud if you can; this issue has exceptional sound and mouth feel.) Also, shout-out to the gorgeous cover art by Sasha Moroz!