Issue 87 Comes Marchin’ In

JDP covert March 2017March is dangerous, a month of meteorological mood swings and violently perforated togas, whose very name is a command to pick up our collective feet and get moving.

The three stories in the pages of our eighty-seventh issue–“We’re Not Dangerous,” “Were It So Easy,” and “Snowball Wants to Go to Outer Space“–are all characterized by this intriguing blend of unpredictability and action. They also share an element of uncertainty, leaving the fates of their characters in question and implicitly inviting us to finish their stories ourselves. Also open to interpretation is this month’s out-of-this-world cover art, “Save Us/Take Me.”

Lion-tame it online or lamb-chop the .pdf.

Snuggle up with our February Issue!

Blowy

As the winter wind sets garbage cans rolling like tumbleweeds and snowdrifts bury parked cars along with all hope of an early spring, we invite you to maximize your hygge quotient with a hot toddy and our eighty-sixth issue.

According to G. K. “T-Biscuit” Chesterton, “Folk lore means that the soul is sane, but that the universe is wild and full of marvels.” Well, each of this month’s four stories features an ordinary person in extraordinary circumstances. Becca Borawski Jenkins describes a world of sideshow performers where the regular dude is the odd one out. Daniele De Serto lives the dream of being a basketball superstar, with amusingly surreal results. Isaac Teile’s low-ranking henchman beats the odds, much to everyone’s annoyed surprise, and Hamdy Elgammal dares to imagine a world where humans and giant insects can fall in love. Speaking of sweet things, the charming cover art from Borda D. Adrian will melt the icicles right off your heart.

Hug it online or squeeze the .pdf.

We needed this . . .

The earth is doomed.

The earth is doomed.

and we thought you might need it, too. We usually shy away from topical pieces, but Joanna Arnow’s “First week after the election” is a powerful exception.

We’re presenting it today, on its own, to spotlight its timeliness, but a large part of what makes it so effective is how it transcends the particulars of a single event and its aftermath and evokes feelings of uncertainty, helplessness, and longing–of needing to understand and be understood, and the frustrations of having those desires thwarted by internal and external forces–in a way that is timeless and profoundly, painfully human.