In this highly anticipated new issue, we encounter brilliant examples of what writing can do in a hypernormal time – whether that's Benjamin Gready on the absurdity of fieldwork on land under active occupation or Zahid Gamieldien's short story about a dancing rat who finds itself enmeshed in systems too shadowy to be true. But, as with the emotional cycles of resistance, hope and snark are features too. Dan Hogan considers the lawn as a class obsession, and π.ο. asks a question: why people hate poetry? We also read about a rakhasa family who passes on wisdom to their young kin, a story by Shefali Mathew. And you’ll find new poetry by Eli McLean, Fiona Hile and Sol Chan, among others, as well as a comic by Safdar Ahmed, plus heaps more. Co-editors Evelyn Araluen and Jonathan Dunk write in the editorial, "Writing always matters, but it matters most directly in the face of this kind of thuggish assault on language, our first and last commons. We can’t let the bastards have it.”
Patton Quinn is a writer, a teacher and a single mother. She currently works in the political sector as a bill editor. She earned her graduate degree in humanities from St Edward’s University. You can find her work in such places as McSweeney’s Internet Tendencies, Wanderlust Journal, Matchbook Series, Elephant Journal, Awakenings Review, Rebellesociety.com, and Rag Queen Periodical. She lives in her hometown, Austin, Texas, with her daughter, Edith Anne, and their scruffy old buddy, Andy, a terrier from the mean streets of Dallas. When not doing life chores, they spend time hiking, painting, baking, or playing make believe in some capacity.
