A Clever Title

Thanks to everyone who submitted and contributed work to Bowietry! Bowietry arose from the zeitgeist surrounding David Bowie's death last year. The idea came to me while sitting at a poetry open mic, listening to tribute after tribute. It's Bowietry, I thought. But Bowietry remained just a cool word I coined and a vague idea for an issue until Dean (of London Fog fame) convinced me to make it real. Unsurprisingly, we weren't the only zine to put out a tribute issue for Bowie. I don't think we were even the only ones to call our tribute "Bowietry." The important thing is that our team effort turned out fantastic, and brought a smile to some fans who miss Bowie.

We're so happy with our first themed issue, we're going to do another one. Staying with the "gone too soon" theme but moving away from current headlines, we'll pay tribute to the artist I, personally, miss most: Octavia E. Butler.

If I try to summarize her work and what it means to me/what she's contributed to the world at large, I'll just be repeating myself when I inevitably write about her next year. If you don't know Octavia E. Butler, you've got plenty of time to get acquainted. We're still trying to decide between February and June 2018 for the release. I hope to introduce more people to her work and reach lots of die-hard fans, too. More details to follow as we figure them out, of course. But if you've already got something relevant, please don't hesitate to send it.

Meanwhile, in the present, this "regular" issue is pretty chuffworthy: gorgeous art by Alicia Niedbala and a cornucopia of poems that, as a group, make me think about all the different types of relationships people can have to each other. As always, hope you enjoy!