Taking exceptional pleasure in all things skin-crawling, flesh-oozing, and spooky-ooky, it only seemed natural that my first issue as an editor be dedicated to the strange and unusual. That being said, I don’t find satisfaction in gratuitous violence or deliberate horror. Instead, I am more drawn to artists, directors, and writers producing haunts that provide ample social commentary and a sense of dread that is not so readily explained. I am honored to present to you eleven short selections of poetry and fiction that not only disturb, haunt, or otherwise enchant the reader with strangeness but that also compel readers to rethink the world around them.

–Shelby Pinkham

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Morgan Melhuish: “According to Prescriptions of Ancient Magicians”

Alistair Rey: “Jorge The Younger”

Lita Kurth: “Fish Genesis” and “Testament of the Deep”

Ray Ball: Three Witch Erasures

Chuck Von Nordheim: Two from Cataclysm Days: “Wanda Unpacks the Theological Implications Raised by the Practice of Mufucky” and “Jonas Recalls the Auguries of Imminent Change”

Leanne Hunt: “Medea tells La Llorona to Dry Her Eyes” and “White Rat, Disrupted Gas Lines, and the Pleasure Center of the Brain”