Letter from the Editor

This letter comes to you from an attic in the Midwest. It’s been a wet summer and the birds are out in force, pecking away at berries and breadcrumbs. Up above, the hawks circle for prey. A few blocks from here a tornado siren is silent. On the first Wednesday of each month its wail sounds through the neighborhood, letting its residents know that they are watched over, that danger could come at any moment. But danger hasn’t come, not for the last three years, and we go through the same routine, and the neighborhood dogs try to match the pitch, howl to wail, and only calm when the siren comes to a labored stop, when the relative quiet comes to feel like deep space. This is not the first Wednesday of the month. The siren is unlikely to sound. Yet it’s part of the mental landscape here, a ghost echo, bait for the procrastinating writer working—hardly working—from his attic.

This is the third issue of Madcap. With editors scattered throughout the country, communicating through texts, carrier pigeon missives, and passive aggressive e-mails (mine), the end result always feels like a shock. Wait, we did this? But it wasn’t just us. It was the people who submitted work and it was the people who responded to our letters. How about that cover by Lauren YS?  If I’ve seen anything cooler I can’t remember it. Have I mentioned that the nonfiction in this issue is outstanding? There are pieces that will punch you in the gut and those that will throw an arm around your shoulder and make you laugh till the snot comes bubbling out of your nose. The fiction in this issue tests all boundaries, dipping a toe in the supernatural, the science fictive, and the experimental. The poems speak a language of water, of food, communion, personhood, and death. In addition to Lauren YS, we’re honored to be able to show the work of Boy Kong and John Wentz, two stylistically divergent artists at the top of their game.

I’m sure you’re eager to begin reading. In fact, if you haven’t skipped this letter already, get to it! Thank you so much to all of the volunteers, contributors, and readers. We couldn’t do it without you, but we’d probably try.

Signature

Craig Ledoux
Editor in Chief
Madcap Review

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