Letter from the Editor – Issue #19
Issue #19
Letter from the Editor:
Before I took on the role of Managing Editor this past June, our team had been considering changing up the way we produce the magazine. Instead of one issue per semester, we were considering publishing multiple mini issues throughout the year, which would had given us a chance to publish themed issues in addition to a general issue. Themed issues can be very powerful for writers and readers alike. In the case of a LGBTQ+ or mental-health themed issue for example, the themed issue invites marginalized writers and artists to the front and brings taboo subjects into the public discussion. I was excited with the idea of organizing these themed issues, but as it was my first issue as the Managing Editor for pulpMAG, and we were transitioning into accepting work from the general public, I thought it would be better to focus on stability.
So even though there was no intention in choosing a theme for this issue, one emerged out of serendipity in our first layout meeting. There was so much excitement about getting to put together this issue. We found that many of the poems, stories, and visual images complimented each-other so nicely. “2019:The Year I Become a Bitch for Likes has to go beside Many Tongs.” “Escape Repetition has to go beside Ashtray.” And as we found a flow for the layout, we began finding all the small images or themes that the pieces have in common. Many of the pieces revolve around a character or narrators’ relationship with their mother, or at least a reference to their mothers. We also found recurring images of the sea, as well as a motif of finding “rot” within oneself. This was the first time we got to see and put together all the work our fellow editors had chosen, and it all tied itself together in big red bow named Mother.
After all that excitement of the layout meeting, I don’t know if I would ever want to ask our submitters for work on a specific theme. Being able to make and find connections between the writing and art in our magazine is just a special thing for an editor as it is for a reader. And I wouldn’t want to deprive either our team or our audience from weaving their own threads.
Lena Belova