| by
Pamela Moore Dionne
Issue 5 is the largest Literary Salt has produced to date. With this publication we present 20 poets and writers contributing 29 literary works as well as 3 visual artists contributing 26 images to our most eye-catching issue yet. It's good to see this issue come together as well as it has because Literary Salt is about to take a hiatus for an as-yet-undetermined period of time. We will remain a presence on the web with Issue 5 and all of our archived issues since we fully expect to return to publishing. This timeout is a necessary tool that will help us to regroup and rethink the structure of this fine literary arts journal. It will also give us time to seek funds for several projects close to the journal's heart. We appreciate our readership and want to continue delivering the kind of quality you have come to expect from us. Please bear with us while we do some much needed R&R&R – rest, recovery and research. As you step into the pages of Issue 5, you'll meet many new faces. Peter Geerlofs' digital photographic art is a new avenue for this talented photographer. We are the first publisher for his current series. Speaking of firsts, Maciej Gador's ink drawings will delight you with their surrealism. Maciej is new to U.S. audiences but publishes his work in Polish magazines such as Charaktery. And visual artist Marin's oil paintings are well known to many in the art world, but may be new to our readers. There are familiar faces in Issue 5 as well. Peter Pereira returns to us with his humor intact and that wonderful attention to detail which delights all of us here on the board. Kathryn Rantala is another favorite of ours. Both poets appeared in Issue 2 as well as this issue, making this something of a reunion for them and us. This issue of Literary Salt contains 4 works of fiction – more than we have published in a single issue to date. We hope you enjoy reading Christiana Langenberg's Chocolate Revel, Sandra Hosking's quirky Lucas, Kevin Patrick Curran's Jenna Bush's Bodyguard Needlessly Lifts My Art History Professor Up by the Neck (the title is almost a short story on its own) and The Feast of Miracles by British writer Malcolm Dixon. In a perfect world art would be as well supported as any other type of endeavor that provides the kind of service art in fact does provide. This is what allows us to see beyond our own skins and private realities. In a world where technological weaponry has evolved far beyond the mere ability to pulverize the earth ten times over, we have to be able to perceive outside ourselves. Art is a tool that could help this process. But in a complex world where everything is relative, art is often seen as adornment – therefore unnecessary. It is this view that makes creating art for public consumption difficult to fund and to continue even in the face of success. Nevertheless, Literary Salt Press will be back and will continue to present a global view. Sincerely, |