About
Winter 2013 Edition introduction by Kelly Boyker
We are pleased to bring you the Winter 2013 edition of Menacing Hedge. The edition features fresh voices as well as past contributors, and is graced with the artwork of Vitaly S. Alexius. This edition's line-up of unchained awesome includes stories and poems by Nicola Belte, Aimee Bender, Carol Berg, Sarah Beddow, Flower Conroy, Roland Goity, Amelia Gray, Shannon Elizabeth Hardwick, Kyle Hemmings, Stephen Graham Jones, Erin Entrada Kelly, B. A. Krishna, Kassandra Montag, Shannon Norland, Brandon Rushton, Melody Sage, Ingrid Steblea, Robert Alan Wendeborn, and Stephen Williams.
The edition also includes a poet-on-poet interview with Amorak Huey interviewing Laura Madeline Wiseman. Last but not least is an interview of Alexius conducted by Amanda Gowin, who will also be serving as our guest fiction editor this spring, as Craig Wallwork is taking spring off to promote his two books coming out this January.
A big thanks to all of our wonderful contributors!
Winter 2013 Edition introduction by Craig Wallwork
Winter is that time of year for reflection, to look back and be thankful, reverent, merry, and measure the mistakes we made against all the understanding that came from each. It's also a time for sharing good times, gifts and hope. In this edition, I have tried to do all these things in the short stories chosen. There are some that have left me reverent at the skill and command of language these writers have, like the arachnid creature stalking a man at a Laundromat; or a town hiding a evolutionary secret that makes Animal Farm seem more like a documentary; or a wife watching her husband slowly crawling into a literary world that will consume his mind and memories forevermore; or a stone mason being tortured in the name of love. The story of the Indian man convincing his wife of the dangers of technology and conformity left me merry, as did the weird and beautiful tale of a maternal love between a farmer's wife and a pig.
Of those published authors who I have read and loved, and in turn allowed me to measure my own mistakes in writing against their flawlessness, I have offered stories by three of the best; Amelia Gray, Stephen Graham Jones and Aimee Bender. A beautiful story of wisdom passed down by elders, and the dangers of the wild, is the hope that comes from a new beginning, that this writer is found and heard by many. And finally, our gift, other than the wonderful stories outlined, is the talented writer Amanda Gowin, who will be our guest editor for the forthcoming Spring edition. Amanda's short story, Trotlines, featured in the 2012 Spring edition and was a dark Appalachian zombie story that perfectly distilled the psychosis of dystopian fiction. We knew if her editing skills held just a fraction of the talent she had in writing, the next edition would be monumental in Menacing Hedge's history. So get submitting now!
Finally, I would like to personally thank all the writers who submitted their short stories for consideration. You have made my life a living hell for the past three months! Many were so good, so rich and well written, that rejecting them felt like I had done an injustice to literature. But I look forward to reading many of them in other well respected and more suited journals in the near future.
My warmest regards for 2013,
Craig Wallwork
Fiction Editor
This edition was produced by:
Kelly Boyker: Poetry editor
Craig Wallwork: Fiction editor
Gio Guillemette: Technical director and paperwork dealer-wither
Dickens: Chief of paperwork interference and specialist in rendering all untethered small objects to the Taking Things Place, wherever that is.
Menacing Hedge
Menacing Hedge is a quarterly journal of poetry, fiction and artwork, which is committed to fostering access to emerging and experimental poetry and prose. Ongoing publication is scheduled for the first weeks of July, October, January, and April. Menacing Hedge will carefully archive all its editions to ensure that an author's/artist's work will remain on the web for many, many years to come. Regrettably, Menacing Hedge cannot pay its contributors at this time.
Menacing Hedge accepts only original unpublished literary work; however, it will consider literary work on a case-by-case basis if it has appeared only in print but never on the web. In the case of art and photography, it is acceptable if the piece has appeared on the artist's website or elsewhere.
Upon acceptance of a literary piece, Menacing Hedge obtains first publishing rights and then all rights revert to the author. Menacing Hedge requests that if a published piece is later published elsewhere, that Menacing Hedge will be credited with first publication. Also, Menacing Hedge reserves the right to publish the piece in print.
Scary Bush
If we decide to accept your work, we will also invite you to submit one of your most cringeworthy efforts from the misty past to Menacing Hedge's evil twin, Scary Bush. Please see the Scary Bush page for examples.