From the Editor

Granted, this time of year, the last place you want to be is indoors, sitting in front of a computer.  Couldn't agree more... But let's face it, unless you are a teacher and get a nice three month summer vacation, then you're still likely required to sit in your 8x10 office, or your more communal-quality cubical, and face that screen for eight hours a day.  So, we ask, why not spend some of those hours with us?  This issue should keep you more than entertained-with fiction by Julianna Baggott, Lynn Kozlowski, Nelly Reifler, Bill Spratch and Shawn Aron Vandor; the poetry of Barry Ballard, Suzanne Burns, and M. Sammons; our feature author interview with Robert Cohen; and in the case of art, we go retro (...spective that is)-focusing on the works of the late Louisa Matthiasdottir and the Russian great, Mikhail Vrubel.  We guarantee you a good read (and look) all around.

So please, by all means, keep clicking.

Thom Didato

PS - For the record, this latest issue represents an editorial change here at failbetter.com. We say goodbye to one of our main colleagues and co-founder, David McLendon, while welcoming several new readers and editorial consultants into the failbetter family. My best wishes to David as he concentrates on his own writing endeavors, and ever appreciation for the new crew that has helped not only keep failbetter afloat, but to increase the quality (and readership quantity) of this literary adventure.