From the Editor

Newcomers for the New Year…

"We all remember young people, don't we?" queries the the writer, T.C. Boyle. "But these young people need young writers to study..." As you'll come to discover in our interview with the acclaimed author, Boyle often points out to his students, "You probably wouldn't really tear the world up with your rock and roll band if the last music you heard was by Benny Goodman... You live now, you need to know what artists are doing now."

Well, failbetter.com has always prided itself on presenting both established and new voices within the international literary community. Thus, our latest issue gives an added emphasis to this philosophy. In addition to the literary likes of the great T.C. Boyle, we ring in the new year with some new voices—fiction from Heather McElhatton, Bryson Newhart, Liana Scalettar, and Matthew Simmons; poetry by Richard Fulco, Annalynn Hammond, Raymond McDaniel, Anne Pepper and Lauren Sassella; and artist Katsura Okada offers a rather new twist on the ancient subject of scrolls.

New works by new voices, on the eve of a new year. failbetter.com renews its faith in our fellow writers, and beckons curious readers to see for themselves...

TD

PS - "And now a word from our sponsor...." Not exactly, but undoubtedly you will notice that failbetter.com has partnered-up with the largest independent bookstore, Powell's, to provide our readers and price-conscious consumers with the alternative of purchasing books (both used and new) by authors that grace our pages. While failbetter.com continues to publish original works of fiction, poetry and art — free of charge (and free of nasty pop-adds or blinking banner noise) — we do subtly suggest that should one be so inclined and/or grateful for our ongoing literary efforts, please click your way to obtaining said works (and by default support our humble existence.) Many thanks to those who do.

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