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Even before we cracked the pages of Matt Sharpe’s latest—and, we soon found, greatest—we were impressed by it, because a number of critics had compared it to the work of one of our heroes: the amazing Cormac McCarthy. Then we landed an excerpt from Jeffrey Lent’s wonderful—and, in passages, positively McCarthine—A Peculiar Grace. No, Daniel Alarcón’s piece lacks a bloody scalp, and while Lesley Jenike’s poems can be read on many levels, none of them features an emaciated horse carcass. Still, we wondered: is it just coincidence, and our good luck, that this issue is not only our best yet, but of a positively Cormackian cast?

Who knows? Chance or fate—either is fine by us. And whichever it is, we’d like to dedicate ol’ number 24 to the great man himself. We’ve been trying for a coon’s age to land an interview with the guy, and haven’t yet managed—damn that Oprah woman, for beating us to it— but at least we’re publishing folks whose work is good enough to be compared with his, and favorably to boot. Good enough for you? Good enough for us, for sure.

TD