Well, it’s August, and I’m as far away from home as I can be without leaving the peninsula. The temperature in the northwestern corner of Spain is about 20° cooler than where we live in the east, and for the first time in two months, I’m going to sleep comfortably without the air conditioning. That’s not particularly relevant for this issue; I’m just happy about it.
What you do need to know about Issue 29 of B&C is that it’s very good.
I’m never nervous to publish an author more than once. The truth is, many of the things that compelled me to publish a story by an author are often true of their other work. This month, two stories come from authors we’ve heard from before.
We open with “2 Flash Fictions” from the inimitable Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois. He featured in our very first issue, and I’m always surprised with how much he does in such a short space. I learn something new about storytelling every time I read his work, and I find myself pondering what I’ve read for a good while afterwards.
Next up, Arlene Antoinette also returns to our pages with “West Indian Rum Chronicles Part One – Mother, Rum and Paul Muad’Dib Atreides.” This is much like her previous piece: weird and tender in all the right ways. And it comes with its own Tweet-destroying title. I mean, that’s 76 characters just for the title, and then I have to describe it, hashtag it, and link it! But after you read it, I think you’ll agree it’s all worth it.
And finally, we have “Hey Hombre, Go Back Where You Belong,” by Alex de Cruz. This piece hit my submissions queue in mid-June. If you’re keeping track of these things, that was about a month before the president employed a strikingly similar phrase. I didn’t choose the piece in response to that incident. I chose it because I thought it told a story well, I thought it landed the ending, and it left me chewing on my own response to the evil of racism.
So, there you have it. I’m now returning to my vacation. If you have some down time this month, I recommend you find a hammock and an iced tea, and settle in for another fun issue of Bull & Cross.
Happy Reading,
Daniel R. Julian
Editor-in-chief