A Letter from the Editor
Dear Barnstorm readers, returning and new,
First and foremost, thank you all for tuning back into our regularly scheduled programming of monthly releases. Our team is beyond excited to present our February release, aka Issue 4 of Barnstorm Journal Volume 15.
Our February collection features a range of wonderful pieces from a talented group of contributors. Despite the diversity in genre and form, it’s impossible to ignore the shared emphasis on human connection. Through these stories, we find ourselves launched from earth into space before being dragged back down again. After our travels, we arrive at last in a place that feels the same, yet changed.
These next few issues are a special bunch. It’s set to be quite a busy couple of months, from our upcoming trip to AWP in Kansas City this month to the Nossrat Yassini Poetry Festival in April.
In celebration of these exciting events, we look forward to sharing a variety of interviews, features, and blog posts in collaboration with some masterful writers and artists. Keep an eye out for those, as well as some additional craft essays in a bonus issue this May from our editorial team!
Which brings me to my fourth wall break moment to introduce myself – my name is Cari, and I am ardently, nervously, and excitedly stepping into the role of Editor in Chief! I feel blessed to be joining such a top-notch editorial team with Managing Editor Is Curtis, Genre Editors TJ Prizio, Steph George, and Amanda DeMel, and Arts Editor Cat Casey.
Our editors and I look forward to meeting many of you this week at AWP. If you find yourself in the Kansas City Convention Center, come say hi! We will be set up at Table 3133 February 7th-11th, equipped with stickers and temporary tattoos (a much cheaper alternative to that permanent flash you’ve been eyeing if I do say so myself). Let’s celebrate our mutual literary nerdiness!
We are thrilled to present you this issue, and find ourselves in the lucky position of spotlighting the work of Noel Tague, Rebecca Anderson, Jeff B. Johnston, Joshua Trent Brown, Angela Townsend, and Jack Florek. Many thanks to these artists for trusting us with your pieces.
Though February loves to welcome itself with bitter cold days and clouds that never seem to roll away, we can still find pockets of sunshine in the stories surrounding us. Perhaps that’s too cheesy. Perhaps the lack of vitamin D is starting to get to me. Or maybe the spike of serotonin that comes from finding a story your heart connects to is such a wonderful feeling that, despite the cold, it justifies the corniest of lines.
We hope you experience such a feeling with Barnstorm.
With love,
Cari Moll
Editor in Chief, Barnstorm Journal