Welcome to our Fall 2018 issue! We’re so glad you’re here. In Issue 10 (aka KF-10), you’ll find dozens of art- and literary works for your enjoyment, your entertainment, and maybe even your edification. Here’s a quick tally: 23 artworks, 17 fictions, 10 nonfictions, 22 lineated poems, 15 prose poems, 15 haibun, and 5 tanka prose.

As you may have discovered already, we happily publish regular contributors in each issue. Yet we’re also committed to presenting “new-to-us” voices at every opportunity. KF-10, for example, includes works by 44 contributors, 18 of whom (or 41%) are publishing with us for the first time. We welcome them all aboard and hope to see more from them in future issues. (By the way, to learn more about our publication percentages, see our Statistics.)

To begin your tour of KF-10, we would like to highlight several of those “new-to-us” voices:

⚡ Three touching poems, by Rachel Guido deVries (“Imperfection”), Maria Himmelman (“The Smallest Things”), and Bianca Glinskas (“{Sister, i see you} : {i should find you a grave}”)

(We’re delighted to add, not only is Ms. Himmelman new to KYSO Flash, but also her two poems in this issue are her first publication!)

⚡ Three stories to make you chuckle, by Barry Peters (“How Miriam Became a Poet”), Meg Pokrass (“Recent Rejection Letters”), and Sheree Shatsky (“Bacon’s Revenge”)

⚡ A trio of climate-impact pieces, by Ron Riekki (“Collusion”), David J. Kelly (“Chernobyl is currently 1.00008150762% safe”), and Kayla DeVault (“A Just Transition For Earth: What if U.S. rivers and mountains had the legal rights of people?”)

KF-10 also includes climate-impact works by both of us co-editors, Jack Cooper (A Few Hours From Starvation, an essay) and yours truly (One More Time and I’ll Have It—Fusion in a Mason Jar). And by this trio of authors:

⚡ Glenn Coats: “Vanished From Sight,” flash fiction

⚡ Bill Gottlieb: “Fleeing the Valley Fire,” lyrical memoir

⚡ John Olson: “Odor Plume,” prose poem

Other Highlights:

We’re pleased to present two essays by John Olson on the subject of poetry:

⚡ Three Lines by Hölderlin [Poets as holy vessels]

⚡ All I Want to Do Is Root

Especially for fiction fans: check out these flash stories by Salvatore Difalco, Barry Peters, and Marion de Booy Wentzien, and micro stories by Roberta Beary, Linda Nemec Foster, Dan Gilmore, Gary Glauber, Arthur Klepchukov, and Meg Pokrass.

And for everyone, please be sure to treat yourself to our selection of noteworthy artworks, including those by Featured Artist Debbie Strange.

Ephective Ekphrastics:

Speaking of artworks, we’re also elated to have seven ekphrastics in this issue.

⚡ Not to be missed: Gary S. Rosin’s Scene and Unseen, a dramatic take on Van Gogh’s chair which blends historic fact and poetic leap

⚡ For fellow fans of Charles D. Tarlton, we offer a trio of ekphrastic tanka prose on paintings by Cézanne. We believe they take full advantage of the opportunities of the form—didactic exposition, personal anecdote, poetic musing, and, of course, great art.

⚡ And if you’re interested in submitting ekphrastic works to us, please see our tips, Ephective Ekphrastics: A Guide for Verbalizing Art, which include 18 additional examples of works we’re looking for.

Last but not at all least...

We’re so pleased to announce our nominations for the 2018 Best of the Net Anthology, selected from works first published in KF-8 and KF-9.

And thank you! Three cheers, a joyful Snoopy dance, and my profound gratitude to my co-editor, Jack Cooper, and all the other lovely folks who have helped feed my soul by contributing works to Issue 10—which for me is a personal milestone, one that wasn’t even on the horizon of what I thought possible when I created this little journal in May 2014. Ten issues, I can hardly believe it! And December’s print anthology will represent five years of publishing what I consider among the most marvelous works of art and literature that a person could be blessed to experience.

Again, my heartfelt thanks to all of our contributors and our readers. ♥

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Thanks for dropping by! As always, we appreciate your visits here, and we hope you find much to enjoy on our menu...