Annalemma Issue Six is now available for pre-sale in our print store. If you enjoy the writing of the following people:

Mickey Hess

Matt Bell

Jonathan Messinger

Jack Boettcher

Ryan Call

J.A. Tyler

Henry Ronan-Daniell

Anne Valente

Ian Bassingthwaighte

Jim Ruland

Ravi Mangla

Roxane Gay

Jimmy Chen

Brandi Wells

…accompanied by the image work of the following people:

Charles Bergquist

Joseph Wood

Ghazal Hashemi

Daniel Lucas

Jenny Kendler

Owleyes

Nathaniel Shannon

Chrissy Lau

Anthony Cudahy

Todd Jordan

Xenia Fink

Rose Wind Jerome

Accettura & Ludde

Yana Tutunik

Ryan Marshall

Chase Heavener

Cara Faye Earl

…then you should hi-tail it over to our print store. As mentioned above, there’s a borderline-terrifying amount talent in these pages. We are bracing for the onslaught of orders as I type this. Secure your copy today! More details to come in the following weeks.

This is the cover for Issue Six: Sacrifice. The image comes from the photo essay El Pasion en Iztapalapa by Cara Faye Earl, appearing in this issue. I sent this to our intern and she said Oh Jesus, it looks like we’re a Christian mag… are we a Christian mag?

What do you think? Too religious? Would the appearance of a cross preclude you from picking up a magazine? Why?

Umm, I don’t know break this to you Melville House… You’re cool and everything, but I don’t really see you like that. Sorry. Hope we can still be friends.

{above image by Xenia Fink for the story “Bred in Captivity” by Ravi Mangla}

Did I mention we’re working on our new print issue? And did I mention that it’s got a stupid-ridiculous amount of talent in it? Don’t believe me? Do as Lavar Burton teaches by not taking my word for it and check out our tentative roster for our sacrifice themed issue.

A-hole in Germantown

Story: Mickey Hess

Images: Charles Bergquist

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Three Stories

Stories: Matt Bell

Images: Joseph Wood

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Ashore, An Island

Story: Jonathan Messinger

Images: Ghazal Hashemi

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Goodnight, America

Story: Jack Boettcher

Images: Daniel Lucas

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Baron Von Richtofen Flies Again

Story: Ryan Call

Images: Jenny Kendler

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Illusions [n2]

Story: J.A. Tyler

Images: owleyes

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The National Pastime

Story: Henry Ronan-Daniell

Images: Nathaniel Shannon

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A Very Compassionate Baby

Story: Anne Valente

Images: Chrissy Lau

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A Flawless Pick

Story: Ian Bassingwaithe

Images: Anthony Cudahy

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Our Lady of Guadalupe Needs a New Fight Song

Story: Jim Ruland

Images: Todd Jordan

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Bred in Captivity

Story: Ravi Mangla

Images: Xenia Fink

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How

Story: Roxane Gay

Images: Rose Wind Jerome

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Condominium

Story: Jimmy Chen

Images: Todd Fisher

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Claim

Story: Brandi Wells

Images: Yana Tutunik

Whew. That’s a lotta hooch. Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to lose my mind for a week while we try to get this to the printers and back in time for AWP.

Some things that you did not know that you now know:

- Contributor David Peak wrote a novel.

- The novel is called The Rocket’s Red Glare

- It is for sale here.

- You want to buy it. Why? Because David is a good writer. But you already knew that.

I had to run laps in gym class pretty frequently. I’d get bored and not really care about finishing the number of laps coach had assigned and I’d just kind of turky-trot around the gym, just to see if I could wait coach out, see if he’d tell me to quit before I’d fulfilled my commitment. It never worked, he’d always call me out.

“You’re doggin’ it, Heavener! Quit doggin’ it!” His term for doing something half-assed.

I’m kinda doggin’ it on the site today. My mind is elsewhere. We’re putting together the print issue and my wheels took a shit so it’s been a mad dash to get anything done in a timely manner.

I promise to use my whole ass next week.

My brother, avid Mac disciple that he is, sent the above video this morning. He told me Annalemma should think about developing an application (cannot bring myself to say “app,” the word feels soft and wimpy on my tongue) for the iPad. Making one for the iPhone makes sense, I guess. Something like 65% of all content on the web is viewed with a mobile device nowadays (and I’m willing to bet that 90% of that content is Facebook related). But the iPad feels like such a colossal waste of money. What does this thing do that the iPhone does not? The e-book/reading feature is kinda cool, I guess, but it feels more like an afterthought than a primary function. The publishing world was asking for a savior and they got tossed table scraps.

What it boils down to for the magazine is whether or not what we do is accessible to people. I’ve always desired this magazine to be inviting to the savvy reader and first-timer alike, but with a $700 price tag I can’t see anyone buying this thing just for reading purposes.  It’s going to be owned by the tech elite initially and then, months or a couple years later, it’s primary function is going to sift through, or it will be a total flop.

I’m not really interested in being the first lit mag on the iPad. It would probably garner some initial press and a few people would find their way to the site and even fewer might actually subscribe. But if we created a revolutionary use for the iPad, beyond its original intent, then it would be a signal flair to the audience, to people like you and me.

Who can say with this type of shit, though. I’m the worst tech forecaster ever. What say you, Internet? Do you plan on buying an iPad? Are you excited about this thing at all? Or is Wired simply playing their role? Developing an application because they are expected to, not because it serves any purpose? There for the sake of being there?

(p.s. Someone neglected to mention that Wired’s creative director is a cyborg. Makes perfect sense though.)

We’re fortunate enough to have the meticulous and beautiful line work of Xenia Fink in our roster for Issue Six. Xenia’s humans are inviting at first but seem to become more warped the longer you look at them. Enough with that arts talk. Go check out her site.

I found out late last minute that Sam Lipsyte was reading at Housing Works so I dropped everything and trekked through 91 inches of slush to see one of my favorite authors because events like these are the reason you move to New York. Heidi Julavits and Colson Whitehead were there too, along with some big wheels from Harper’s. Like I said, this is the reason.

The man himself, who doesn’t have a website, which kind of pisses me off. Why are authors so slow to adopt technology? Is it because updating real-time information is so antithetical to polishing and crafting sentences and stories? The complete opposite of what they strive to do in the first place? Or do they just think it’s a waste of time? Whatever. All I know is his reading made me want to buy The Ask even more than I already do. And that I got no business writing if it’s not going to come out as good as his.

Colson Whitehead has good stage presence and delivery but his set-up veered dangerously close to being overly complicated. Heidi Julavits read a story that I feel like I would have loved had I read it my room, but didn’t translate all that great to a reading.

Pop quiz:

You are at a reading with some of the most well-known and influential people in the New York literary scene and you only have one copy of your magazine to give away. Do you give it to…

a) Sam Lipsyte

b) Colson Whitehead

c) Heidi Julavits

d) one of the big wheels at Harper’s

e) Justin Taylor

The answer is…

Trick question. You put on your coat and you leave immediately to go eat Thai food and catch up on Lost, because you have been holed up in your apartment for days and lack of human contact has devolved your social skills into that of a pubescent PC gamer and speaking to other humans at this point would only be an exercise in making the both parties uncomfortable. And first impressions are important.

Fucking February. You may make it through the holidays with some positivity still in tact, you may even coast through January with a little hitch in your step, but fucking February is always waiting to choke it right out of you. And if you make it through Valentines then you are simply not human.

On a positive note: How about the Housing Works Bookstore? Pretty amazing, right? Every dollar from book sales to food and beverage go to homeless men and women living with aids. All the merchandise is donated, all employees are volunteers. New favorite book store.

Some deliciously painful rejections were offered up yesterday in competition for the newest issue of PANK. Some highlights included Leilani, who got dumped by a dude because he was scared he might fall “too much in love,” Reynard, who got an entire boot of beer poured on him, and David, whose camp counselor called him the ugliest fucking kid he’d ever seen.

But there can be only one winner and that person is Peter Richter:

5th grade I ask a girl if we could “go steady.”

At lunch I sat with her and she told me, nicely, that we wouldn’t make a good couple. And then she goes “But you’re pretty.”

I thought it odd to be called pretty but I remembering thinking it was still nice of her to say so I replied. “Thank…”

and she interrupted, “Pretty pathetic.” And the entire lunch table erupted in laughter.

I took my lunch and embarrassment to another table.

Ouch. Hopefully the wounds of the past can be healed with the gift of literature, Peter. Congrats on winning the new issue of PANK, a publication that would never insult you publicly. Their new slogan perhaps?