ISSN 2754-6888 (Online)

Issue Two

Summer 2022

First published 2022 @ lit202.org

Editor

Alexander P. Harwood

Contributors

Anne Whitehouse
Judith Yarrow
Rachel Cann
Robert McGuill
Paul Dufficy
Claire Westbrook
Thomas Reed Willemain
Jaydan Salzke
Nicole F. Kimball
Mikal Wix
Michael Ruffin
Steve Denehan
Jacob Laba
Michael Brosnan
Komal Keshran
Joshua St. Claire
R. A. Allen
Blake Noelle
Dylan Parkin

Cover illustration by William Morris via Rawpixel

This issue is offered as is, with absolutely no warrenty, explicit or implied, and subject to the condition that it will not be sold, distributed, or edited without express permission from the publisher. All work included in this issue is published with permission of the author, with whom all rights remain.

Made in Cheltenham, England.

Foreword

After the relative length of the foreword I provided in Issue One, any further probing into those same waters which the prior text explored may strike some, and indeed did strike me, as not only a reprisal of points already made and opinions already expressed, but also as a sort of smiling self-indulgence on the part of an editor who, in truth, does little more than pick, polish, and poster. I shall therefore keep this note as brief and relevant as any editor can.

After the launch of Issue One, the release of the online shop, and afterward the rebrand, I was thrilled to see the magazine get a little more attention in several ways. We received many times the number of submissions we did for the first issue, which of course made the selection process far trickier. I wanted to say that there truly were a great many submissions which fell right on the cusp of selection, but, for various reasons, did not quite make it this time. To these authors I want to say that as with almost everything in life, timing is often crucial, and ultimately it was timing which in lots of cases prevented my accepting certain pieces. I have learnt from this, however. Whilst I certainly enjoy the ethos of a submissions window remaining permanently open — or at least slightly ajar — we might have to consider a more explicit closing date in the future. I do not believe in hogging or hoarding material, that is, accepting a piece without the intention to publish it as soon as possible. At certain times — during the past week, for instance — we might be near enough to starting on the next issue that accepting a submission slightly earlier than intended becomes feasible, but otherwise, I prefer to regretfully decline and request a resubmission further down the line, which, in most cases, I have done.

Again, I owe a multitude of thanks to all those who submitted, particularly to the authors with whom I worked closely during the editorial process to tidy and arrange what were certainly some interesting works.

This issue is longer than the first was — almost twice as long, in fact. It’s really rather tricky to estimate the number of pages required, and at certain points I was sure I had over-accepted, but after taking several editorial liberties, I feel I have managed to keep everything clean and concise whilst ensuring the final product still reflects well the material it possesses. Depending on how well this issue does, I intend to make Issue Three a similar length, if not a little longer, for it is such a shame to have to turn away such great material for such silly reasons as time and space. Likewise, it has since crossed my mind that we might consider online-only publication for certain pieces, whereby a story or poem might appear on the website alongside existing material, but not be attached to any specific issue, which would enable us to accept a greater number of submissions. A little more work needs doing for this to be possible, but it is perhaps something to consider for the future. I further intend to branch out at some point, that is to publish work not only within the Lit. 202 journal, but also as independent books. The cynical reader however knows that aspiration and reality have a way of crossing their respective fibres, and that the skeins of intention seldom appear as tangled under the soft moonlight of fancy as they do under the harsh glare of a desk lamp.

Alexander P. Harwood
Cheltenham, England
June 26, 2022

Fiction

Poetry