Greetings to all readers, whether you’re coming to Thin Skin for the first time, whether you’ve dipped in now and then or whether you’ve been a loyal follower since Issue 1. We’re very proud that we’ve created a home for the work of older writers and we’ve never been short of submissions, so there’s obviously a lot of you out there. Long may it continue. We also like to think of ourselves as discerning, taking only the best, but that’s for you to judge.
This issue is coming out at Halloween, which sadly has become more commercial over the years and whose roots have all but been forgotten. But the 1st and 2nd of November celebrate the Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos), which is not as spooky as it sounds. It’s two days of remembering and honouring those we have lost. Hence our photo, which depicts a traditional stall (ofrenda) displaying offerings to the dead. We could have used one of those painted skeleton faces or a carved pumpkin, but we feel this embodies our ethos better: respect, love, remembrance of times past and hope for the future. And sometimes, to lighten the mood, humour.
The stories and poetry in this issue are definitely not on the theme of Halloween, but they do depict all aspects of humanity, good, bad and in between. Let’s feed our urge to read poetry, flash fiction and short stories.
POETRY
David Anson Lee: The Thursday After
Elena Lelia Radulescu: Interior with Tulips; At the Flower Market
Gerald Jatzek: That Photo on the Wall
Jan Hazen Hanson: Crisp White Sheets; No One to Meet
Tricia Gates Brown: Opposites; Anniversary of a First Marriage
SHORT STORIES
Derek Armstrong: Elvis Lives on Sung Hee Corner
Emily Hay: Déjeuner sur l’herbe
Marcelle Neumann: And Such and Things
Nicole Brogdon: The Coziest Hotel in Barcelona
Thin Skin runs on a shoestring, but our initial funding has ended and until we find another source, we need your support by asking you to put your hands in your pockets, open up your wallet, or unlock your safe – wherever you keep your money. It doesn’t have to be much, only a dollar/pound/whatever (or two or three or four or five…). All you have to do is press the donate button.
Your money would go towards maintaining the website and the submissions manager we use (we’re about to change submissions managers because of exorbitant costs on the horizon for the existing one). We don’t pay ourselves, nor do we pay our submissions readers, who deserve a shout out for the work they do behind the scenes. We’d love to pay our authors, but we’re not there yet, and would not use your money to do that, because you should be subsiding the magazine as an entity, not individual writers. If you can help, please do.
Featured image Chris Luengas on Unsplash