Welcome to issue 2. As you’ll notice this is a special double issue that is dedicated to Edgar Allan Poe. As The Feral Pages weren’t around last year, we missed the 200th anniversary of Poe’s birthday so I decided that we’d celebrate his 201.

I have selected three of Poe’s short stories that I believe represent his brilliance in the realm of cross-genre fiction. Of course in Poe’s day genres weren’t really a consideration. It wouldn’t be until the development of big publishing houses that genres would take hold. This atmosphere of relative creative freedom allowed Poe to tell stories without the fetters of genre rules.

You’ll also find an article about the short story “Hop-Frog.” Many academics consider the piece to be a minor tale. Hopefully I plead my opposing argument well.

You’ll also find three new short stories by Jacob Strunk, Syd Freeman and Hilary Davidson.

There have been some additions concerning the Potato Head Challenge. Since I have received no submissions for it, I have extended the deadline and supplied an original piece as an example entitled “One Last Drink.”

Please also check out the new submission guidelines that I hope are much clearer. Many of you have reported that you don’t have cross-genre pieces to send. I also except work in all genres. To understand cross-genre it is critical to understand genre.

Finally, I must apologize for the state of the work I have provided for this issue. There will be typos. There will be grammar and punctuation errors. In the span of two weeks I have lost both my vehicles. One to a blown transmission and the other to a car accident that could have injured my wife and son. I’ll take a totaled vehicle any day over an injury to either of them. So for the sake of expediency vs. accuracy I’m putting this out there in a state of disrepair.

Hope you enjoy issue #2,

Sincerely,

Lyman Feero, Editor