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Editor’s Note -- Introducing Bryan and the New Issue
Blood Orange Review 3.2
Stephanie and Heather are happy to welcome Bryan Fry to the editorial staff of Blood Orange Review. You can see his bio here, and read his non-fiction work in a recent issue. Take it away, Bryan.
I have to admit I was a little envious when Stephanie told me she and her "poet friend" Heather were starting an online literary journal. I had worked with Stephanie for three years in graduate school-we were friends, poets, office mates, and worked closely as assistant poetry editors for our university’s literary journal. By the time she told me about the journal, I had heard a lot about Heather and knew the two would find success.
I was surprised when she told me they were planning on calling the journal Blood Orange Review, though I guess I shouldn’t have been. It’s a perfect name-one you can expect when you put the power of language into the hands of two poets. What continued to surprise me, however, was their certitude, that they could reach that far out into the space of imagination, pull out the idea for starting a journal, and have the audacity to actually do it.
For a little over two years, I've been a fan of Blood Orange Review. I’ve watched it grow and noticed the level of writing improve with each issue. I’ve even had my work published in a recent issue. And, yes, as I mentioned, I’ve felt jealous-a character flaw every writer feels at some point. But I wouldn’t have felt that way if I didn’t think the journal had merit and would continue to do well, and I was definitely as proud of the journal as I was envious of it.
Therefore, in May of this year, when Stephanie and Heather asked if I would come on board as an editor, I was more than excited.
My first task was to read through a heaping stack of submissions-around 60, I believe-and I was blown away by the number of writers who had earned MFA degrees and publish regularly in top-notch journals. I was equally impressed with the work of a number of young, unpublished writers. I am happy to say we were able to get the best writing out of both groups for this issue.
In addition to reading submissions, I’ve met with Stephanie and Heather every couple of weeks over the phone. Between these meetings, between our jobs and our marriages, between feeding our pets and tending our gardens, we’re finding ways to allow the journal to grow, and I’m extremely excited about its future.
With that said, I proudly announce Volume 3.2, July 2008 issue of Blood Orange Review. Moving from page to page, from Laura Sobbott Ross’ Red Tides to David Arthur Simon’s images of the red sweater men (as we have come to call them), from Susan Slaviero’s inventory of a broken marriage to Felicia Mitchell’s account of a father’s death stitched together with old photographs in "Album," I hope you become as big a fan as I continue to be.
Bryan Fry, editor
Blood Orange Review
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