Repeat after me: This column will not become a landfill of fodder, nor will it be the publisher’s soapbox. And in no way, shape, or form, will we permit “From the Attic” to become a thinly disguised marketing tool for Atticus Books.
We as a community will not allow this column to be filled with dreg. We will only fill this column with things worth reading. We will fill “From the Attic” with literary musings, critical analyses, and reports from the trenches. We will fill it with a higher purpose in mind, hypersensitive to the value of each reader’s time.
In line with the “digging” theme of this week’s issue, we are interested in getting below the surface of things that matter. We are interested in recruiting guest columnists—writing teachers, book bloggers, journal editors, small press enthusiasts, subject matter experts, and colleagues—to help us fulfill our mission.
At times this column will be a mirror of our society; it will provide a jump-off point to examine issues through the prism of a writer’s microscope. Through an open, collaborative platform that encourages comments, ideas, and article submissions, this column will become a place for us to learn from each other and for us to understand and appreciate what it means to be peers in the knowledge age.
When the situation calls for it, we will pull out a telescope to provide a broad view of the world at large. On certain weeks, we will delve into topics and themes that are under the radar, and on other weeks, we will deliver a unique perspective on a pulsating story. Our coverage will be even-handed and biased, fact-driven and opinionated; in other words, we’ll keep it real.
Our goal will be to use a reporter’s instinct and a poet’s intuition, while relying on mentors and leaning on muses to point us in the right direction, to show us the way.
We want to know what’s important to our fellow readers, participants in this democracy. In this age of über-niche subcultures, every person’s intrinsic need is not being met. Crevices as deep as Lake Superior remain. And as a journal with a mission to rise above the noise of the marketplace and foster communication, Atticus Review is accountable for supplying the missing letters in a reader’s life. What do we, as people enraptured by the arts, crave? What do we seek here that we’re not getting elsewhere?
We are essential to the success of this column, not to mention the health of this online journal. We, the rightful owners of this Internet space, will help determine and populate the content that appears. We will fill it with substance. We will fill it with the unknowable and make it knowable.
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On the television series, “Fringe,” there lives a mysterious group of otherworldly creatures known as “shape shifters,” lurking in the shadows. Their general purpose, it seems, is malevolent in nature, but their impact on the universe is immense, undeniable.
This week’s “From the Attic” column is indeed our clarion call for shape shifters, ideally of the benevolent kind. If you want to be part of this alternate landscape of literature, it’s your duty to grab a spade and start digging.
If you’re feeling especially shifty, pitch your story ideas to danc@atticusbooks.net.
Photo Source:
CJ Levinson
