Editor's Note: The Forgotten Issue

This latest issue of BULL was going to be a lot of things. Last April, after my daughter was born, I had in mind celebrating with a sort of "Feminissue": women writers doing whatever it is we're calling Men's Fiction. Some great stories came down the pike (including the one we have from Lindsay Hunter), but as time went on the prospect of an all-women release seemed too much like a gimmick—I did not want to make a big deal of featuring women writers in BULL because I'd rather that be a regular occurrence. And I'm happy to say that it will be for the near future, so please, let's continue hearing from you, ladies. 

So it was back to collecting our best and seeing what themes came up, if any. Hunter's piece, along with work from Christopher Rosales and Jamey Gallagher, had a subtle, solemn desert-y feeling, so for a week at least things were heading in that direction. This may well have been "The Arid Issue," though I'm very thankful it is not.

Thankful for stories by Matt Mullins, Aaron Burch, and our new book reviewer, Curtis Dawkins (read his stuff yet?), stories that at first threw everything off and gave me a mind to make this the very anti-thematic "Motley Issue." Until I noticed that each piece in here works with an angle on memory, or better yet, faulty memory: things and people, heinous actions and entire histories are forgotten—either deliberately or regrettably—or both, in some cases. The theme is all capped off with our print bonus story, "Forbeirs" by Lloyd Phillips, which is as timely in its Halloween spookiness (swamps, g-g-g-ghosts?) as it is a departure from anything we've featured before, a near-fable almost—think Hansel and Gretel minus any hero huntsman.

This is all to be had in the print issue, which, it's worth noting, will be our last handmade ditty before "the new BULL" drops this winter. And here I find the "Forgotten" theme applies as well—as a reminder not to forget these humble beginnings, and the writers, readers, staff and submitters that have made BULL a worthwhile pursuit deserving of expansion. My thanks as always to you all, and if anything, I got these fold-and-staple calluses as a reminder.

—JH

PS. Copies of "The Forgotten Issue" are very limited, so if you want proof that you knew us way back when, better get on it!