No. 9

Summer 2005

We're HUGE! Our final issue in the single digits is double-size! Well, sort of. Maybe we'll just say it's one and a half size. But still, with three features, three short stories, three essays, and seven poems, that's pretty big.

It's undeniable: Number 9 is alive!

Our fiction section explodes with our feature interview with ZZ Packer, "Being in the World," in which she provides insight into the processes that make her stories so successful and offers direction in the way that's best for writers to see the world. The stories in this section are beautiful and haunting, including John Parras's "The Sad Early Days of a Famous Scuba Diver," a tale that immerses the reader in its lyricism like a deep pool; and then there's the deliciousness and bitterness of Tanya Underwood's "Sliced Thin." In Creative Nonfiction, we have our feature interview with Eddy L. Harris in which he discusses the many projects he's completed and also talks about categorizing writers and writing. His wisdom and energy fly around the page. Life changing events, both small and large, echo through the essays in this section, from the gravity of accidental death in Jim Reese's "Cat Scratch Fever," to the decision to date artists over professionals in Maura Kelly's exquisitely written "Hey Ya." Scott Silsbe's erudite column on the history of surrealist poetry kicks off the Poetry section and should not be missed. Poems by Jim Goar and Tyler Carter seem to cut reality in half with playful wit and unsettling images, and those are just a few of the gems available in Poetry.

This is my last issue. Jonathan Loucks takes over in August. In closing, I'd like to thank all of our contributors for allowing us to include their outstanding works of literary art, all of our editors and staff for their labor and discerning eyes, and all of our readers who keep tuning in to support quality writing. Thank you all and enjoy.

Arrivederci,

Don Strange
Managing Editor

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nidus is an online publication supported by the Writing Program at the University of Pittsburgh's English Department.