[Susan McLean]

Great showing of Eratosphere regulars and occasionals in Light, including Jim Hayes, Terese Coe, Edmund Conti, Claudia Gary Annis, Gail White, R.S. Gwynn, Michael Cantor, Alfred Nicol, and Esther Cameron. Hope I didn't miss anyone.

Susan

[Steven Schroeder]

Woohoo! Cool deal, and congratulations to all.

------------------
Steve Schroeder

[Michael Cantor]

Hate to sound ungrateful, and I may be biting the hand that publishes me, but am I the only one who is increasingly disappointed in Light with each succeeding issue? There is always some good stuff in there (mostly ours, he says, blushing modestly), but also a generous supply of cutesy and fluffy cotton candy. Very mixed content, and mixed reaction on my part.

[Rose Kelleher]

Congrats, all!

Michael, I do find Light a mixed bag, but I'm anticipating an excellent issue with so many Sphereans contributing.


[This message has been edited by Rose Kelleher (edited December 10, 2004).]

[Edmund Conti]

I guess I'm guilty of the fluff but I'm not a regular here. Or even an occasional.

[Jim Hayes]

Light is very much a mixed bag indeed but I have to align myself with you Michael, there is a drift, not to just inconsequential fluff, but to publishing items that are simply bad.

I would readily post some pieces from the latest issue illustrating this, with commentary, if I didn't think I was breaching some form of literary etiquette or copyright.

Jim

(None of which are by you Edmund)

[Tim Murphy]

James, you can post and quote in the context of critique. That's the "fair usage doctrine." Edmund, you're one of the best guys Mella prints! And I for one am delighted to see how much more regular you've become round here. John sent me a somewhat mournful letter asking me why I've not submitted lately, and I had to tell him I just haven't written anything funny for two years. I think we all have to recognize that it is very hard to fill a magazine with wonderful poems, because there just aren't very many. Inability to attract sufficient high level work has caused four editors of my acquaintance to shut down admirable publications. The New Yorker gets nine hundred submissions for three slots per week, and look at some of the shit they print!

[Terese Coe]

Thanks for making the announcement, Susan, and congratulations to all who made a showing in this issue.

Terese

[Steven Schroeder]

Originally posted by Tim Murphy:
I think we all have to recognize that it is very hard to fill a magazine with wonderful poems, because there just aren't very many.

I've certainly been discovering how true that is.

Originally posted by Tim Murphy:
The New Yorker gets nine hundred submissions for three slots per week, and look at some of the shit they print!

I bet they get more submissions than that, but they could be getting the best submissions on earth in the 900 and they'd still print mostly the shit.




------------------
Steve Schroeder

[Roger Slater]

I consider any issue of any literary magazine to be a success if there are three or four really good poems in it, and maybe another three or few pretty good poems. It's a rare magazine that doesn't have at least something bad in it. I haven't seen this issue of Light yet, but I'm pretty sure the mandatory "very good" quotient has been more than satisfied by the names that have been mentioned, and I look forward to reading what Jim, Terese, Edmunt, Claudia, Gail, Sam, Michael, Alfred and Esther have cooked up that makes the other guys look so bad. Congratulations to all of you!