Happy holidays from the North Carolina coast, where we’re enjoying the climatic ecotone that is a long Southern autumn (and fretting about climate change). We can’t wait to share the second issue of our Ecotone’s tenth-anniversary year—our first ever to focus on sound. It will include new fiction from Toni Jensen and Brian Doyle, among others, and an essay on earthquake and glacier sounds from longtime Ecotone contributor Kate Miles. There are several special features—including a set of found photographs of musicians from the past century, curated by Sarah Bryan, and an essay on the revitalization of letterpress printing in Cherokee.
We’re also showcasing three Southern musicians talking about their favorite songs—bluegrass pioneer Alice Gerrard; songster and banjo player Dom Flemons, formerly of the Carolina Chocolate Drops; and poet and SugarQube Records founder Shirlette Ammons. There’s an essay about Detroit’s decline and opera music; a story that transports the reader to a grand home in Pakistan; and a sweet poem based on a popular children’s app. And we’ve lined up lots more stellar poetry: from Katy Didden, Sandra McPherson, and many more, with everything from poems about music to poems that engage with the music of meter and form.
Like the sound of this issue? If you subscribe or renew by December 15, you’ll be sure to get it! You’ll receive two issues, a full year, of Ecotone for $16.95—or two years for $29.95. If you’d like to give Ecotone as a gift (and it’s a great one, not that we’re biased), between now and the new year you can get a subscription for yourself and one for a friend, all for $25.
And one last possibility: you can subscribe to Ecotone and receive the new novel from Lookout Books, Matthew Neill Null’s Honey from the Lion, for $25. Read what Jayne Anne Phillips has called “one of the most assured debuts of the year”—or share it with a friend. If you order by December 15, your subscription will begin with the Sound issue, and we’ll send the book out before the holidays.
Best wishes from all of us at Ecotone. Hope you get to read lots this winter!