Issue Four: Chiaroscuro & A Letter from the Editors

Dearest readers,

When we're planning an issue, it's not always clear when we will be publishing it. There is usually a vague date in mind, but other times we glance at our calendar and realize that the perfect time is staring us right in the face. Thus, with no small amount of pleasure, we are pleased to bring you our fourth issue of Bombus when the veil is clearest. 

Halloween did seem to be a rather fitting day to coincide with the release of Chiaroscuro.

There is something tender and wondrous that sits at the heart of this issue; this interweaving between the fantastical and the profane. This is an issue of firsts as well; our first chance at getting to publish both creative non-fiction and cross-genre work. We feel so humbled that we have been able to publish so much exciting work over the past year and we are so humbled by all of our contributors and supporters.

A few things to be on the lookout for in the future:

• We will be announcing our nominees for the Pushcart Prize in the next following weeks!
• There are a couple of changes that will be happening to the internal structure of Bombus, as part of our long-term goal of shaping the magazine so it can be the best that it can be. As of now, we will be closed for submissions until 2018, at which time we will hopefully be able to draw back the curtain on the new Bombus.

For now, there is only light. (And maybe a ghost or two.)

Happy Halloween!

The Editors

Call for Submissions - Issue Four: Chiaroscuro

Dearest readers,

Somehow every time we sit down to write one of our announcement posts, the world seems to slip into a more precarious state, as if to say: “let me change into something more comfortable.” Of course, only the opposite could be true and we learn to keep moving forward and to temper the noxiousness with a little bit of light.

As such, we would like to introduce the theme for our fourth issue: Chiaroscuro. 

'Chiaroscuro' is an Italian word for a painting technique that describes the interplay between light and shadow. It is particularly noted in the works of Caravaggio, Rembrandt, da Vinci, and a whole host of other painters.

We also see chiaroscuro as this: 

The velvet edge of afternoon that unfurls on itself like orange peel. Walking along the beach at night, illuminated by flash light on your phone - the waves dragging you in ever deeper. 3 AM insomnia and watching the moonlight flicker through the shades. Having tea with the man in the moon in cups fashioned from comet spines and star gas. 

It is a mix between the fantastical and the profane; send us your mothball-covered saints and wintery bus stops lurking in the lines of your poetry. We want your short fiction that is transient and translucent and the ghosts hiding at the edges of your artwork.

Submissions are open until September 20th. As always we support and seek the work of diverse creators, and please feel free to send an questions to bombuspress@gmail.com. We can’t wait to see your work!

Marilyn Schotland