5_trope | Editor’s Note

Editor’s Note

This time, the phoenix metaphors seem somehow less apt.

So let it not be said that 5_trope rose. Rather, let us say that this now-somewhat battleworn zine has limped forth from the ashes, and shaken her feathers lightly to reveal a new, sleeker, and (let us hope) more contemporary form.

The design is largely the work of David Ayers, who has stepped in and with patience and diligent attention revised our look into 5_trope’s new Wordpress form, which we hope will be at once more readable and easier to work with on the back end. 5_trope owes David a debt of gratitude; it is no exaggeration to say that without his intervention this issue would never have been published, certainly not in its current form.

And with this new look, 5_trope also intends the beginning of a newer, somewhat sleeker era. The age of over-the-transom material must come to an end, I think, in today’s age, where even the smallest, humblest publications are overwhelmed with many hundreds of submissions per month by authors from the four corners of our ever-shrinking globe. It is with sadness that I bid farewell to this practice—the discovery of gems in the slush pile is one of the profoundest pleasures an editor may experience. However, time is money—and given that a publication such as ours operates on the slimmest of margins, we can no longer devote the hours in front of the computer screen to sift through the pile to discover work that fits with our mission.

Instead, we will go out and find it.

To be somewhat less coy: our intention is to seek out guest editors, who will solicit excellent experimental work from their colleagues, which we will then publish; and in this way each issue will become the fruit of a single editor’s labour and guidance, a thematically-united work of internet art in its own right. Let us call this 5_trope’s overarching experiment: to discover what happens when editorship and authorship collide.

To that end, we welcome applications for guest editorship, but please be aware that applications will not be considered from novice writers, and that we may not be able to respond to every person we do not select. Applications may be sent to editor.5trope@gmail.com. Give us your best pitch: I look forward to hearing from you, internet.

–Gunnar Benediktsson

5_trope An Online Journal of Experimental Poetry and Prose
Archives Contributors Current Issue Editor’s Note Masthead	Editor’s Note This time, the phoenix metaphors seem somehow less apt. So let it not be said that 5_trope rose. Rather, let us say that this now-somewhat battleworn zine has limped forth from the ashes, and shaken her feathers lightly to reveal a new, sleeker, and (let us hope) more contemporary form. The design is largely the work of David Ayers, who has stepped in and with patience and diligent attention revised our look into 5_trope’s new Wordpress form, which we hope will be at once more readable and easier to work with on the back end. 5_trope owes David a debt of gratitude; it is no exaggeration to say that without his intervention this issue would never have been published, certainly not in its current form. And with this new look, 5_trope also intends the beginning of a newer, somewhat sleeker era. The age of over-the-transom material must come to an end, I think, in today’s age, where even the smallest, humblest publications are overwhelmed with many hundreds of submissions per month by authors from the four corners of our ever-shrinking globe. It is with sadness that I bid farewell to this practice—the discovery of gems in the slush pile is one of the profoundest pleasures an editor may experience. However, time is money—and given that a publication such as ours operates on the slimmest of margins, we can no longer devote the hours in front of the computer screen to sift through the pile to discover work that fits with our mission. Instead, we will go out and find it. To be somewhat less coy: our intention is to seek out guest editors, who will solicit excellent experimental work from their colleagues, which we will then publish; and in this way each issue will become the fruit of a single editor’s labour and guidance, a thematically-united work of internet art in its own right. Let us call this 5_trope’s overarching experiment: to discover what happens when editorship and authorship collide. To that end, we welcome applications for guest editorship, but please be aware that applications will not be considered from novice writers, and that we may not be able to respond to every person we do not select. Applications may be sent to editor.5trope@gmail.com. Give us your best pitch: I look forward to hearing from you, internet. –Gunnar Benediktsson