Moving Forward by Mensah Demary

Specter changes once again, but–this time–the changes make sense. We move forward, toward a natural progression, because the time is right: one year into Specter’s existence; months away from 2013 unless the Mayans did, in fact, know a little something about the future. A rapid expansion into divergent areas–podcasts and collectives and so on–reduced back to core competencies: publishing poetry, fiction, art/photography.

Specter Magazine is now Specter: a Brooklyn-based art journal a magazine of literature and art.

Just call us “Specter”.

Issue Thirteen–or No. 13–is subtitled “Submergence”. It features editor’s notes from yours truly, a habit we hope to continue with all of our forthcoming issues. The front page of Specter finally brings forward the work we’re proud to publish, no longer burying it behind images and links to links to links to the content.

No. 13 is the first issue to use our new site design, a brief stop-gap as we (naturally) progress toward the minimalist’s aesthetic we’ve desired since Issue Zero–No. 0–to make the words pop and easy to read. A renewed commitment to Specter’s social media roots as we take to Twitter, Tumblr, and–very soon–back to Facebook.

We’ve removed the “We Want Outcasts” tagline; the work we publish, the issues we compile–including our special Women and Hip-Hop collections–indicate our support to all voices in literature. We know what we want; we ask you to read our back issues to understand what kind of work we want.

Diving headfirst back into this little publication we love and believe in–doing what we want, taking cues from other literary magazines but, ultimately–eventually, heading toward a different, natural direction.

Wherever we go, we hope you come along with us. Tell us what you think. Give suggestions. Be honest (our haters need not voice their opinions; there’s an Internet full of blogging software to post complaints at).

We’re no longer interested in being the best; we’ve decided to be ourselves. We hope that is, and will remain, good enough for you, our readers. Time will tell.

Peace,

Mensah.