Bewildering Stories Editorial

by Jerry Wright

Art

Got a comment the other day from Kevin Ahearn, whose fight for his vision of SF has been delineated here as well as many other places. His comment was to the effect that we don't gots no steeenking pictoors (to speak of) illustrating our stories. He is correct. I am not a graphics artist, nor is Don. I do, however, know how to play with PaintShop Pro, and so starting with this issue, and hopefully for the foreseeable future, I'll try to illustrate some of our stories.

We've had pictures illustrating some of our stories, starting with "Pepe" in issue 6. And that is a perfect example of the writer supplying the pictures. And we think it would be wonderful if our authors could send illustrations as well. Shuuuuurrrrrre, like that's gonna happen. It is hard enough to deliver the story, much less accompanying art.

However, we now have a couple of pretty good assistant editors (Ian, Danielle, take a bow) and this is a great time to put out a call for a replacement art director. Yes, according to the long missing Incredible Spud, we have an Art Director named Hakuna Matata. Only he hasn't shown up since before the long ago day of Issue 6. So, this is a call for volunteers. You will be paid in glory and recognition. Yep, that's it, because we don't have any money.

Any applications for the position will be appreciated.

Just to add a small note while I'm on line at press time... Roberto Sanhueza supplied some art for an early chapter of Katts and Dawgs. But drawing is time-consuming even for professional graphic artists. And we haven't heard from Roberto for a long time now.

I think the easiest route to go is the one you and Kevin have taken: borrow free artwork on the Net. We've seen the results in this issue, in "The Lemon Handlers" and "Sick Kitty." Good job, Jerry: the pictures are very nice touches!

I also did somewhat the same thing a while back. It was a rather over-the-top experiment, in Ásgrímur's "Weekender." The experience paid off when we illustrated Katherine Allen's "Owl in the Supermarket" with several owl photos and drawings.

But do you remember what a huge job it was to chase down permissions for those owl pictures? That's why I agree that an art editor would be a Good Thing. The art editor would not have to be an artist. Rather, he or she could surf the Net for pictures to use in upcoming stories, poems and articles. And arrange for permissions, if need be. That may make the position a little less daunting. Let's hope we get a volunteer or two!