Summer Issue I
Foreword
Monsoon season in South Korea patches the blue sky with dense clouds. Sudden showers are frequent, an umbrella ever in hand on the off chance that you step inside when the sun is peeking through the rolling gray, and step outside when the gaps have closed and a deluge now saturates the city streets. The surprisingly cold rain tempers the often-times overbearing humidity of July, the strong breeze accompanying summer showers leaving all but your head and shoulders wet.
And then the thunderstorms, which sneak up to electrify the air, sending thrills through the body in much the same way as the 15 selected stories created jolts when read from the submissions pile. The rumble of thunder from the lightning of words streaking down the page left an indelible effect on the mind.
This time around, the stories take place in realities more removed from our on. The poetry is more experimental on the page, making use of white space in intriguing ways. End-of-the-world scenarios approach in a few pieces, but their unexpected conclusions leave you stunned by the sudden changes, for good and bad, in character fortune.
Perhaps the constant rain of monsoon season here in Korea made LETHE RIVER, THE COST OF RAIN, and FIELD OF DRY BONES especially attractive. The floods during one particularly wet morning in Seoul would have been welcomed in some narrative universes, and a cause for alarm in others. Though the drought in Korea preceding the heavy rains made the deluge of water a necessity to the parched and sweating city of Seoul, the overflowing streams sending 7 feet of water into the streets can just as easily bring death and disaster in reality as well as in fiction.
The selections in this third issue of Samjoko also make you second guess motives and direction. What is seen is illusionary and not to be trusted, as one of the most insidious stories shows the machinations of two little boys on a bored weekend day.
The summer issue of Samjoko features eight short stories, as well as poetry from seven poets. For the next issue, we hope for more nonfiction, plays, photography and art submissions. Despite only two genres being represented in this seasonal release, we are exceptionally proud of the pieces chosen for our 3rd issue, and are sure our readers will be as electrified by them as we were.
Brave the tempest and enter Samjoko.
