A Letter from the Editor

by Ben Shahon

When I started JAKE a little over three years ago, I was scared shitless. I had only ever served on one lit mag, as a reader, for about three months. I spent that time reading only a couple of stories, and sticking out like a sore thumb in room of my MFA cohort (which was par for the course for that time in my program, to be honest). I had no real web experience, maybe a hundred-fifty twitter followers, and very few close writing friends. But when I was at the commencement, staring in the face the possibility that I wouldn’t really have as direct of a connection to any kind of writing community anymore besides the one I made, I thought there was no time like the present to dive right in, my own lack of readiness be damned.

I was floored by the response. Within 24 hours JAKE had double the followers I did. And then the submissions started rolling in, thanks to a quick cosign from lots of cool folks in the indie scene. And then the work started rolling in, and it kicked ass. Kirsti Mackenzie, Gaskamp, Cecilia Kennedy, Inbal Gilboa, Kit Steitz, Scott Cumming. And that was just for folks who came out Week 1.

I’ve wanted to run an indie press since I found out it was a viable thing for anyone with the time, back in college. Our email was [email protected] before we ever really had any kind of plan to put them out. But that required extending this project to a team, and I’ve been insanely lucky with quality of collaborators I’ve had behind the scenes at every turn. I’m proud of the titles we brought to the world, of the guest calls we’ve run, of the events we’ve put on. It’s been a wild ride at the helm of this thing, and my writing life would be much less rich without it. But we’ve come to a time where I need to step aside to let new leadership flourish at JAKE. There are too many stories out there to be told, too many poems to publish, too many essays to champion, and they deserve an editor-in-chief for JAKE that can put their full attention to the work of it.

For the interim, our beloved Managing Editor L.M. Cole will be taking over operations. I’ll be staying on the team as a Fiction editor, to help out where I can, but to let the mag and press thrive as best it can with a leader who can push JAKE into a brave new era. There have been lots of other changes to the staff of JAKE in the last few months as well, which is part of why we're on semi-hiatus at the moment. But I know L.M. can lead the mag to steadier waters, and keep the torch of the literary weird lit bright.

Most importantly, thank you to our readers, our writers, and everyone who’s spent time behind the scenes keeping this crazy project afloat. I couldn’t have done any of it without you. You’ll be in good hands going forward, I guarantee it.

Ben Shahon

Former EIC of JAKE