Catatonically Speaking

Once Upon a Time, Clockwise Cat accepted story submissions.

However, Issue 16 marks the last issue of Clockwise Cat that will feature fiction. It’s a bittersweet parting, to be sure. On the one hand, I am aware that readers crave fiction, but on the other, I am aware that I crave time. It’s just become too cumbersome to read through the multitude of submissions I receive fiction-wise. I do love the stories we have used, and I am sure that I’ve rejected many worthy submissions. So, in short, I don’t feel that it’s fair to the writers who labor so lovingly on their endeavors, given my temporal constraints.

Furthermore, I really like the idea of a revamped slant for The Cat. Many webzines have a fiction and poetry focus, but very few, if any, have a triangular poesie, polemic, and appraisal (review) theme. We have always indulged in those three genres, of course, but now that stories have been eliminated, the zine will have a more unique purview. And I like that the genres are just disparate enough to offer a variegated reading experience.

So we bid a warm adieu to the spectacular story scribes whose pieces have adoringly adorned Clockwise Cat. Sans toi, the zine would not be half as lusciously literary as it is.

In the future, we would like to receive many more polemical and satirical submissions. We are lumping satire in with polemics because of their similarities. Of course, each has a distinct taste as well, but they share some of the same ingredients. I regard well-executed satire as one of the highest forms of art, lampooning societal follies in a way that gives us chagrined pause. What could be more progressive than that?

And of course, all polemics submitted need to have a progressive tone, similar to the ones written by me and regular contributors Edwin Young and Sheila Samples. They need not, of course, hew to any sort of dogma, for despite surface appearances, I am anything but dogmatic. Pedantic, perhaps, but I regard dogma as pure poison. I use the terms "progressive" or "liberal" merely for the sake of convenience. For me, the truth has no label, but is so stinkingly obvious when you hit upon it. As the late great Molly Ivins said: "There is no such thing as objectivity, and the truth, that slippery little bugger, has the oddest habit of being way to hell off on one side or the other: it seldom nestles neatly halfway between any two opposing points of view."

We will continue to accept visual art, though we've never received a staggering amount of it. In lieu of presenting the art pieces by themselves, we will use them to decorate the published poems, and of course feature a brief bio of the artist.

So, in closing: May your days be filled with exciting plots and intriguing characters.

The End.