The Summerset Review - Editors' Notes

With this issue, we bid farewell to Alex Vidiani, who interned with us for the spring and summer. Alex helped in the review and selection process of poetry, contributed a book review, and "guest-edited" our Twitter page a short while. He continues his studies at Washington College in Maryland.

We now welcome a new intern, Rachel Dugan, a creative writing student at Washington College. Like Alex, she will be helping in our Poetry "Department" and we're glad to have her.

In recognizing these interns, it seems that mention and honor of Summerset's regular staff often goes overlooked. I don't think I've said very often in this magazine how truly appreciative I am of the work of Leigh, Meredith, Nick, and Lindsay. All work here is done voluntarily, with passion. They are all heroes at the magazine and, I'm sure, in the literary community at large.

Leigh has been here since our inception: 2002. She edits the prose and all contributors have experienced (and fallen victim to) her wise hand. She grumbles when reading fiction where dialogue is not placed in quotes, she cites lines from the Chicago Manual of Style verbatim, and I believe she instinctively knows the correct spelling of more proper nouns than anyone else in this country. This I am not able to verify, as my fact-checker on staff is, well, Leigh, and it seems unethical to ask she fact-check herself.

Meredith runs all things poetry here, and has been with us for five years. Prior to her joining, I was getting beaten up by prominent literary sources who were constantly taking me aside and saying, "You call Summerset a literary magazine and you do not publish poetry?" I like to think that those who criticize should only do so if they have a solid solution, and one such person provided just that, recommending I ask this accomplished poet to join us. And Meredith did, accepting the challenge without hesitancy, and selecting material which, quite often, goes on to win recognition elsewhere.

Nick, a young man out of college, noticed Summerset bobbing around in that great Internet ocean, and asked if he could climb on-board and provide some help getting increased visibility, or getting the next issue out, or with anything else. And he's succeeded in all of the above, creating our Twitter page, reviewing books, nominating material for awards, spreading the word, and attending some events we participate in around New York City. Nick's motivation and dedication is extraordinary.

Lindsay, also known as LML (Last Minute Lindsay), took an interest in the magazine years ago when she was interning at a major book publisher. Though her career path has strayed from traditional publishing, she continues to contribute book reviews, classically sending the copy to me a day or two before issue release. She says it's because she works better under pressure, but I like to think she is reading the book several times to make sure she got it all.

Enjoy our Fall 2014 issue!

- JL

Art accompanying "Zippo Circus" -
Riley Erwin, "Lingering Light" 2014, pencil on paper, 6 x 4 inches.