The Note

This is issue #50, which is a nice, round number. Now, a previous issue, maybe #47 or so, was actually our 50th issue, due to some irregularities in numbering. But, this is issue #50 just the same. To mark issue #50 we have invited some of the oldest and best friends of RHP to contribute and they’ve all come through. These are people who found the publication very early on, around 2004 or 2005, and who have appeared in many issues since. We thank them for their years of support of RHP and our related projects and for contributing to this special issue. I say in all seriousness that some of the people whose work appears in this issue are among my favorite writers. You can imagine, perhaps, what an honor it is for me to be able to present their work to you.

Also, we thought for this special occasion we would suspend our usual practice and include some poems/stories by your editors: F. John Sharp, F. J. Bergmann, and myself. They are also some of our favorite writers.

And speaking of favorite writers. Some years ago, I wrote a little piece dedicated to Harry Crews, about Harry Crews, and actually decided several weeks ago to include it in this special issue. As it turns out, Harry died just days before this issue was released. I never met Harry Crews, but read every novel he published, his exceptional autobiography of his childhood in south Georgia, and many of his magazine articles. I didn't love everything he's wrote, but when I loved something he wrote, I loved it in a way I'm not a good enough writer or speaker to express. If you want to get started reading Harry Crews, you can't do any better than Feast of Snakes or maybe this Harry Crews reader. The latter contains the entire autobiography mentioned above, plus two full-length novels and a handful of essays.

My special thanks to F. John Sharp, who has been a part of this publication, as our fiction editor, from the beginning. Thanks to F. J. Bergmann who has joined us recently as an editor and who pores* over every page of every issue, making sure everything is good. Thanks, also, to our team of readers, Eric Burke, Doug Draime, Howie Good, Jordan Smith, Vivian Faith Prescott, Scot Siegel, and Bill Yarrow.

I hope you enjoy this issue.

Dale

*Pointing out, for example, that it really is "pores over" and not "pours over."

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse