What is so special about Other Terrain? The diversity it offers.
Together with an enthusiastic team of editors, we came across distinct pieces in fiction, poetry, essays and book reviews, each with its unique gaze at the world around us, at the universe of our minds.
What inspires writers? Why, see those stories cartwheel around us!
In this issue’s nonfiction, find fascination in the trials and tribulations of crafting words. Cast a long hard gaze at the dichotomy of the artist who is also a scholar and learn why there might be a successful marriage between writing and teaching. Scroll to an interview with a feminist and uncloak what shapes her views. Discover the power or disempowerment of social media and selfies, and follow one person’s journey in the quest of a happy ending with the self-conscious pix.
A sneaky peak at fiction promises quirky little numbers on romance, on burning sentiment into words, on a diversity of themes from mourning and shame to mechanical hearts and the apocalypse.
Enter poetry—it is the air we breathe. Cusps, lawns, bandits, laughing lamas and kangaroo moons… beyond an odyssey across Europe, flights into humanity’s soul clasp a tide of lugubrious heart feel. The defence forces are seeking artists. What is the big ask? Very blatantly: from scythe to thistles, who owns the land? And what, just what happened to Seamus Heaney?
Ah, the time is nigh for book reviews. It’s not all sand and surf, gently rolling landscape—find something to love or unlove. There’s a contender in speculative fiction set in a dystopian present, a political hegemony of the United States. Perhaps another option in personal insights into climate change… And right in the market is cross genre work that entwines suspense, romance and science fiction…
Oh, such fun!
–Eugen Bacon, Senior Editor