We’re done proofreading! We learned a few new style rules. iPods, for example, have earned their own special rule in the 16th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style: “Brand names that begin with a lowercase letter followed by a capital letter now retain the lowercase letter even at the beginning of a sentence or a heading.” Crikey!
We’ll have to decide whether we’ll abide by this rule or flip Chicago the bird and add an exception to our house style guide. While we debate and thumb wrestle about this, enjoy our last two contributor comments from the current issue.
Dean Bakopoulos: My essay “Where You At?” came out of the strange feelings of emptiness and guilt that plague writers when they’ve wasted too much time at the computer, not writing. It occurred to me that I had lost a great deal of the shadowy, wonderful mystery of memory by reconnecting with so many old friends, and I found myself longing to become invisible.
Claire Harlan Orsi: “A Fine Illusion” emerged out of research I was doing on the intersections of lesbianism and spiritualism around World War I. Anyone familiar with spiritualist practices can attest to the ripeness of the associated images—otherworldly knockings, luminescent ghosts, joined hands encircling a table—not to mention the larger themes—a yearning for connection in the face of the greatest loss, the anxiety of fraud, the power of ritual. Though my initial approach to the material was purely academic, it seemed too good to pass up for fiction
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