Hello Dirty Napkin readers,

What would you think of a mother who said she loved one child more than the others?

Well then, what would you think of a Dirty Napkin fiction editor who claimed that this particular issue was hands-down the strongest fiction issue she had seen in her tenure?

You would say I’m a bad mother, eh? Perhaps. But I only speak the truth: this is the first issue in which all fiction pieces were chosen as immediate must-haves. Normally, associate fiction editor Abigail Mallin and I survey the whole field of submissions, then select those few that represent the “best” of that particular group. For this issue, however, we didn’t even get the chance to weigh the winning submissions against the rest. On first read, they were so clever, so beautiful, so insightful, that I could only think, “People must read this.” And not just “people,” but you—our equally clever, beauty-sensitive, and insightful Dirty Napkin reader.

These “Oh, my God, must have it” moments are exactly what I’ve most enjoyed as editor. Increasingly, online literary magazines are serving as the first forum to great literature, a testing ground for new writers experimenting with their own talent. In this atmosphere, the race is on to be the first to snatch up the newest, most innovative fiction out there. In the year-and-a-half I’ve served as the fiction editor, the submissions have become ever more impressive, the choices ever harder, and the Dirty Napkin itself ever more dazzling.

Which is why it’s sad, ironic, and further proof that I’m a bad mother that I’m about to abandon my baby. (Kind of.) I’ll be stepping down as fiction editor after this amazing issue to assume a more scaled-back role as associate fiction editor. I simply need to devote more time to my non-Dirty Napkin life.

It was a tough choice, of course (I’m not that callous of a mother), but I sleep easier knowing that the editorship will be adopted by someone supremely capable: Abigail Mallin. As associate editor, Abigail has been an immense help to me, reading just as many submissions as I and bringing her canny fiction sense to bear on final decisions. She clearly cares about fiction, nurtures the art in her own life, and—when making the tough calls—knows how to say “no.”

She’ll make a great mom.
Katie Liesener