It is with mixed emotions that I welcome you to Issue 17, the penultimate issue of Empty Sink Publishing. After nearly three years of publishing some of the web’s finest prose, poetry, and visual art, Adam and I have decided to stop publishing Empty Sink as a magazine.

We’ve loved this work, as well as all of the readers and contributors we’ve gotten to know over the past few years. We’ve forged some relationships that will last a lifetime while working on this little zine, and if that’s the only thing that comes out of it, it will have all been worth it.

We are no longer accepting poetry and visual submissions, though we are still accepting submissions of fiction and non-fiction for our final issue. That being said, we are not closing down the Empty Sink brand at this time. We’ve built something here that works and has its own voice, and Suanne, Adam and I are all interested in seeing that voice continue to develop. Over the next few months, we will be exploring our options, and I intend to have a full update for you by the time we publish our final issue this fall.

Until then, though, we’ve got some fantastic work for you this month. From talking cows to backwards plane crashes to a poignant look at the impact of alcoholism, our fiction section is packed with the unique stories you’ve come to expect from us. Likewise, in our poetry section (curated again by the great Kurt Newton), the Reaper, and old man, and a Nazi mingle between the stanzas. And in our visual section, amidst some truly impressive paintings, we have some excellent collages for your viewing pleasure.

The Editor’s Choice for this month is the non-fiction story, “School is what you Make It,” and Other Lies my Parents Told Me, by Christina Berchini. This fantastic story explores the reality of our control over our own fates, and we’re proud to have it in this issue.

To everyone reading this, thank you for coming along with us for this ride. Most new literary mags don’t make it past the six-month mark, so to be able to make it three years is a great source of pride for both Adam and I. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without such impressive and dedicated readers and contributors, so thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

E. Branden Hart, Executive Editor — 7/25/2016

CONTENTS OF ISSUE 17:

FICTION

Jack C. Buck — For Matthew and Somewhere in the Future You Are Remembering Today

Ian Johnson — Dear You

Paul de Marion — a strange and silent war

Max Orkis — Chewing the Cud

Lindsey Royce — Call Center; Watching her Neigh

Jennifer Sabin — We Have No Secrets

M.R. Tapia — Stella Reign

Giles Ward — Thaw

 
REALITY

Christina Berchini — “School is what you Make of It” and Other Lies my Parents Told Me (Editor’s Choice)

 
POETRY

Lana Bella — Timidity

Holly Day — Two Poems

Robert Earlywine — Come, Kind Reaper

William Keckler — Three Poems

Simon Perchik — Four Poems

Drew Pisarra — Chinese Roullette

 
VISUAL

W. Jack Savage — Four Images

Jean Wolff — Five Images

Richard Baldasty — Davey Hume, Surfer Dude

Maeve Roughton — Two Images

Michelle Dalton — Four Images

 
BOOK/MUSIC REVIEWS

Music review: Eyelids, by Saint Jame — Reviewed by E. Branden Hart

Beyond the Blue, by Tim McBain and L.T. Vargus — Reviewed by E. Branden Hart