Greetings from the Southeast!

We can’t believe it’s been six years. Six years of poetry, prose, photography and everything in-between.

If you couldn’t tell already, we’ve edged off of print publication, and our primary manner of getting new work from incredible and interesting artists new and old is directly through our website.

You may have also noticed–especially if you’ve submitted to us–that some work will be chosen for print. It’s too early to promise much more than that, but we hope to anthologize in the future. We hate to be vague, but hey, at least we’re consistent.

Four writers founded Blacktop Passages. Four then-graduate students reading submissions from contemporaries, and many far beyond us. Over years, we’ve lost two and the journal has been refined, and more focused, with the collective taste of only two editors: Chris and Thomas.

Whether you’re a faithful follower or just a passerby, you may notice it takes some time.

Time. That’s the key factor. Over the course of a year we’re able to read, carefully, the abundance of submissions we receive. During that time we review the work, and we mutually decide what we want to publish. Once we’ve accrued an “issue’s worth” of writing we create a schedule, work with the writers on any edits needed and publish the work once a week until… we run out.

We hope you enjoy our latest issue, 006. We’ve really luxuriated in our weirdness this time and allowed our boundaries to expand and blur. We don’t feel confined by any theme—even our name has evolved into an abstraction beyond road stories, Americana, and travel-centric pieces. Each issue of Blacktop Passages simply represents what we think is the best writing submitted to us during a period of time. In a way, a time capsule.

Not so magical, but hella real. We’re so proud of all of our contributors new and old, and we can’t wait to show you what we have in store from now until 2020. It’s going to be a big issue, so please buckle in.

Love,

Chris Cartright & Thomas John Nudi
The Editors