Note from the Editors
Amal says: Today is one of approximately five sunny days I've experienced in Britain this summer, and not for lack of searching: I've dragged this issue of Goblin Fruit from Cornwall through Devon and up to Scotland over the last couple of months, then down again, then up again, in search of brightness and warmth. Small wonder that this issue has turned out as it has — full of movement and travel, working its way inland from the ocean while carrying the sun in both hands.
In this issue you will find summer fruits and flowers; you will find the burnt fragments of lyrics; you will find ships and hurricanes and deserts. Keep a compass and a good pen to hand in case a postcard is blown to it, and watch out for girls with goldenrod on their tongues — they'll do things to your hearts.
Great thanks are due to our contributors for their tremendous work, Dmitri Zagidulin for laying out our ones and zeroes in fabulous lines, Shweta Narayan for line-up consultancy, and Betsie Withey for this issue's beautiful art. I'll let Caitlyn tell you more about her.
Caitlyn says: Once, when Betsie and I were at a Renaissance Faire together, an extremely sketchy vendor of vulgar nude fairy statues approached her and asked her if she would "model" for his "sculptures." Instead of hitting him with her fan and telling him that his "sculptures" were obviously mass-made and no, he could not see her breasts (which was my inclination) Betsie drew herself up to the fullest of her almost six feet of height and looked at him haughtily. "No," she said. "I won't. I am an artist. Other people model for me."
It's been my great fortune to model for Betsie a number of times. I will admit, the four hours I spent modeling for one of her paintings, lying on the cement studio floor of her art school studio and covered in house plants and spiders, was almost enough to put me off modeling altogether. But then, oh then, Betsie discovered fabric, and modeling her art became the best game of dress-up imaginable. She created fairy gowns and Elizabethan jungle hats, and each one was more beautiful than the last. Having an artist like Betsie for a friend was clearly the best thing a theatrical fantasy geek like me could hope for.
That friendship continues to serve me well. I became an assistant editor at Goblin Fruit just a few months ago, and you can imagine my delight when Betsie agreed to do the art for our summer issue. The art she created for us is beautiful, but it goes beyond that for me. Those girls in the header with their map and telescope might not look anything like us, but I can't help but see two teenage girls on their way to a Renaissance Faire. This is the first issue of Goblin Fruit that I really feel I have been an intrinsic part of, and the fact that I get to share that with Betsie, that we are creating art together, is truly the icing on the cake.
Amal says: That's all from us — happy summer! Enjoy the feast, and don't be afraid to let the juice run down your chin.
