We've published nearly 1000 artists in the past two years and we're read worldwide. Our artists have laid claim to virtually every major writing award out there with the exception of the Nobel Prize in Literature, but we've published at least two that are en route to that accomplishment. And since I've heard no one shout "Fair Warning" and slam the gavel we'll keep right on going with the throttle cranked wide open.

When my friends and I got together and created Connotation Press: An Online Artifact, regardless of what people told us we, were just goofy enough to believe we could make a go of an online, bi-weekly art & literature magazine. To be honest, I wasn't exactly what you'd call certain we'd make it to our third birthday, but I had hope. There's just no way we expected to get so big so quick. I knew after our first four months when we hit our two year projection goals that we might be on to something.

In no particular order, here's how it went down:

Over dinner one night with John Turi, our web designer, I mentioned most people could live right next door to a Pulitzer Prize winning author and never know it. I thought, if I started a magazine I'd put pictures and bios up with each post so people would get a more personal view of the artists that moved them. Here's the artists you like, here is their work, their picture, their bio. Almost like a huge collection of something like baseball cards but for living, breathing writers instead.

I also thought it should have a lot of different genres so people who were interested in, say, a particular poet might drift by a playwright or travel column or what have you and click on something they might not otherwise ever intentionally seek. And with the bios I hoped a sort of cross-pollination would occur; that artists would seek out each other and maybe try working together to expand the various forms. I know, lofty expectations right? HA! Again, I just didn't know better.

We'd be an artist-first venture. What that meant to us was our focus would be to make sure whatever we did was targeted towards making artists look good. For instance, in our Book Review column we have a strict policy that we will run no negative reviews. There's enough folks out there taking pot shots at artists every day, we were certainly not going to be any part of that. In fact, until I got harassed into writing a longer more articulate mission statement, our first one read "No matter what, don't embarrass anyone". We'd make sure we created a safe haven for the arts and I believe we continue to accomplish that goal every day.

Finally, I thought purple. Purple, Purple, Purple. I had grown tired of some of the darker online publishing that favored black animals and stormy weather as the design for their art display. Seemed kind of melodramatic, to me. Isolationist or something. I don't know, but what I did know was I wanted a user friendly, bright, clean, clutter free, PURPLE magazine, because purple is such an easy-going color. No ridiculous back-of-the-hand pressed against the forehead moments. No drama. Not every artist is depressed, right? At various times in various situations I've been asked what I attribute to our success. I always say it's the purple.

So there it is and here we are and enough with the retrospective stuff. It's time to kick this pig and see what it'll do!

This month, A Poetry Congeries with John Hoppenthaler leads off with an interview conducted by John with Stephen Burt. Mr. Burt is followed by Brenda Hillman; Yousef el Quedra translated by Yasmin Snounu, Edward Morin, and George Adib Khoury; Elyse Fenton; G.C. Waldrep; Lia Purpura; Lauren Shapiro; Sam Pereira; and Qwo-Li Driskill. An excellent start to what we know will be another great year for Hoppenthaler's Congeries. Comforting to know this column is in such capable hands. Great job, John!

This month we are bouncing-off-the-walls excited to announce our first reoccurring web show Spatula. Starring our own food diva Amanda McGuire and her partner in crime Sarah Lenz, Spatula will be a short broadcast wherein our two ladies take one ingredient and sort of have a cook off. This month we're running the promo with a bit of writing by both Amanda & Sarah. I have personally been waiting for this show to launch since we started the magazine and I'm knocked out at how much fun it promises to be. Enjoy the promo for Spatula and then return next month for the first installment. WOOHOO!

This month marks the first post with our new Drama editor Kathleen Dennehy. And of all the writers in LA she could have interviewed for her launch issue, she chose our  recently retired Drama editor and one of the hottest writer/directors on the LA theater scene, Joshua Fardon. Josh has a new play, Julia Arbuck that is being read in LA later this month (info on the post) and Kathleen sat down to discuss the play, his process, and what he finds to be the value of the theater. AND we're running his play Julia Arbuck to go with it. I AM STOKED! I have desperately wanted to publish Josh's work from the first time I'd met him, but after seeing the production of his play, "Shake" last year in LA at the Theater of Note (a terrific house and a terrific cast) I knew one day he'd be in the hot seat and on our pages. THANK YOU so much for all you've done to further the theatrical arts, Josh, and WELCOME Kathleen! Great job all 'round.

Our resident travel guru Nicholas Baker takes us this month on his adventure to discover Buenos Aries. Sweet! Nick, Freddy, and the family bring us some stunning city views as they tour the city over the Christmas/New Year's Holidays in Argentina. Another wonderful dream. Thanks, Nicholas!

This month our Essays on Art Intern-Editor, Sreya Chatterjee, did a wonderful job with her column. Themed on the cities in celluloid, that is movies that incorporate integrally the city in which the film is set, Sreya brings us three wonderful pieces by Jackson Petsche, Srijan Banerjee, and Akshay Govind Dixit. Sreya was our first Intern-Editor and she did such a great job that we hope to use a more Intern-Editors in the future. Thanks for all the hard work, Ms. Chatterjee. And welcome back to West Virginia!

Book Review editor Stephanie Brown brings us a review of Alexander Theroux's, The Strange Case of Edward Gorey. Michelle Mitchell-Foust has written the review and provides us with an informative look into the strange but truly funny work of Theroux. Another great book in our negative-free Book Review zone. All good. Thanks, ladies!

Finally, our teaser Fiction artist this month is Brian Oliu and Roxane Stafford returns to the Creative Nonfiction column for our Volume III launch. As is the custom, I'll remind you not to forget to come back on the 15th for at least thirty new artists in the Poetry, Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, and Movie Review columns.

That's about it, kids. It was nice having a vacation last month. We all needed it. This bi-weekly stuff is as hard as everyone thinks. However, it is so gratifying that I couldn't possibly express it in words, so I'm currently doing an interpretive dance here in the office just for you (Leotard provided by Madam Spinoza's House of Leotards). Enjoy!

Connotation Press: Ourselves to Know

This month's issue of Connotation Press: An Online Artifact is dedicated to the memory of musician, poet, writer, actor, and general roustabout Warren William Zevon. Mr. Zevon lost his fight with cancer eight years ago this month, and I for one have not yet recovered. A lifelong lover of writing and writers, Mr. Zevon was the only actual musician that I know of in the Rock Bottom Remainders, a band featuring Stephen King, Dave Barry, Matt Groening, Amy Tan and a host of others. With a penchant for playing Tupperware Conventions, the Rock Bottom Remainders are known for doing one charity concert a year. Zevon created 17 solo albums in his lifetime, and fought demons with the best of 'em. He was in our minds constantly when we created this magazine, and remains there today. Zevon found himself revisiting Rilke with great joy as he approached the end. For that alone we'd dedicate this issue to him. This video is a live version of his stunning, haunting, beautiful song Ourselves to Know and it features all his album covers including his three posthumous releases. Enjoy the sleep, WWZ. Miss you every day.