June 20, 2021

Dear Friends,

This is a milestone issue for us here at MoonPark Review. This is our 16th quarterly publication which means our literary baby is now four years old. Excuse us while we wax nostalgic a bit, on this momentous occasion. 

It feels like only yesterday we were sitting on the back porch together talking about this crazy idea one of us had… What if we published our own literary journal?  And the other said, Are you crazy??? 

Four years later, here we are, feeling downright established within the online literary journal community. We’re very proud of the work we’ve curated here in our little corner of the vast, and ever expanding, literary cyber-sphere. Here are some facts and figures on the first four years of MoonPark Review.

Our loyal readers will know that we love the number 13 here at MoonPark. Over the past four years, we have consistently published either 13 prose pieces or 13 writers in each of our four issues per year. Some pieces have been co-authored by more than one writer, so if we’ve counted correctly, we believe we have featured 197 different writers in MoonPark Review in Issues 1 – 16.  Amazingly, only 13 of those writers have been published in two different issues. And with the publication of this issue, we finally have a single writer who has now been published in three separate issues of MPR. Drumroll, please, help us give a round of virtual applause to J. Edward Kruft — the first writer to be published three times in MoonPark Review!!!

One of the true joys of serving as editors of MoonPark Review is seeing the work of our fine contributors recognized by the wider literary community. In the past four years, 3 MoonPark Review stories have been selected for the Wigleaf Top 50 with 2 other stories appearing on the Wigleaf Longlists; 3 MoonPark Review stories have appeared in the Best Microfiction anthologies; 1 story was selected for the BIFFY 50; we’ve had 1 Best of the Net Finalist; and 1 story selected for the Best Short Fictions anthology, with 1 other on the Best Short Fictions Longlist. Bravo, MoonPark writers!!

While this summer marks the 4th anniversary of MoonPark Review it also marks our 2nd wedding anniversary. So now, fully half of the MoonPark Review issues have been produced by the two of us as a married couple. 

Also, we want to mention one additional milestone. When we started MoonPark Review four years ago, we decided we wanted to provide original illustrations to accompany each story or poem. Lesley undertook most of those illustrations herself, which subsequently inspired her ever-increasing artistic drive. This month we are proud to launch MoonPark Studio, an online gallery dedicated to Lesley’s art. 

So, Issue 16 is a rather momentous one here in the quiet woods of MoonPark. Another season has passed, and while the world is still reeling from the collective trauma of the past year and a half or so, we are so grateful for the literary and artistic worlds. Reading your stories, curating our issues, illustrating, building the web pages, and then sharing it all with the world — these activities have provided us solace and joy in the darkest of times. For this we celebrate our 4 years with a very heartfelt T H A N K  Y O U! 

Happy Summer Solstice.

Here is — Issue 16 of MoonPark Review.

Warm Regards,
Mary Lynn & Lesley Weston-Reed

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