Theme Issue 2: Is it safe?

Editor’s Note

When I first put forth the idea of is it safe? in the summer of 2019, I could never have predicted where we would be today. I am sure the authors of these short stories couldn’t have imagined our reality either. I left the theme as open as possible so writers could find what was safe or not through their own storytelling. They have revealed what it is that makes them fearful, their characters unnerved and the world ripped apart when no one is thinking about global pandemics.

This issue was delayed for various reasons: firstly, a flood which still sees me temporarily ejected from my own home since the end of last year (a place that was once safe and cosy became dark and dangerous) and then with the anxiety-inducing chaos of our new world led to a longer turnaround.

I am extraordinarily grateful for this issue’s two readers, Amy Lord and Bob Schofield, who quickly and astutely worked on this issue with me. Their comments were invaluable to the process.

Most importantly, many thanks to all those authors who trusted this magazine with their work and submitted. Even if your story was not featured in this issue, your words are what make The Wild Hunt chug. Please keep reading, please keep writing.

The Editor / July 2020