July is here…and so is Ducts! After a long winter and a spring that literally and figuratively rained on many a parade, it’s finally time to put the top down on summer.

This issue of Ducts is sweltering under layers of talent culled from far and wide. We invite you to drive the highways of Mexico, hunt the plains of the Australian outback, tackle the western badlands, and cruise the streets of our own Brooklyn, Joe Kool style…with many other sojourns along the way.

No issue of Ducts would be complete without the talented efforts of our illustrators. This issue we continue to feature the work of Steve Tarantino and Kiran Chandra, and welcome back into the fold former Duct-ee Jenah Pelley. We also proudly debut the work of Chris Frost and the photographic talents of our own Philip Shane.

As always, we continue to raise money as part of our effort to bring you the best personal stories on the web. If you enjoy the thought-provoking essays and memoirs, if you are captivated by our fiction, poetry and art, if you find a bit of succor in our humor, consider donating whatever amount you can. As a wise subway-goer once opined, “You don’t have to be Rockefeller to help a fella.”

While Trumpet Fiction is on hiatus for the summer months, we look forward to welcoming you back to our red room at KGB Bar in the fall. Stay tuned for info on our exciting line-up of readings!

Last but not least, like any good member of the interwebs, Ducts is now on Facebook. Do be our friend. We promise not to inundate you with 25 random facts about us or which Muppet we most closely resemble. (Duh, “Beaker.”)

Have a great summer, kids!  See you in September.

-Kat Rodies, Managing Editor

This issue of Ducts is made possible with a regrant from the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses, supported by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency.