The “Issues” Issue

Gulf Coast’s newest issue is all about issues, as cleverly illustrated on the cover with an image of a table lined with books with different titles: Scary Smells, Essay Tests, Regularity, Morning People, Control Issues, God Complex, Drug Issues, and in the middle as the tallest book, Mom Issues. “Most literary journals announce their themes in advance,” write the editors. “Here at Gulf Coast we’re partial to themes that announce themselves gradually. Such was the case with the ‘Issues’ Issue. The cover was what clinched it.”

And on top of the revealed themes in the fiction, nonfiction, and poetry sections, the issue also contains the winning pieces from the 2012 Barthelme Prizes:

Winner
Josie Sigler: “The Compartment”

Honorable Mentions
John Longo: “The Only Thing We Argue About Is Time Travel”
Emma Copley Eisenberg: “There Was”