Issue # 16 Fall 2018        Nonfiction - Fiction - Poetry - Art - eBook   

Dear Reader,

Welcome to Issue 16 of Jet Fuel Review! The editors are thrilled to share with you the exquisite array of writing and artwork that inhabit the pages of this issue. After months of reading, and much deliberation, editors have selected pieces that embody our commitment to curate a publication that is evocative, thought-provoking, and representative of the many voices and experiences that shape the world we live in.

Housed at Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois, Jet Fuel Review is a student-run, faculty advised, internationally recognized literary journal that publishes writers and artists from across the globe. Founded in 2011, Jet Fuel Review continues to flourish with writers and artists breathing new life into the literary world. We are truly honored to serve as a platform for voices that may lie in the margins, and we are eager to have their testimonies and stories heard. We are honored to showcase artwork that forces us to view the world from a different lens, to envision a life outside of our limited, single perspectives. The featured cover art for this issue, “El nacimiento del futoro” by Central American artist Fabrizio Arrieta is one of five of his pieces that use methods of distortion, deconstruction, and collage to produce images that are visually arresting, and reimagine the world around us.

In our poetry section, we are privileged to publish Guggenheim Fellow Matthew Zapruder, 2014 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Fellowship Finalist Dorothy Chan, multiple Pushcart nominee John Sibley Williams, and recipient of the 2017 National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures grant, ire’ne lara silva. We are also excited to present Zefyr Lisowksi’s haunting poems dedicated to the murders of axe-yielding Lizzie Borden; all set to appear in their forthcoming chapbook, Blood Box (Black Lawrence Press, 2019). Also, in this issue we are thrilled to be publishing Nigerian poet Logan February, an emerging writer who is already making waves throughout the poetry community at the age of 19. Their pieces “Mannequin’s Samsara” and “Corpus Vile” manifest in ways that are sonically satisfying, imagistically distinct, and engaging to the eye especially through use of contrapuntal structure.

In our Fiction section, we are elated to be the home of Hannah Son’s first published piece, “Eukarya.” Also, featured in this section is Toni Nealie’s, “Bloom,” which presents a splintered marriage between husband and wife, a bond that slowly severs before our eye The works of both women are among other prose pieces that exemplify the beauty and magic of the written word and its ability to immerse readers in lives other than their own. Our nonfiction section features Nicole Schnitzler’s “Permanent” which explores the intimate relationship between mother, daughter, illness, and hair.

There are many more voices that comprise Issue 16. All of the pieces that live within these pages are an amalgamation of fresh writing and artwork that challenge the single narrative, coupling innovative style and sharp social commentary to create work that transcends the page, leaving a resonant impression on the reader. Jet Fuel Review is committed to providing a platform for work that is diverse in both style and creator. We aim to publish writers and artists from all ages, races, ethnicities, genders, religions, socio-economic statuses, and the multitude of other demographics that humans balance and, once again, to present a journal that represents the dynamics of the human experience. We invite you to enjoy our 16th issue and we hope that you appreciate the enthralling assortment of work that we have collected.

Read on!

Zakiya Cowan & the Jet Fuel Review editors