Issue #26 Fall 2023
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Dear Readers,
Welcome to the 26th Issue of Jet Fuel Review! The editors are excited to showcase the wonderful collection of writing and artwork that we’ve curated for this issue. After months of reading more than 800 submissions, the editors have carefully chosen a collection of works that aim to highlight an array of various voices, viewpoints, and experiences representative of the ever-evolving and complex world we inhabit. Housed at Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois, Jet Fuel Review is a student-run, faculty-advised, four-time CMA Pinnacle Award-winning literary journal that publishes writers and artists from across the globe. We are honored not only to provide a creative platform for people’s voices but also to produce a journal that is impactful to those who read it. Our featured cover piece for this issue, "Equation for Eternity," by Irina Greciuhina highlights a style that “confronts stereotypical archetypes of women, balancing pop-art postures and colors with surreal background and design patterns.” Greciuhina urges the viewers of her works to contemplate the lives of the women illustrated and meticulously placed in surreal dreamscapes to challenge gender norms and our perceptions. The poetry section of this issue highlights a fascinating set of topics and voices, such as the work of Magdalena Arias Vásquez, a poet and translator whose work engages with the history of American intervention and the varied cultures throughout Latin America, and Stephen Lackaye, an Oregonian bookseller who meshes myth with dystopian iconography. We’re also thrilled to showcase Fasasi Abdulrosheed Oladipupo, Mihir Bellamkonda, Cynthia Manick, Aaron Coleman, Denise Duhamel, Brandel France de Bravo, and Natalia Prusinska along with many others. The fiction section opens with “Overwatering” by Eric Rasmussen, whose incredibly unique style seamlessly blends the natural world and the anthropological to create a story of romance and grief we won’t soon forget. “On Pilipino Time” by E.P. Tuazon continues this trend. By offering a masterclass in dialogue, Tuazon invites readers to love their characters and be unafraid of emotion while facing the unknown. Ending the section, last but certainly not least, is Abbie Barker’s “Natural Displays of Grief,” a piece that takes readers on a journey through history and mourning. While grief is the throughline of the fiction section, the diverse styles, narratives, settings, and techniques of the authors’ works invite a whirlwind of interpretation, emotion, and resolution. In addition to the artwork created by our front and back cover artist, Irina Greciuhina, our art section presents dynamic pieces by Alexey Adonin, who crafts enigmatic and abstract worlds which play with the innate drive to “derive order out of chaos.” Jet Fuel Review also features pieces from Jason Reblando, whose masterful work in 4 Jet Fuel Review photo collage provides a striking visual landscape of Filipino history and culture. Along with haunting stills from photographer Anna Maeve and high school digital artist Jian Choi, we have a stunning cast of artists gracing our pages in this issue. The literature and artwork in these pages are a testament to the diverse perspectives and experiences that are currently present in our society and to voices that are both candid and sincere. We invite you to dive into our 26th issue, and we hope that you appreciate the pieces that make up this issue as much as we do. Read on! Lauren Lotarski, Samuel McFerron & the Jet Fuel Review Editors |