I heart Steve Almond.

And not just because we've published him a couple times and one of those times brings in more visitors to SmokeLong than any other story we've ever published. And not just because he's funny, warm, sexy, and talented. I love him because he's passionate and principled and acts on those two things in concert. Click the header of this post to see an example.

I know he'll land on his feet, but I wish him the best of luck nevertheless.

line-up for issue 13

We've just sent out our final acceptance for the June 15 issue, and it's a doozy. Katrina Denza has been truly amazing as our Guest Editor, and she'll be joining us on staff on a permanent basis. Yay! Here are the folks you'll be reading in June:

Roberta Allen
Christopher Battle
Matt Bell
Lisa K. Buchanan
Jai Clare
Ron Currie, Jr.
Steve Cushman
David Erlewine
Kathy Fish
Mike Hagemann
Jennifer A. Howard
Jeff Landon
Steven J. McDermott
Srdan Papic
Ellen Parker
Mary Lynn Reed
Chad Simpson
Claudia Smith
Girija Tropp
Joseph Young

Ten Highest Views for April

I have way too much to do right now, so I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about this, but another month has ended, so it's time to look again at where the most hits were going. With a couple exceptions, it's all stuff from the latest issue:

1. Pornography by Steve Almond (June 15, 2005)
2. Voodoo by Gary Cadwallader (March 15, 2006)
3. Prey by Myfanwy Collins (March 15, 2006)
4. The Rest of Your Life by Sarah Leavitt (March 15, 2006)
5. Five Men in a Hot Tub by Jeff Landon (September 15, 2005)
6. Friendship/Love by Ania Vesenny (March 15, 2006)
7. Everybody in Holland Is Mad at Me by Andrew Tibbetts (March 15, 2006)
8. Mice Getting the Points by Robert Lopez (March 15, 2006)
9. The Cellist by Antonios Maltezos (March 15, 2006)
10. Shrapnel by Chivas Sandage (March 15, 2006)