Waterwheel Review

Literature Without Labels

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From the Editors | Issue #28

September 2023

From the Editors

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell the truth. —Oscar Wilde

profile of editors Cheryl Wilder, Suzanne Farrell Smith, and Claire Guyton walking down the North Carolina coastline with calm morning waters and a cloudy sky

During our first three seasons, Waterwheel Review existed as a new journal, our attempt to remove genre labels and supplement writing with all the other art we saw fit to print. With the first issue of Season 4, we recognize our longevity and endurance. Time is behind us and in front of us, our constant challenge, our steadfast friend. Season 4 opens with Deborah Adams in “My Bad,” proclaiming, “I can travel any when.” We happily doubt every word that we lap up as we ride a time wave. That wave sends us to a past/future meditation as Michael Waterson (re)introduces us to a laudable flop in “The Conqueror.” Finally, we land in the surreal “Please Advise,” Christine Aucoin’s telling take on what it means to spring from nothing, exist, and suddenly disappear.

—Claire, Suzanne, Cheryl 

Join Our Growing Community

We’re in our fourth season here at Waterwheel Review, and we couldn’t be happier. But we have big dreams. Right now we have two ways—in addition to being an author or maker—to be a part of our labor of love.

1. Sign up for our newsletter.

You’ll know when each issue goes live and learn news about WWR and our authors.

*We promise never to sell or share your information. We hate spam as much as you do. For more info, read our full Privacy Policy.

2. Support literature without labels.

All expenses are out of pocket. Any help goes to our submissions manager and media. We would LOVE to one day pay authors, hold contests, speak at conferences… (slow down, deep breath). Thank you for supporting literature and art!

Support WWR

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Who made it? Issue #28

Who made it?

September 2023 | Issue #28

With “My Bad” by Deborah Adams

“Brother Can You Spare a Dime” by George Michael.
black and white image of a small person falling, arms and legs behind them in a misty sky as they look toward a tree canopy

“Untitled” by Henry & Co.

Antique old clock with roman numerals in an abstract fractal spiral.
“Untitled” by Mikhail Leonov.

With “The Conqueror” by Michael Waterson

“The Conqueror (El conquistador de Mongolia)” by Victor Young.

With “Please Advise” by Christine Aucoin

Portrait of confused young woman with blurred face. She is moving her head fast, so her face isn't identifiable.

“Untitled” by Sophia Floerchinger.

Graphic illustration of a black staircase with the same blue silhouette of a business person on each step and the person on top is a red silhouette being pushed down by a large pointer finger

“Termination Dismissal Released” by RosZie.

Acknowledgments

Image of Genghis Kahn statue at Smithsonian Associates.

Rendering of Fremont St. in Las Vegas at Rare Historical Photos.

Image of error message by SkillUp.

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Editor’s Notebook: We Are Who We Are

Editor’s Notebook: We Are Who We Are

September 2023

close up: the edge of a small spillway with calm water on top dropping over in a curtain of water sparkling in the sun

Readers, we considered sharing our “What did you do over summer vacation?” tales as a means to peek behind the curtain: What do magazine editors do when they’re not magazine editing? How and when do they write? Importantly, do they write at all?

We came up with this: &$#! (one of us navigating a medical emergency); %*^@ (one of us taking care of kids who got sick their first week of school); and what-the-actual-f? (one of us unable to send her kids back to school because of mold. MOLD.).

We are three WWR editors excited by and honored to publish stunning writing. Somehow, we hear the writing and associate it with images and sounds. We read music, echo voices, and project ideas. Despite and within our own trials, we continue to celebrate what flows by, no matter its form. But, we’re human—vulnerable and fierce—and because life is life, we must pivot to keep moving forward, like water.

—Suzanne Farrell Smith

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From the Editors | Issue #27

May 2023

From the Editors

From within or from behind, a light shines through us upon things, and makes us aware that we are nothing, but the light is all. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

We say goodbye to our third season with three reflections on loss. Issue 27 moves from grief, to regret, and then into a kind of rebirth. The body in Kelly Vance’s “Open Casket, 2020” is “a coded message too long to decipher in a single lifetime.” There is nothing to decode in the examined betrayal and remorse in “Mostly Sorry,” a eulogy of lost love by Susan Wadds. “But there is light, muted yet glistening” shining through Laurie Easter’s “Transmute,” where in water “floating sand is the mirror of stardust.” The light is all. It shines here, in these pieces.

—Claire, Suzanne, Cheryl 

Join Our Growing Community

We’re in our third season here at Waterwheel Review, and we couldn’t be happier. But we have big dreams. Right now we have two ways—in addition to being an author or maker—to be a part of our labor of love.

1. Sign up for our newsletter.

You’ll know when each issue goes live and learn news about WWR and our authors.

*We promise never to sell or share your information. We hate spam as much as you do. For more info, read our full Privacy Policy.

2. Support literature without labels.

All expenses are out of pocket. Any help goes to our submissions manager and media. We would LOVE to one day pay authors, hold contests, speak at conferences… (slow down, deep breath). Thank you for supporting literature and art!

Support WWR