Two big pieces of LONTAR news:

1) As of issue #3, LONTAR will now be published by Epigram Books!

We had a great time working with Math Paper Press for the first two issues, and it was a mutual agreement to part ways. However, I’m very much looking forward to bringing LONTAR into the fiction stable at Epigram Books (where, it should be noted, I am the literary fiction editor), which includes work of the literary fantastic such as Ministry of Moral Panic by Amanda Lee Koe, The Space Between the Raindrops by Justin Ker, The Wayang at Eight Milestone by Gregory Nalpon and The Tower by Isa Kamari. Epigram Books is epitomized by high quality and beautiful design, which makes LONTAR a perfect fit.

2) The contents for issue #3 have now been finalized! This issue of LONTAR presents speculative writing from and about Singapore, the Philippines, Cambodia and Taiwan.

Inside these pages, you’ll find:

• the evocation of an alternate ancient Cambodia from multiple award-winner Geoff Ryman;
• an investigative automotive revenge tale from Palanca Grand Prize winner Dean Francis Alfar;
• the mystery of magically appearing furniture from Taiwanese short fiction wunderkind Sabrina Huang (deftly translated by PEN/Heim grant recipient Jeremy Tiang);
• an uneasy exploration of marital discord on the road from Manila Critics’ Circle National Book Award winner Nikki Alfar;
• a quasi-Ballardian take on beach resort culture from Ben Slater;
• the uniquely Singaporean response to a viral outbreak from JY Yang;
• and speculative poetry from Anne Carly Abad, Arlene Ang, Tse Hao Guang, Cyril Wong, David Wong Hsien Ming and Daryl Yam.

The issue is scheduled for October/November 2014, and I can’t wait for you all to see it. Each one keeps getting better and better, and this feels like our strongest issue yet!

I’m now reading for issue #4, to be released in Spring 2015, so if you want your work to be considered, send it to me via the Submittable portal. If you’re still waiting for a reply from me, please be patient and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.