The Columbia Fall Line is a natural junction, along which the Congaree River falls and rapids form, running parallel to the east coast of the country between the resilient rocks of the Appalachians and the softer, more gentle coastal plain.
It was almost a year ago when I first asked Tony Tallent, Lee Snelgrove, Jonathan Haupt, and Ed Madden to meet with me to talk about the prospects of a professional quality literary journal based out of Columbia, SC. My hope was for a yearly journal that we could publish as a summer reader in lieu of the July/August issue of Jasper Magazine. In the best of all possible worlds the book would be the same size as Jasper–but with more pages–perfect bound, and free, both to submit to and to take home. I wanted the advice of these gentlemen on whether this was a feasible endeavor. Once we had batted the ball around the room several times and decided it could and should be done, I wanted their help. They delivered it generously.
On June 8th, the city of Columbia will celebrate the launch of Fall Lines – a literary convergence. We chose the name Fall Lines because we wanted to honor our city and the energy that the falling waters of the Broad and Saluda Rivers bring our way. Almost 500 submissions were entered into consideration for publication in Fall Lines. From them, 30 were accepted and seven others came to us via invitation. In addition to winners in the fields of poetry and prose, Fall Lines will also publish work by the SC Academy of Authors 2014 fellowship winners Nancy Brock and Jo Angela Edwins; three essays from USC Press’s upcoming second volume of Aida Rogers’ State of the Heart (by Christopher Dickey, Josephine Humphreys, and Ray McManus); as well as poetry by SC Poet Laureate Marjory Wentworth, (sponsored by Roe Young and the Roe Young State Farm Insurance Agency.) Local designer and Jasper art director Heyward Sims designed the cover of the book. It is 98 pages long and, as always, Muddy Ford Press made it all happen.
Thank you to Tony Tallent for bringing in Richland Library as a major partner on Fall Lines, as well as the Richland Library Friends who are generously awarding the cash prizes ($250 each) to the winners of the Saluda River Prize for Poetry and the Broad River Prize for Prose. Richland Library will also offer the book in its entirety as an E-Book through the library system. Thank you to Lee Snelgrove and One Columbia and to Jonathan Haupt and USC Press for partnering with us. Thanks to Tom Mack and the SC Academy of Authors and to Roe Young and the Roe Young State Farm Agency. Thanks to our advertisers: Trustus, Ed’s Editions, Gallery West, and The Whig. Thanks most of all to Ed Madden who, of late, is more often my partner in crime than not. And my dear, dear friend.
It is with great pleasure that we announce the contributors to the 2014 inaugural issue of Fall Lines – a literary convergence literary magazine.
Dig and Delve – Nicola Waldron
April, 1965 – Betsy Breen
Soon – Jonathan Butler
Accidentals – Mary Hutchins Harris
Forgotten – Marjory Wentworth
Militants Ban School Bells in a Town in Somalia – Marjory Wentworth
Taste the Sound – Jennifer Bartell
Davy Crockett’s Last Stand – Nancy Brock
Like – Jo Angela Edwins
Island Time – Josephine Humphries
What I wish I had said to Billy Collins – Brandi Perry
Queens – Alexis Stratton
Almost – Angie Zealberg
Ghost Crabs – Hastings Hensel
Lap – Robert Petersen
Like a little bell he trembles III – Matthew Stark
Pilgrimage – Christopher Dickey
Want a ride? – Aïda Rogers
A Bike – Bob Blencowe
Cancer Voodoo II – Melissa Johnson
The Ache of Beekeeping – Tony Tallent
Ruts – Ray McManus
At Congaree Swamp – Nicola Waldron
My Father’s Chest – Jarred Coffin
Jumping into the Abyss of History, A Prologue – Megan Volpert
you burn me – Susan Laughter Meyers
The Gunpowder Craze – Doug Berg
One Quiet Morning – William Claxon
In May’s Blue Box – Linda Lee Harper
What Tassio Fulgrass Thinks of Life – Susan Levi Wallach
Letting You Die – Marlena Impisi
early November – Laura Rashley
Crazing – Lisa Hammond
Mission – Tara Powell
The Ride Back – Jo Ann Hoffman
Open Windows – Matt Mossman
Fishing for Bream – Ivan Young
Through a Glass Darkly – Debra Daniel
Please join us in celebrating Fall Lines and it’s contributors with a signing and reception on one or both of the following dates:
Pick up your Fall Lines this summer from one of the following primary distribution sites:
Richland Library — all branches
One Columbia on Taylor Street
USC Press on Devine Street
Jasper Studio at the Historic Arcade
Ed’s Editions in West Columbia
Gallery West in West Columbia
Trustus Theatre
HoFP
iF Art
701 Whaley CCA
Nickelodeon
The Whig
Congratulations to the winners and the contributors and thanks once again to everyone whose individual efforts made a very important thing happen. Columbia now has her own literary journal — Fall Lines – a literary convergence.
— Cindi Boiter
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