Issue 12.5 – April May June 2016

God of Fools by Linda Saboe

Table of Contents

The Death of Chaos by anne m. gibson
Old Customs by Rajiv Moté
The City & the Man; the Man & the City by Joshua A. Dilk
Little Government Gets Us Nowhere by Rhonda Eikamp
“Fear Death By Water” by Arkady Martine
Ship of Fools by Heather Morris
Burning Day by Charles Payseur

Editors’ Note:

Ah, Spring! Winter’s reluctant release as the river’s ice cracks and breaks away, as the year’s new leaves unfurl and flowers push up through the warming soil. Insects emerge from dormancy, bears crawl forth from the earth, and baby raccoons fill the wildlife rehab centers. The world explodes with color and sound. And we mere humans can’t help but celebrate the renewal of the earth in a thousand myriad ways, from the colorful celebrations of Holi to the resurrections of Jesus, Mithras, and Dionysus; from the Feast of Fools to the dances of Beltane. And of course, April Fool’s Day: a day of tricks and jokes, of inversions and the breaking of rules.

Winter, as just about everyone reading this should have heard by now, is always coming. But Spring breaks those frozen chains. Spring cheats Death; Spring hopes eternal.

The Journal of Unlikely Observances is Unlikely Story’s third April Fool’s Day mini-issue. This year, we bring you stories that celebrate celebrations, stories of hope and self-discovery and renewal, and of putting the past away. Stories of tricks played, and of tricksters played as well.

And let us ask, Dear Reader: What better day to celebrate April Fool’s than the last day of June (or is it the first day of July where you are? O Time, trickster even unto the end!)? No matter. Together, let us cheat Time itself, and Time’s vicious, tyrannical side-kick, Deadline.

Every day can be April Fool’s Day, if you let it.

Cover art by Linda Saboe