August 2021

Dear Reader,
In the hearts of many writers, A Confederacy of Dunces holds a special place. The bellowing, slightly mad, mother-plagued Ignatius is the ultimate armchair philosopher who occasionally must sell hot dogs to make a living, and secretly longs for his alleged friend, “the minx,” to rocket her car up to the door and signal for him to jump in.

But behind the zaftig madness of the characters, the author John Kennedy Toole did not have the happiest of existences, and went to heaven early, by his own hand, an unpublished author. It was only the determination of his mother that saw the book published, after her son’s death. In short, one of the most brilliant and offensive novels that I know of, almost languished in oblivion.

It was only fortune or fate by which his story lived. This dovetails nicely with the refrain of “Oh, Fortuna” that can be found in Confederacy of Dunces, an invocation of the goddess Fortuna.

Having come through over a year of quarantine, by what trick of fate are we still here, hopefully still writing and creating? I decided to publish two volumes this summer, to make up for the missing volume in 2020. If John Kennedy Toole’s mother can soldier on through the unthinkable, Lit Jo can make up mileage for a year of many unknowns. Or, in plainer terms, we refuse to give up. 

A Confederacy of Dunces excels at wry humor coupled with a profound observation of human nature. In this spirit, I have selected stories that show those qualities. And also in the vein of the ridiculous, cephalopods have taken over Lit Jo. You will note many strange tentacles winding their ways over the cover and the body of the book. As well as an actual octopus in “The Artist & the Octopus” by Stephen T. Vessels. You will also meet with the wheel of fortune and a teller of fortunes. 

Poetry Editor Shelly Lowenkopf has given us a fine collection of iconoclastic poetry.  In the spirit of turning things on their head, as the best writers do, I have let the poems run wild through the fiction, a comingling of prose and verse that provides a bit more fun. I’m also especially pleased to present Zane Andrea’s novelette, Kitsch Kills, a story that resonates the mad humor of Dunces.

As we weather this next phase of the pandemic, may luck be with us. Humor and levity are a necessity in this. I hope Oh, Fortuna! will give you a little piece of that. 

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Best,
Silver Webb
The Editrix