 Chances are, you often do judge a book by its cover. When you’re at your local bookstore or library, you’ll often search for a new book by looking at other titles from a writer you’ve enjoyed in the past. The name on the cover counts for a lot. However, if you’re an active reader, you’re going to need more than a few favourite writers to keep you busy. That’s why savvy readers are always asking friends, searching the net or checking out book review sections for recommended titles; because there’s nothing quite like finding a new writer or a new kind of writing that takes you to a whole new place.
Judging a book by the name on its cover is precisely the opposite of what we do at Storyteller. Since one of our goals is to introduce our readers to a wide variety of styles and genres, we make a point of choosing stories—not writers. Over the years this has proven to be very popular with our readers. Because we choose by content, not by reputation, we’ve been able to continually attract new writers from all over the country—in fact now from all over the world.
One thing that has continued to surprise me over the first fifteen years of Storyteller, is that there is not always a correlation between a writer’s publishing credits and the particular story attached to them. Experienced writers are more likely to produce a great story, or they wouldn’t have so much experience; but I doubt any of them bat 1000. And, while I’ve found hundreds of classic, unforgettable stories from writers with great credentials, I’ve found equally spectacular stories from writers who have never been published. Some of our most pleasant surprises have come from new writers—and writers who are new to us. Something you learn very early in this business is that one person’s “famous writer” is often another person’s “Who?”
In this issue, you’ll find new writers, writers who are new to us, old favourites, and writers we hope will become old favourites—to you as well as us. Keep in mind, though, that no matter how much we may smile when we see a familiar name, or with how much anticipation we may open the latest envelope from an old favourite, it’s the story we choose. The name on the book—or in our case, manuscript—bears no weight at all compared to the story itself. In fact, what inspired me to write on this topic was that it wasn’t until we were putting together the table of contents that we first looked at the names, and realized that almost all the writers in this issue are female. We tried to remember if we’d ever put out an issue where all, or almost all, the writers were of one sex. We didn’t try very hard, though, because ultimately it doesn’t matter. The characters are fairly evenly split male and female, and characters—which are at the heart of any story—matter a great deal.
So enjoy our spring issue. As usual, we invite you to give us your feedback. You can e-mail us through our website, www.storytellermagazine.com. We would ask one favour, though, on behalf of the people who worked so hard to give you this exciting mix of stories, styles and genres. Please don’t follow our example, and do look at their names.
Happy reading.
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