Issue 06 is here and it still has that "fresh off the assembly line" smell. We aren’t some artisanal literature magazine. We are a factory of words. We fly them in from all over the world and assemble them in our state of the art magazine assembly plant (MAP) with the help of mostly robots, with humans putting the final touches on things. As you can see, we are clearly losing our minds here at Funicular Headquarters.

As we write this letter in January 2021, we are saying goodbye to Volume 2 of Funicular. Volumes are a thing you learn about when you start putting a literary magazine together. We are also saying goodbye to the fantastic artwork of Jenny Keith that has graced three issues. Did we ever think we were going to make it to Volume 3? Of course we did! We are in this for the long haul. When we're finally all able to go to bookstores and readings and events again we look forward to taking this Funicular show on the road and meeting our contributors IRL. New York in February? Winnipeg in July? Vancouver basically whenever the cherry blossoms are doing their thing. Maybe Denver in August? Let’s just plan to meet in Vancouver some time soon. Deal? Deal.

This is the part of the letter where we usually tell you that we received more submissions for Issue 06 than any other issue prior. This is probably the truth but I think your submissions actually broke our counters. I wish there was some secret to why so many of you have submitted to Funicular but I don’t think there really is one. I just think it’s because we exist. We made a magazine, put up our flag, and asked you to find us and send us great writing. You’ve done that, over and over again. We love sending acceptance emails, hate sending rejections, love being the first print magazine to publish your writing, hate when you forget to leave your name off your submission. We absolutely LOVE those of you who have decided to subscribe to Funicular for an indeterminate amount of time. It’s called Funicular Infinite. You should try it. Basically we send you an issue every four months, forever. How does that sound?

Now is the part of the letter where we rank all the pieces in the magazine from best to worst. Wait, Jeremy is shaking his head and telling me that we don’t actually do that. Ok, moving right along. If you’ve read this far it’s because you are a true lover of words and a great completionist.

As always, thank you to our volunteer readers. You make our task possible and your sharp eye for talent continues to shape this magazine's identity.

Whether you are reading your first issue or your sixth issue we thank you for finding us and thank you for supporting Funicular and the great writers we have published.

Knock yourself out.