New Maps readers,

I’m pleased to finally be able to announce that the Summer 2024 issue of New Maps is available. If you’re a subscriber, your copy should be on its way to you—within the next few days for U.S. subscribers, and a little ruther out for those elsewhere, depending on the location. The journey to get this one out has been, let’s say, “obstaculous”; I won’t tell it all here, but suffice it to say that my computer gave out on me at a crucial moment, and replacing it had to wait until after a miserable, whole-family bout of COVID could pass. Nonetheless, the equinox ain’t here yet, and most of you should receive your magazines before it arrives.

What’s inside? Two new essays, on the prospects for the theater in the age of decline and on the apparent failure of the end of the world to arrive on time. A dash of poetry. And in this issue’s four new stories…

Institutions fall apart. That’s familiar ground to anyone paying attention to the onset of the deindustrial age, and has set the backdrop for plenty of stories. But if you’re part of the institution, it’s no longer just backdrop, it’s your life. In one story, a man is tasked with investigating a group that may threaten to tear apart the government he works for; in another, a woman must keep her town’s government from failing its people. And what about if your life depends on the institution  —  like when you get hit by a car but the hospital systems don’t work the way they used to? What if your job is to destroy the institution  — like the gang assassin sent out against the king who threatens his capos’ rule? The collapse of society doesn’t just happen, it’s helped and hindered by the kinds of people in these stories.

Get yours now at the Order page and spend the declining days of this summer with stories of the declining days of the age.

You can also get a digital copy at the Payhip store. (And please note that as of this issue’s release, issues from 2022 are now available only as a full-year package, not individually.)

Update your address book, if you have one

Another thing to note is that we have a new address! If you’re inclined to use the post to correspond, please point your letters to the following freshly-assigned address:

79510 Sweet Fern Ln
Washburn, WI
54891

I may not yet have changed this in all places on the website; if you find the old Valley Road address lurking there anywhere, please ignore it and use this one (and I’d welcome a note about it).

Send in your letters

If you have any letters for the Fall issue’s Letters section, there’s time to get them in. You can send them to the above address, or, if you’re not feeling retrograde, just email me at editor@new-maps.com by October 4. Please make sure to include “Letter” somewhere in the subject line of your email, or your letter may get lost.

Happy reading,

Nathanael Bonnell
Editor

P.S. I should note one other consequence of the eventful assembly process of this issue was that I didn’t catch a misprint on the spine — this issue is misidentified there as the previous one, though its name is correct on the front. I apologize sincerely for the disorder this will create in the bookshelves of those of you keeping all your issues; as a person who appreciates neatly organized books, it cuts me deep to have whiffed that one, but the ink has already dried.