This issue of Canopic Jar marks a joint editorial-design effort as Rethabile Masilo joins the fray. Rethabile handled the poetry for #14, and his discerning eye clearly shores up the foundation. Likewise, his design elements bring a refreshing change to the format. For the poems, the "next" and "home" buttons are at the bottom directly beneath the author's name, appearing thus: Previous | Home | Crisafi: Eternity, with the final link representing either the next poem or the next author. To further enhance the presentation, the poems are placed on individual pages rather than all in one posting, which gives the poems the focus they deserve.

Once again Canopic Jar, while claiming to focus on literary efforts, has managed to have the visual artwork of a major artist displayed on the main page. Rick Davis is an outstanding talent and his paintings have a way of grabbing and holding the viewer's attention. With artists like Jonathan Talbot, Cesar Biojo, Alan Phillips, and now Rick Davis, Canopic Jar is developing something of a reputation for high-end visual arts. I'm not sure who will be featured on #15, but I don't think I can ever resort to using photographs from my own camera again.

The writing for this issue is enhanced but certainly not slighted by the eye-catching graphics. The poetry for Canopic Jar #14 is well-represented with outstanding poems by Amanda Vernor, Rosemarie Crisafi, and Amari Hamadene. The prose contributions include nicely-crafted pieces from Alexandra Fox, Antonia Bloom, Benjamin Graber, and Errol Collen, and Doug Hoekstra returns to Canopic Jar with another fine piece of writing. Doug is something of an anomaly in the world of ezines in that he is a progenitor of the classic short story (just what the Dickens does that mean, anyway?)

And finally, the Canopic Bookstore has added Seahorse Soldiering by Robert M. Watson Jr. to its shelves along side books by Charles Rice, Mary Sue Koeppel, and Robert Gentry. Published by the pirates at Xlibris, Seahorse Soldiering goes for a hefty $24.99 at Amazon, but we've dropped the price down to $19.95--not because we are venturing into commercial book sales (we make no profit from the book), but because we think Dr. Watson's book should be available. If you want to learn more, send me an email or visit the Canopic bookstore.

Enjoy,

Phil Rice (editor@canopicjar.com)