“As a human being, living in the world, I know it’s all a game. But what if I don’t know the rules? This is the question I am asking myself as someone flashes their high beams in my rear-view mirror.”

These are the first three lines of a short story by Greg W. Taylor in the Winter  2015 edition of Lopez Island-based SHARK REEF Literary Magazine. The story, along with additional, equally-compelling stories, essays, poems and visual art, is online now at sharkreef.org.

As with the past six editions, SHARK REEF editor and co-founder, Lopezian Lorna Reese, partnered with Jeremiah O’Hagan on the prose selections. O’Hagan has returned to teaching again, part-time at an alternative high school in Washington State, after writing for a local newspaper. He says being with teenagers every day thrills and terrifies him. Poets Gayle Kaune and Richard Widerkehr chose this issue’s featured poems. Judith Connor continues on as art editor; for the summer issue, she chose work by Matthew Felix Sun. “There’s great spontaneity, emotion and depth in his work,” she said.

Kaune and Widerkehr are in their second turn on the editorial team. Kaune, from Port Townsend, is published widely in literary journals, and her poems have won numerous awards. Widerkehr, also an award-winning poet, has had two collections of poems and a novel published. He lives in Bellingham.

Connor, an artist from St. Paul, Minn., is currently creating mosaic fish.

“We’ve been fortunate to work with such brilliant co-editors over the years,” says Reese. “Our publisher, Iris Graville, met Jeremiah while both were students in the MFA program of the Whidbey Writers Workshop. Earlier poetry co-editors John Sangster and Elizabeth Landrum were well-known Lopez poets. When they stepped down, John introduced us to the next two and they in turn brought us to Gayle and Richard.”

About her prose co-editor, Reese notes, “I can’t say enough about Jeremiah O’Hagan, who is exceptionally skilled in the art of the essay and never misses a deadline. His introductions to each issue are thoughtful, probing and often lead to surprising places.”

Prose co-editor Jeremiah O’Hagan introduces our current issue with a reflection on writing rules. “I’m teaching again,” he writes. “Since I last taught five years ago, they’ve taken to calling my subject ‘language arts’ instead of English, which is likely more accurate … Labeling it an art, however, perpetuates the misconception that literature and writing are subjective endeavors. They are not.”

He goes on to explain the selection process he and Reese follow when reading prose submissions. “Each of us divides the pieces into three piles: yes, no, maybe …The rules wobble in submissions in the ‘no’ pile. These are the essays and stories that don’t bear weight because the words, sentences and paragraphs are not squared with one another… They still need to be worked into finer versions of themselves … Those in both our ‘yes’ piles aren’t up for debate. These pieces stand on their words and breathe something true and we can’t help but be moved.” We believe you’ll be moved by the poems, fiction and art our editors selected.

Founded in 2001 as a venue for Lopez Island writers, SHARK REEF, now in its 15th year, welcomes submissions from writers and artists living wherever the Internet reaches.

“We’ve published compelling pieces from all over the world in SHARK REEF, including work by numerous local writers and artists,” notes Reese. “We’re looking forward to what the next 15 years will bring. We also want to bolster our art submissions and would love to see more local submissions of art in our email box. We appreciate the support of our readers, too, and hope people will keep turning to SHARK REEF for good writing and visual art.”

Originally published by the Lopez Writers Guild, SHARK REEF has, for several years, been published by Lopez Island author and publisher, Iris Graville. Readers can subscribe to SHARK REEF at no cost at sharkreef.org. Updates about the publication also are posted on the magazine’s Facebook page (Shark Reef Literary Magazine).

SHARK REEF publishes two issues a year, one in the summer and one in winter, with submission deadlines of March 31 and September 30, respectively. The literary magazine considers solicited and unsolicited material: fiction, nonfiction prose, poetry and dramatic writing. It also features artwork by visual artists in each issue. Go to sharkreef.org for submission guidelines, current offerings and archived issues.