Volume 28.4

At first glance I thought they were harem girls, veiled and mysterious. But the two half-veiled faces on the cover of this issue are “listening to the snow”—see the earmuffs?—they’re veiled only against the cold (the second face is wrapped around the back of the issue's cover and isn't visible on this website).

Veiled secrets and gifts permeate this winter issue. Veils (of expectations or fears, of cunning or deceit) conceal layers that can be peeled back to reveal a seed ready to germinate within, or a bedrock level of truth, or, often to our disappointment, a central lacuna. Sometimes it seems the layers never end, and we face the mysterious heart of being human.

In Annabel Lyon’s short story, “Mattie’s Husband,” the forced revelation of her brother-in-law’s secrets brings a successful professor into an unexpected proximity with an enigma of her own. This story offers a provocative look at the relationship between two sisters who at first glance could not be more unlike. Lyon’s is the third in a series of four works that Room was able to commission from well-known authors thanks to funding from Canadian Heritage’s Canada Magazine Fund, Support for Arts and Literary Magazines (SALM) program. Tricia Dower’s short story “Ashwin’s Rules” opens an imaginative window into the secret world of an autistic child (although that label is never used) who, after many years, is able to communicate thanks to the gift of his mother’s selflessly dedicated faith in him.

More exquisite poetry and thought-provoking prose await you in this issue than can be encompassed in this brief introduction. I hope you enjoy unveiling the hidden gifts within this issue.

Susan Safyan, editor

Claire Battershill is currently studying English at Oxford University. She has received various awards for her poetry, including the 2003 National Poetic License Contest. Her poetry and fiction have been published in The Claremont Review, The Oxford Reader, and Prairie Fire, and the anthologies Sights Unseen (Ripple Effect, 2003) and Wordscapes (Ripple Effect, 2003 and 2004).

Nora Curiston lives in Grand Forks, B.C. She has been an artist for many years and is currently attending Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver in order to expand her technical skills and theoretical training. Nora has exhibited in several B.C. Festivals of the Arts and in Artropolis and galleries around the province.

Tricia Dower began writing fiction in mid-2002. Her short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in The New Quarterly (Canada), Big Muddy: A Journal of the Mississippi River Valley (U.S.), and NEO (Europe). She and her husband Colin travel Canada, lighting on and lingering in places that call to them.

Susan Safyan, the editor of this issue, is a member of the Room of One’s Own editorial collective. She is a writer and editor for the Alive Publishing Group in Burnaby, B.C.

Nilofar Shidmehr has lived in Vancouver, B.C., for the past seven years. She is currently an MFA student in UBC’s department of Theater, Film, and Creative Writing. She writes fiction, poetry, and screenplays, and does freelance editing. Currently, she is working on a collection of poetry and prose called Shirin and the Salty Man.