Dear Reader, 

Welcome to the Internet! In your exploration of the World Wide Web, you’ve managed to find Wilder Things’ digital home and our seventh issue. Both new and returning readers may feel like they’ve traveled back in time when clicking through this issue, and we invite you to enjoy the experience!

The thought of the internet having a “back in time” scares us too, but we hope you feel nostalgic as you scroll through ad-free stories and lol. 

Many of our authors and staff members grew up in the 2000s, and we watched the internet grow with us until it became a place where you could find anything. There was no guarantee that the information would be true—anyone remember the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus?—but you could find it. 

Surfing the webpages of this issue, you can find a lot of things. A fishing pole, a vase, a handful of stars. You can find stories of love and laughter and a creeping sense of dread. You can find poems about travel and temptation and death. You may even find a mysterious link.

They say nothing goes away on the internet, and for us that means that our work is never truly lost. Even as we return to the print format next fall, our virtual spring issues will always be preserved pieces of their moment in time.

The best part about the internet is the fact that it connects the world. Our authors come from across the US and beyond, and it’s thanks to the power of email chains and digital word-of-mouth that we’ve been fortunate enough to work with them. The internet connects us to our authors, and it connects this magazine to you.

No matter how far back we go for Throwback Thursday, our readers, past and present, are the reason we do this. Thank you for visiting the past with us. 

Enjoy Wilder Things Magazine Volume 7.

TTYLXOX, 

The Wilder Things Staff