The following letter will be sent to all past Irreantum subscribers. Of course, the incentives described below will apply to anybody who chooses to subscribe. So don’t let this opportunity pass you by. Subscribe!!

Dear Friends of Irreantum,

Irreantum’s Spring/Fall 2009 Anniversary Double Issue will soon be released. As we celebrate Irreantum’s tenth year, we’re offering special incentives for all subscribers—past, present, and future.

The upcoming issue is one of Irreantum’s best yet, including fiction by Orson Scott Card, essays by Terryl Givens and Patrick Madden, poetry by Holly Welker, and photography by Val Brinkerhoff. You won’t want to miss it! (See a complete table of contents at the end of this message.)

This issue celebrates another milestone as well: having caught up with past issues, Irreantum now pledges to deliver Spring and Fall issues in a timely manner. Change, and even tragedy, has challenged Irreantum’s short history—including the death of our editor and dear friend Laraine Wilkins. Delays have resulted. But with this issue we’re officially back on track.

As a thanks to those who’ve stayed with us, the double issue will count as a single issue for current subscribers. If your subscription was due to end with the Fall 2009 issue, you’ll now receive a Spring 2010 issue before your subscription lapses. You’ll also receive another bonus: a complimentary copy The Best of Mormonism, courtesy of Curelom Books, the book publishing arm of Sunstone. This collection, which includes the best writing by, for, or about Mormons from 2007-2008, is packed with award-winning work from several national publications—including fiction, personal essays, book chapters, poetry, and a play. (A table of contents of The Best of Mormonism also can be found at the end of this message.)

A special offer for new subscribers and those whose subscriptions have lapsed: if you purchase a one-year subscription to Irreantum in the month of November 2009, you will receive Irreantum’s Fall 2009 Anniversary Double Issue, The Best of Mormonism, and next year’s Spring 2010 issue, edited by our new co-editor, Jack Harrell.

Irreantum is at a crossroads. Subscription rates have declined. If the numbers don’t improve, the magazine’s viability may be at risk. No matter how dedicated our staff, how excellent our contributors, Irreantum cannot continue without the support of paying subscribers. Please take this opportunity to renew your subscription. Pass this message along to friends and encourage others to subscribe. Or buy Irreantum subscriptions as Christmas gifts. The $25 one-year subscription to Irreantum includes membership in the Association for Mormon Letters, a non-profit organization advancing Mormon literature since 1976. To subscribe, please visit http://irreantum.mormonletters.org/subscribe. Your subscription will help ensure Irreantum’s survival and deliver the best in Mormon literature to your door.

Sincerely,
Angela Hallstrom
Jack Harrell
co-editors, Irreantum

Irreantum Spring/Fall 2009 Double Issue Table of Contents:

Fiction:

Orson Scott Card “The Elephants of Poznan”
Darin Cozzens “The Treading of Lesser Cattle”
Larry Menlove “Path of Antelope, Pelican, and Moon”
Charmayne Gubler Warnock “Nightshade”
Joshua Foster “Cheddar”

Critical Essays:

Terryl Givens “Paradox and Discipleship”
Jack Harrell “Human Conflict and the Mormon Writer”
Eric Samuelsen “The Association for Mormon Letters: Toward a Mission, Minus the Statement”

Poetry:

Doug Talley “Overcoming the World,” “Caelestia,” “Finding Place”
Paul Swenson “Behind the Mask,” “Traces of Laraine”
Holly Welker “Barren,” “Creation”
Michael R. Collings “Contrition,” “Damon Again”

Creative Nonfiction:

Jaren Watson “Of the Drowned”
Ryan McIlvain “Confessions of a Secular Mormon”
Patrick Madden “The Path of Redemption”

Reviews:

Patricia Karamesines, “No Better Off: Amy Irvine’s Trespass: Living at the Edge of the Promised Land”
Phyllis Barber “Big Love Before Big Love: Dorothy Allred Solomon’s In My Father’s House: A Memoir of Polygamy”
Laura Hilton Craner “A Mother Must Leave Behind Her Illusions: Kathryn Lynard Soper’s The Year My Son and I Were Born”
Heidi Hart “Fierce Voices: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History”

Best of Mormonism by Curelom Books Table of Contents:

Neil Aitken. TRAVELING THROUGH THE PRAIRIES, I THINK OF MY FATHER’S VOICE
FROM The Lost Country of Sight

Brittney Carman. BELIEVING OWL, SEEING OWL
FROM Black Warrior Review

Johnna Benson Cornett. GATHER
FROM Segullah

Darin Cozzens. REAP IN MERCY
FROM Irreantum

Lisa Torcasso Downing. CLOTHING ESTHER
FROM Sunstone

Joshua Foster. GOD DAMNED THE LAND BUT LIFTED THE PEOPLE; OR, A REDEMPTION IN THREE LEVITATIONS
FROM South Loop Review

James Goldberg, PRODIGAL SON
FROM New Play Project

Angela Hallstrom. WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?
FROM Bound on Earth

Lance Larsen. A FEELING IN YOUR HEAD
FROM Iowa Review

Patrick Madden. A SUDDEN PULL BEHIND THE HEART
FROM The Best Creative Nonfiction, vol 2

Scott Russell Morris. NOTHING IN PARTICULAR
FROM Prick of the Spindle

Kathryn Lynard Soper. SOLITAIRE
FROM The Year My Son and I Were Born

Emily Summerhays. HOW THE PRAYERS RAN DRY
FROM Sunstone

Lynda MacKey Wilson. WE WHO OWE EVERYTHING TO A NAME
FROM BYU Studies

Darlene Young. PATRIARCHAL BLESSING
FROM Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought

The AML Annual Meeting will be held on Saturday, February 28th at the library at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.

We’re tremendously excited to announce that the keynote speaker for the AML Annual Meeting will be Terryl L. Givens. With the publication of The Viper on the Hearth, By the Hand of Mormon, and most recently, People of Paradox, Terryl Givens has established himself as perhaps the best respected and most insightful scholar working in Mormon Studies. We’re honored that he was able to find time in his busy schedule to address us.

The theme of the Meeting is “Proving Contraries: The Power of Paradox in Mormon Literature and Film.”

The AML annual meeting begins at 9am and is co-sponsored by UVU Religious Studies.

The meeting is for AML members, but everyone is welcome and there is no charge. There is a charge for the AML awards luncheon ($12.00), and you may use the PayPal button to order online. If you want pay at the door, please send an email to AML Award Luncheon by Monday, 23 February, and tell us how many tickets you want us to save for you. We have to order the luncheon ahead of time, and we can’t guarantee that there will be any extra tickets.

If you’ve never been to an AML annual meeting, now is the time to do so since it’s FREE, which isn’t always the case. I, for one, am very excited to hear from Terryl Givens and look forward to other papers and presentations related to Mormon letters. (It’s also a lot of fun to socialize. Scholarship is important, yes . . . but so is standing out in the hall chatting with fascinating people.)

Do come!