The mission of this journal is not to show how trans is 'natural', but to demonstrate how nature is trans by virtue of constant change. In this first issue you'll find long-form essays that address the reader and our expectations; an epic of simultaneously eroding and accreting scholarly citations; a micro-myth in three parts; and histories of rivers, bodies, names, hometowns, and romances. Form is as important to these pieces as content -- sometimes the shape is familiar, but just as often we're required to learn new rules as we read -- drawing comparisons to other forms: serpentine tributaries, shifting sands, sedimentary layers, the trees whizzing by the car window. A piece of fruit sectioned into morsel, membrane, pulp, stone and rind. It’s an honor to present these seven voices here in issue 1 of smoke + mold, and I hope you’ll enjoy reading and rereading them, as I have over the last several months.

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      — Cal Angus, Editor