It’s been six months since FeatherLit launched. We’ve been delighted and astounded at the quality of the work that has been submitted. Short, literary erotica may be a fairly specialised field, but it’s a very interesting place to explore. We’ve been overjoyed to receive submissions of work that challenge, provoke and delight on many levels – from the gracefully lewd to the bravely ribald to the tenderly suggestive. As we continue to find and publish work that strikes this difficult balance, we hope to continue to tangle the dividing lines between genres. Thank you for sharing the first few months with us!

In this issue, Sarah-Clare Conlon explores the topography of a lover in her playful and beautifully observed Landscape Portrait. Jeremy Edwards’ protagonist uses every technique in the art history book to make an erotic portrait, in Curated.

John Tustin’s short but mighty poem Pink As Nipple is as brave and bold as a glorious hard-on, while Walter Ruhlmann’s Threesome is beautifully obscene, written with a lewd recklessness that seem to go well with Misty Rampart’s pretty, dirty Heart On A Chain.

Meanwhile, Robin Sampson’s aching poem of longing, The Kelp Beds, takes us back to the salt sea, suggesting darker undercurrents and hinting at the weakness that is rooted in the body.