Editor’s Letter Issue 1

To shepherd the birth of the new is a daunting prospect, so I wait with trepidation as Seaside Gothic arrives and clambers from this here shallow drift in the coastal waters a new wet thing. With letters stained from squid ink on paper worn from sand, bound in seaweed wrap and sealed in salt, this first issue of Seaside Gothic sets the mark on an inverted depth gauge for what will follow by raising a standard on driftwood to be seen from land and sea alike. It stands halfway between a lighthouse and a scarecrow, which is exactly what it should be. Here hear the voices of the working-classes, the transient, the drifting, and the lost mingle with the sounds of those at home, at peace, long-found and waiting for the wanderers to join them. Seaside Gothic is a convergence, an altar to ships in the night. Long may we worship.