The Opiate: Fall 2020, Vol. 23

The Opiate's Fall Vol. 23 edition is an unofficial ode to California, and all its complexities. For instance, the perception that it's always bright and sunshiny there in the fall: it ain't. Or that everyone who lives there is a pinko liberal: they ain't. Trust, there are oodles of "red pockets" throughout the state that is a country unto itself (shit, maybe even three countries unto itself). While not every writer in this issue has alluded to the Golden State, there is a running motif that applies to the patchwork nature of an environment (both weather-wise and politically) as vast and multifaceted as CA. So it is that The Opiate presents fiction, poetry and criticism from G. Michael Rapp, Mark Tulin, Skyler Nielsen, Patrick Williamson, Mário Santos, Mary Gould, Leanne Grabel, Xavier Jones, Tak Erzinger, Olivia Parker Sergent, Claire Andréani, Ron Kolm, Gonzalo Adolfo, Steve Denehan, John Grey, R. A. Allen and Teresa Burns Murphy.