"Art Journal Launches Soon," by Munditenens Tresple

"We're not interested in becoming pornographers." Vitxalmour Conductour jokingly replied, in response to a question I asked regarding the editorial policy for the proposed Talossan Literary/Arts Journal, the brainchild of Iason Taiwos. The journal, El Anticatx, which was introduced by Taiwos on the Wittenberg Facebook page to a positive reception, was initially expanded from an idea to publish a Talossan-themed comic book, "Capitan Talossa." "I knew I wasn't going to have the time or patience to draw a whole book by myself," Taiwos remarked, "[but] there are some amazingly creative people in Talossa. I don't know about anyone else, but I'd like to see what creative stuff the people of Talossa can produce."

Enlisting the help of Vitxalmour Conductour, the pair intends to publish the journal on a quarterly basis, accepting submissions from citizens of the Kingdom of any kind at an email address formed specifically for the purpose. They have no plans to censor or make any major edits to any submission that is accepted for the journal, choosing instead a more hands-off policy, allowing the art or literary work to stand on its own. "Every submission will be considered in its own right." Conductour said, "Iason and I aren't much for censorship and aren't easily offended... Art can be political, art can be offensive; we won't reject a piece on those grounds." When I asked specifically about submissions of any material that might be considered more adult-oriented in nature, he replied, "I don't see too much of it really... if there is and if it is quality work, we may publish a dedicated special issue in line with the laws of Talossa and any other relevant jurisdiction. We're not interested in becoming pornographers."

Although they are currently deciding on some minor design and choices, their biggest holdup at the moment is the lack of submissions, of which they've had few. When asked about the current status of El Anticatx, they mentioned they tentatively plan to publish their first issue sometime this winter. "We are prepared to pad the first issue with an excess of our own works, as a sort of proof of intent, but we'd really prefer not to subject the good people of Talossa to such torture." remarked Conductour.

In the past, we have seen many wonderful start-ups and ideas that greatly contribute to the culture of our great country. Unfortunately, not all of these publications or media seem to stay very active for too long, and after a while, many of them simply fizzle out. The founders of El Anticatx, however, don't foresee this as a problem for their quarterly released publication. As what they are publishing isn't going to be news necessarily, but art, they believe that the novelty of their journal and the uniqueness of their published works will continue to excite people, and perhaps encourage them to submit their own work for a later issue. The leisurely publishing schedule should also help to prevent any kind of publishing burnout, they said.
They currently accept submissions at ElAnticatx@gmail.com, and are shooting for at least a ten-page digital issue every quarter. If someone wishes to submit a longer work, such as a novel, the pair may try to work with the submitter to serialize the submission over several issues. On a yearly basis, they hope to be able to publish a digest of the prior year's issues in print form at cost.

Given the multi-cultural and multi-lingual nature of our country, the pair recognize that not all submissions might be specifically "based" in Talossa or written in one particular language. While they do plan to give some preference to submissions written in el Glheþ, they welcome submissions written in any language. Demonstrating their hands-off editorial style, Taiwos again responded, "Contributors have completed freedom to submit whatever they'd like to share." He used the comic strip Peanuts by Charles Schultz as an example, saying that it even though it was undeniably American in its style and subject matter (especially with Charlie Brown always trying to kick that football), Schultz didn't need to draw an American flag in every frame. "One's culture will surely influence one's art, but that art is not always explicitly connected to the outward trappings of one's culture." Conductor wrote, "Or, as Iason put it, 'Whatever we create is Talossan, because we are Talossan.' "