Since the Journal came online in early 2011, this space has been a repository for news and announcements about the magazine – and in that role it has served us handsomely. Starting in December though, I’m excited to be able to say that there are going to be some changes round these parts. While announcements about contests, submissions, and other such business will continue to appear here, so will more blog-like content by myself and other members of the Journal’s staff.

Perhaps, before I go any further, I should take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Michael Larson, but since we’re going to be friends you all can call me Mike, and I’m the online editor of the Journal. A second-year MFA student in fiction, I hail from the boondocks of Washington State (Rainier, population 1,794 as of the 2010 census, for anyone who wants to know), though I arrived in Columbus via a teaching stint in Northern Japan.

While I have no illusions about the world’s need for another literary blog (I just recently figured out that D.G. Myers, who writes Commentary’s literary blog – the thought-provoking Literary Commentary – works within a mile of the Journal’s offices), I think we can use this space to keep our readers updated about the literary goings-on in Columbus, as well as the book-related thoughts, opinions and appetites of the Journal’s staff. Actual prose, poetry and reviews will continue to appear in the other parts of the website, and in the print magazine, but here you can expect to see our thoughts on the books of the day, trends in literature, and whatever else we just can’t stand to keep quiet about. Almost all of it will be book-related, and hopefully all of it will be of interest to you. Saddle up, we’ll be pulling out of the station directly.