Literature is a dying art—Paradigm is Rain Farm’s small effort to save it.

People do not read anymore. Our days are increasingly filled with distraction: more and more movies, video games, and reality TV shows crowd the marketplace for our attention. As such, at the end of the year, when every gargantuan publishing house tallies up its book sales, they witness yet another steep drop in worldwide readership. The math becomes pretty simple: fewer books get published, fewer voices make it "out there."

Your visit here, however, is a testament that literature isn’t on its deathbed. We at Rain Farm simply believe that the quality work has become harder and harder to find. There’s a hunger for literature that hasn’t been homogenized and filtered through the corporate machine. With Paradigm, we hope to give the "literary journal" a facelift—a free place to find new and exciting works of quality fiction, poetry, and art.

We won’t have theme issues.  We are not in the business of trying to cobble together certain works to satisfy an agenda or meet a quota. Paradigm is as much an effort to promote the creative arts as it is a scrapbook of imagination.

I’m extremely proud and honored to present you the works found within these "pages."  Here, in our inaugural issue, you’ll find an eclectic number of voices: some are raw, rough, and new, while others are assured, polished, and composed. Across the board, however, I think you will find that every piece is forceful and passionate.

Like tending to a dying vine, we’re taking great personal care in helping to revive the literary spirit. Thanks for reading and come back often. I can't wait for the things we have planned for 2007 … I hope you’ll stay along with us for the ride.

Paul Fuhr
Publisher, Rain Farm Press
12/31/06