Forth Magazine Issue #5 -

Forth Issue #5

Editor’s Note:

I know, I know. For any publication, especially in Los Angeles, the practice of putting a celebrity on the cover seems predictable. But the notion of celebrity is not what interests me here; rather it’s what the talent represents. Those who have found great success at a creative craft yet need more, who can’t stop the winds of imagination as they pour through other mediums, challenging themselves, keeping themselves young, firing up old dreams and new hallucinations. Indeed, living, breathing examples of artistic success.

To me, presenting the artwork of John Lithgow is a proclamation: Look! Here is a man who lives a creative life, a professional who does what he loves and who isn’t afraid to do it all, to create whatever he feels he must, to act from the heart and imagination. Presenting the artwork of John Lithgow is an affirmation: It is possible to live a life of passion and creativity! Kill the attachment to that “starving artist” routine. Here’s an artist, and he ain’t starving. As if you’d rather work the nine-to-five desk job, while painting or acting or writing “on the side.” It’s time instead to focus on the side and make it the center. By featuring successful, creative people, in a personal and intimate way, aspiring artists will in turn be reminded, as I was, that a creative life can also mean a successful life, professionally as well as personally. I humbly thank John for allowing FORTH Magazine to be the first publication to present his work. The inspiration is beyond words.

Further inspiration in this issue comes from bestselling author James Ellroy. With a new Novel coming out—his 14th to date—we’re honored to profile this prolific writer and feature short excerpts from Blood’s a Rover.

Ellroy is of course a very different sort of author from Charles Bukowski, whose shoes were stepped in for a day by FORTH writer Marco Mannone. Here again, these writers show us that success is possible by sticking to what one loves and not postponing the urge to create. At least professionally anyway. I’m not sure if we can quite call Bukowski’s personal life an example of success.

This issue is truly about inspired achievement and features more fantastic artists, like Emma Ferreira and Myron Dyal, as well as an exclusive excerpt from the upcoming graphic novel 45. And of course more fiction and art from our wonderful Collective of FORTH writers and artists. In six short months, FORTH Magazine has grown more than I could have hoped. Every issue has gotten bigger, and we are constantly expanding, in all directions, truly living into our name. FORTH owes our success to the talent in the pages, to the amazing team behind the scenes, and to you, our readers—the buzzing, the vibrant, the truly-inspired community for whom we create.

For those of us living what we love and loving what we do, we will find success. And those around us who are inspired will help us get where we need to go. I know this to be true. Don’t think, just do what you love. No matter what. Press onward. Go FORTH… And Enjoy!

Jeremy Shawn Pollack
Publisher & Editor of FORTH