TEOTWAWKI

It rolls trippingly off the tongue, like the name of a primitive gods from a B-movie. You know, the kind of film where drums pound as bare-chested warriors throw a writhing virgin into the abyss to appease, um... TEOTWAWKI.

The acronym stands for The End Of The World As We Know It, and here, approximately, is how one senator on C-span pronounced it: "Te-ah-tu-WAH-kee." Try it out. You may find yourself using this word minted just in time for the latest alarmist fads. It's showing up on Web sites dedicated to the New Millennium, Y2K, and apocalyptic visions. It'll be much in currency in coming months as alarmists of every stripe hawk end-of-the-world wares and scenarios.

Actually, if you believe a simple tenet of both scientific and biblical scriptures- that no one knows when the world will end- the only things you really have to worry about, regarding 2000, are hype, political grandstanding, and the "Y2K Bug," which is being called everything from "a bump in the road" to ... TEOTWAWKI.

It is less than comforting to hear senators discuss the "low probability" of Russian nuclear warheads firing off, as they did in a recent news conference, just as it's unsettling to realize there are no true authorities when it comes to the Y2K problem, because there is no historical precedent. Then again, you could say that about a lot of things.

The End of the World As We Know It is already here for some. We're living at a time of Revolutions Per Minute in science, technology, spirituality, medicine and more. These changes affect the very essence of what it means to be human, and lead to frightening frontiers.

You've often heard it said, those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat the mistakes of history. But let's face it, the past was never like this. The human genome project is closing in on a schemata of the entire human genetic code. Last year, scientists in Dallas announced they had isolated the enzyme that causes human cells to grow old and die. Transplants are becoming ever more common, so that as body parts wear out, it's not unusual to replace them with artificial organs, tissue from other bodies- including skin, bones and blood- grown in laboratories. It's become commonplace to change one's moods or to exaggerate sexual prowess with a pill

Such developments raise questions about what it means to be human. Ask yourself how many blue-eyed babies with generous but assertive dispositions and super intellects will be crafted by elite parents and their physicians before human nature itself has changed. To what lengths will life be extended (by centuries?) and to what extent will we become a composite of mechanical, electronic, medical and computer technology before we face the fact that the species itself has been altered.

You won't find sweeping answers here, but hints and suggestions abound

Most of our offerings are firmly rooted in the familiar terrain of human nature as it has been discerned through the ages- a wondrously unpredictable mix of emotions and motives as ancient as writing itself. Here you'll read stories of love and cruelty, mysticism and animal survival, devotion and betrayal. Occasionally, we'll cross the line into the fantastic, the other-worldy. At some point, the most honest and insightful writing about what it means to be human becomes indistinguishable from science fiction.

In this issue, we offer our first overtly science fiction story, "The Memory Pool" by Quentin T. Laredo, a tale of culture-clash on a distant planet. Perhaps just as fantastic is the hypnotic and beautifully written (if often grotesque), "Jason and the Cockroach," a story of cross-species communion, by Jody Benson, that is reminiscent of Kafka. Phyllis D. Kasler chronicles here ghostly and charming encounter with William Faulkner. You'll find a cosmic range of interests and wonders in Vincent Czyz's profile/interview of Paul West, whose novels have ranged from internal examinations of Jack the Ripper and his victims to a chronicle of hotshot spy-plane pilots (as narrated by novelists from Alpha Centauri!) and the afterlives of Native Americans. You may be relieved to return to the realism and drama of prize-winning writers Jess Wells (although even her story contains an element of the supernatural), Kim Silveira Wolterbeck, Ronald H. Lands and John Norman McClean, writers of wit, discernment, talent and taste.

As always we are proud to display works by winners for fiction, nonfiction and poetry in our NMW Awards competition. Our Poetry Suite, this issue, is among our most extensive, including poetry by David Ray, the ever-popular Marilyn Kallet and more than a dozen other accomplished poets- some inspired by dreams. Writing Well columnist Linda Parsons Marion waxes miserable about her attendance at the writers conference from hell. Not to worry, though, cartoonist Charlie Daniel and poet Ira E. Harrison counter the angst with humor. Photographer Richard P. Remine, along with illustrator Mark Maxwell, gratify the eyes. Enjoy.

Don Williams, Editor