The cocktail, now an icon, was ostensibly invented in New Orleans for medicinal purposes. ... A dose: short, pink and sweet; tall, blue and bitter; or crystal clear with, paradoxically, an enigmatic flavor. The result? A transformation: anger, lust, foolishness, calm, giddiness, transcendence, sickness, ordinary inebriation -- in infinite combinations. How could our magazine be called anything but Cocktail? Each potentially collectable issue will have a different theme, look and feel. Our eclectic collection of submissions already includes a selection of photographs from Slovakia, an autobiographical tale of a Vietnam veteran, and a story by a child from the Bible Belt, magically mixed with stories spiced with erotic undertones. Issue one was a molotov Cocktail “Fire.” Issue two will be a nightcap, “Bedtime Story.” We are now accepting submissions for issue three, which will be an all-nighter -- an inquiry into the blind running binge, “Fools.” Cocktail hopes to discover new writers and find new audiences for their work. We’re concocting a non-academic, entirely literary quarterly for the intelligent general reader who can act as their own censor. We hope to appeal to readers who long to be unaware of the goings-on in the lives of superstar athletes accused of murder, readers who are uninterested in who attended the latest hip parties around town. The submissions we appreciate the most are fresh and sincere -- created by people who are courageous enough to be vulnerable to criticism. We’re uninterested in pastiche -- works that simply parody or mimic the earnest attempts of others, however mockable they may be. Our design philosophy is: simplicity is elegance. We seek an audience whose attention span does not require the shallow seduction of flashy graphics on every slick page. So -- potential critics, submitters, readers and sponsors -- “bottoms up!” Our attempt must be for potency, so consume with caution. We take no responsibility for the after-effects of your indulgence.