I knew from the moment I added it to the list of future issues that 'Fire' would produce a diverse reaction from Unmapped's writers, and I wasn't disappointed. Each writer in this issue has taken fire as a core part of their story, then run off with it into the woods, letting their imaginations take the theme to some incredible places. We're covering the feeling in Nigeria today around election time in this issue, the women in Russian churches responsible for sweeping wax off the altars, forest fires in Portugal, and a lake landscape in Chile destroyed by man, and fire.

A special thanks to Flora Bonner–MacKenzie for stepping in this week as poetry editor, and to Davey Heuser for providing this week's cover.

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