Hello from Your New Editor-in-Chief

Hi everyone! Elena here. You usually don’t hear much from me because as the managing editor I’ve always been behind the scenes making sure everything’s running smoothly, while Matthew’s been the face of this magazine, communicating with all of you. But for those following along, that’s changing. 

In case you missed last week’s post, Matthew announced that he is leaving The Metaworker. So I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Matthew for the eight years he has dedicated to this magazine. It’s amazing to think about how long we’ve been working to keep this labor of love going strong. Despite our original editors only being acquaintances when this thing first got started, I’m so pleased we all stuck it out—with new editors joining along the way—and I’m proud of the connections we’ve built and the legacy we’ve created. It has truly been a team effort, right from the get-go, and I could not have asked for a better group of folks to be a part of throughout the years. 

Matthew has been a wonderful leader throughout several iterations of the team, making time for the magazine despite a busy personal life, especially in recent months. He’s been invaluable in leading the team during our weekly meetings, leading the discussions during our podcast recordings, programming our weekly posts onto the website, and of course communicating with you, our lovely readers. I will miss having his voice in our weekly discussions. Despite him and me often having polar opposite opinions on pieces we discussed during our meetings, I appreciate his strong views on storytelling and his willingness to argue it out with me without taking it personally. We balanced each other out as editors and I can confidently say that we learned a lot from each other. I appreciate Matthew’s love of horror because though that is not my wheelhouse, he has taught me how to appreciate the need for it. I must also mention that it was fun chatting about our mutual love for science fiction, Neil Gaiman, and the Animorphs 😀

We wish Matthew the best. Not only is he a great editor, but he’s an awesome writer as well, and we can’t wait to see where his writing career will take him.

Of course, Matthew’s departure means that the EIC position needs to be filled, and I’d like to announce that I will be stepping in to fill it. So officially: hello from your new Editor in Chief! I thought I’d re-introduce myself, since it’s been a while.

I am one of the founding editors of The Metaworker and during the past eight years as the managing editor, I’ve maintained our website, organized the publishing schedule, edited most of our podcast episodes, and of course read through our slush pile, among other things. Outside of this magazine over the past decade and a half, I’ve been an editor, managing editor, and/or slush reader for several literary magazines, copy editor for a novella, and a script reader for screenplay and play competitions. My day job is a video editor, where I edit 5-minute documentaries about women changemakers. Aside from work, whenever I get the chance, I love to read. Though I do read most genres, my favorites are fantasy and science fiction. I am also a writer and have published a few poems and stories, including here in The Metaworker way back when we first got started. Check out my most recent publication in Gastropoda Magazine.

I’m excited for what this new chapter of The Metaworker will bring. Things will probably be a little different going forward. We’ve now said goodbye to two of our founding editors, but we’ve gained two wonderful new voices in Mel and Cerid. We will have some logistical reshuffling to do behind the scenes, but we also have some exciting new ideas to continue The Metaworker’s legacy of publishing great things to read. We’ll keep evolving, and we’ll keep forging our own story. Thank you, readers and writers, for sticking with us. 

Elena L. Perez
Editor in Chief, The Metaworker