California Lit Mag Threatened by Wildfires

The staff of Cadillac Cicatrix, a two-year-old literary magazine based in Carmel Valley, California, recently was forced to evacuate the magazine's office in the face of encroaching wildfires. The Basin Complex fire, which threatened Big Sur earlier this month before moving eastward, is the second fire to endanger the magazine's home, located outside of Salinas at the base of the Santa Lucia Mountains.

Cadillac Cicatrix is in the midst of producing the print edition of its third issue, focused on adaptation, which was released online on July 1. Magazine staff members hope to return to their office in the next few weeks and are continuing their work on the issue from a satellite location, although many of their files remain in Carmel Valley.

"We are optimistic about the outcome, and we are attempting to move forward with our project," wrote Benjamin Spencer, the magazine's executive editor, in a press release, "but it has been difficult—we are in a state of resolute plodding."

According to a report by the U.S. Forest Service on Sunday, the Basin Complex fire, which has burned 134,118 acres since it began during an electrical storm in June, is 70 percent contained.