GUEST EDITOR S NOTE<br > A BOOK BEFORE Satan s moment of triumph in Paradise Lost， with<br > the terms of Eden set and the story of creation rehearsed， the angel<br > Raphael cautions an overly curious Adam， who has asked about<br > the spheres: "Be lowly wise:/Think only what concerns thee and<br > thy being;/Dream not of other worlds， what creatures there/Live， in<br > what state， condition， or degree...." Then， "cleared of doubt . ..<br > and freed of intricacies，" Adam returns for a time to his bower， the<br > angel ascends and， with Mihonic inversion， advice filters in from<br >paradise， through a messenger whose name hints at both the pros-<br >pect of healing (rapha.el-God heals) and the early history of his<br >health (rapha im -Hades or Shades}.<br > The authors of the work gathered here under the broad rubric of<br >Other Worlds have each， with Eve， resisted such a message， choos-<br >ing instead to explore the ironic particulars of its transmission.<br >That exploration has led to a variety of approaches stylistically，<br >and to distinctions of inquiry along horizontal and vertical axes.<br >Some of the contributors are inclined to a religion of descent， and<br >invert their cathedrals~ others direct their spikes laterally， looking<br >at love and related exactions; still others track the progress of spirit<br >in its vault. Genres range from lyric and polemic to elegy， exegesis<br >and spoof. The only thing the writing has in common， as I ve seen<br >it， is an emphasis on the important recognition of borders and a<br >desire to approach， respect or cross them-theme enough for a<br >confusing cultural moment， in which so many fertile minds seem<br >neutralized.<br > Assembling this issue， I looked for work that moved through<br >such confusion. The result is topical in that many of the pieces<br >address contemporary phenomena such as homelessness， religious<br >revival， the Gulf War， Columbus and the New World， "disconnec-<br >tion，" reaction and experimentation in the arts， shifting political<br >and sexual boundaries-in short， the lines behind which we sense<br >each other daily or don t. From the start， however， I was drawn less<br >to subject matter than to the compelling qualities of a writer s<br >structural instinct， and in this light 1 factored in both chance-<br >submission and Milton s notion that Earth， too， was an Other World<br >in the mind of its maker.<br >