As I moseyed through the pages of Wonderbook by Jeff VanderMeer, I came across Ursula K. Le Guin’s essay, “A Message about Messages,” and found this stellar quote:
“I believe storytelling is one of the most useful tools we have for achieving meaning: It serves to keep our communities together by asking and saying who we are, and it’s one of the best tools an individual has to find out who I am, what life may ask of me and how I can respond.”
The list of everything short I read this past month isn’t very long this time. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, National Novel Writing Month took over my life. So I only had time to peek at a few things. So here they are. Please remember: this list is not necessarily meant to act as a review, a show of favor, or a “best of” list. Feel free to share your own findings in the comments!
“Hannah Gordon: My (Small Press) Writing Day: To Each Their Own”
[I was asked by Rob Mclennan to be part of this series a well.]
“Kathleen Bruce (Scott) Asks to See Her Parasitic Twin” by Kate Fox (The Cumberland River Review)
So many wonderful magazines and journals released new content this month and it was hard to keep up. I haven’t read through all the things I want to, but I’m sure I can sneak more in while procrastinating during National Novel Writing Month!
Anyway, here is the list of everything short I read this past month. Please remember: this list is not necessarily meant to act as a review, a show of favor, or a “best of” list. Feel free to share your own findings in the comments!
“A Summoning in Section 292.1.J-P” By Anya Josephs (Green Briar Review)
[Note: This is where I volunteer as a fiction editor. Please consider sending us your own excellent creations!]
“When Czechoslovakia Was Still a Country” By Tad Bartlett (Green Briar Review)
[See note directly above this.]
“4P16.3” by Maya Alexandri (The Forge Literary Magazine)
“Snap Bam Boom” by Robert Mangeot (The Forge Literary Magazine)
“Zero Tolerance” by Jayne Martin (Barren Magazine)
“Toy Box” by Asher (Barren Magazine)
[Note: “Buried in the Ground” by yours truly is in this issue of the magazine!]
“Barnlights” by Amanda Crum (Barren Magazine)
“A Girl Buys Lilies for Herself” by Priyanka Sacheti (Barren Magazine)
“Sharp Parables” by Emily Osborne (Barren Magazine)
“How to weave a blanket out of horsehair and spidersilk” by Sonja Swift (Barren Magazine)
“The Horror of Party Beach” by Dale Bailey (Lightspeed)
[I listened to this story via the Lightspeed podcast.]
“The Miracle Lambs of Minane” by Finbarr O’Reilly (Clarkesworld Magazine)
[I listened to this story via the Clarkesworld Magazine podcast.]
“Midwestern Women: An Essential Reading List” by Meghan O’Gieblyn (Literary Hub)
“The Routine” by Marie McKay (Rhythm & Bones)
“Unravelling” by A.L. Bradshaw (freeze frame fiction)
“Waiting for Nothing to Happen” by Caroline Langston (Image)
“Dionysus Promised to Let You Have Another Glass” by Chloe N. Clark (Likely Red)
“The Atomic Clock” by Michael Grant Smith (Spelk)
“Crazy in Love” by Anita Goveas (Pixel Heart Literary Magazine)
“Letter of Recommendation for a Basic Male MFA Applicant” by Emma Brewer (McSweeney’s Internet Tendency)
“How to Build a Dream World” by Ruth Joffre (Electric Literature)
“The Power of Cautionary Questions: Neil Gaiman on Ray Bradbury’s ‘Fahrenheit 451,’ Why We Read, and How Speculative Storytelling Enlarges Our Humanity” by Maria Popova (Brain Pickings)
“Into the Wash” by Mitchell Grabois (Blue River)
“The Hill” by Laura Huey Chamberlain (jmww)
“The Things I Miss the Most” by Nisi Shawl (Uncanny Magazine)
[I listened to this story via the Uncanny Magazine podcast. It is part of the Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction issue.]
“Convalescence” by Alicia Cole (Uncanny Magazine)
[I listened to this poem via the Uncanny Magazine podcast. It is part of the Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction issue.]
“Catalyst” and “Reaction” by M. Stone (Nice Cage)
[My short story, “All the Waves Resound,” is also in this issue of the journal!]
“New Old” by Tara Isabel Zambrano (The Southampton Review)
“Emily As We Turn Off the Sound of Monday Night Football” by Darren C. Demaree (The Stay Project)
“The Horror of the Unknown: Songs of a Dead Dreamer and Grimscribe by Thomas Ligotti” by David Peak (Electric Literature)
Here is the list of everything short I read this past month. Please remember: this list is not necessarily meant to act as a review, a show of favor, or a “best of” list. Feel free to share your own findings in the comments!
“Rabbit Hat” by Marcus Slease (Nice Cage)
“Watch Them Glitter” by Tommy Dean (Ellipsis Zine)
“Comfort, Dogs” by Matthew Fiander (Barren Magazine)
“Fantastic Fabrics” by A.E. Weisgerber (Barren Magazine)
“Chinese Bleeding on a Friday” by Peter Ngila (Barren Magazine)
“Sweet Violets” by A.E. Weisgerber (New Flash Fiction Review)
“The Funny Thing” by Michelle Ross (Nashville Review)
All of #22, Volume XII, Issue 1 of the Whitefish Review
“Salt and Calcium” by Sarah Roth (Columbia Journal)
“One Lifetime With a Stranger” by Matthew Caldwell (The Esthetic Apostle)
[Note: Matthew attended Creighton University’s MFA program around the same time I did.]
“Unmentionables” by Kaitlyn Andrews-Rice (Paper Darts)
“Back Talk” by Danielle Lazarin (Copper Nickel)
“Nebraska” by Brian Hoey (New Orleans Review)
“A Girl Walks on the Moon” by Ruth Joffre (Vestal Review)
“Muriel” Elizabeth O’Brien (Newfound)
“The Difference Between Reading and Reading Well” by Collin Huber (Fathom Magazine)
“A Son” by Rachel Rodman (Apparition Literary Magazine)
“Inversions” by Meghan Xanthos (The Bookends Review)
“Mullenville, Population 82” by Sandra K. Barnidge (Allegory Ridge)
“Wings and Sand” by Sean Patrick Whiteley (Obra/Artifact)
“Counting Elephants” by F.E. Clark (Rhythm & Bones)
“The Farewell” by Gem Caley (The Ginger Collect)
“Out and Out” by Latifa Ayad (The Masters Review)
Here is the list of everything short I read this past month. Please remember: this list is not necessarily meant to act as a review, a show of favor, or a “best of” list. Feel free to share your own findings in the comments!
All of The Conium Review: Vol. 5
“Why Christians Should Read More Fiction” by Paul Anderson (RELEVANT Magazine)
“The Fool’s Stone” by Aubry Kae Andersen (Analog Science Fiction and Fact)
“An elf in the witch-garden” by Kate Garr (Rhythm & Bones)
“Thaumatrope” by Christopher Iacono (Rhythm & Bones)
“forgiving mistakes i’ve made” by Linda M. Crate (Rhythm & Bones)
“Today” by Maddie M. White (Rhythm & Bones)
“A Dungeon Open House” by Ben Niespodziany (Train)
“And the Hole Never Heals” by Ryan Habermeyer (Bat City Review)
“Dragon Princess” by Michael Chin (Cherry Tree)
[Note: I read the excerpt available online.]
“Big Bad Wolf” by Terrance Wedin (New South)
“Unicorn” by Philip Dean Walker (Big Lucks)
“This and That” by Ricky Garni (Big Lucks)
“Rhode Island Red” by Michael Kimball (Big Lucks)
“The Wardrobe” by Aysegul Savas (The Adroit Journal)
“Apology” by Anne Rasmussen (Jellyfish Review)
“Uncle Soot” by Joshua Jones (Midwestern Gothic)
[The round 1 winner for the journal’s annual summer flash fiction series]
“Perseids” by Madeline Anthes (Midwestern Gothic)
[The round 1 runner-up for the journal’s annual summer flash fiction series]
“Day in the Manner of Magritte” by Austin Sanchez-Moran (Maudlin House)
“Bees” by Melissa N. Warren (Gordon Square Review)
“Me and You and Zvonimir” by Casey Whitworth (Green Briar Review)
“Arsonist With Unlit Match” by Matt Fiander (Barren Magazine)
“The House Mourns Alone at Midnight” by Maryse Meijer (Outlook Springs)
“Koi Pond” by Cathy Ulrich (Outlook Springs)
Here is the list of everything short I read this past month. Please remember: this list is not necessarily meant to act as a review, a show of favor, or a “best of” list. Feel free to share your own findings in the comments!
“Pillow Talk” by Lori DeSanti (Blue Earth Review)
“Ice” by Marianne Villanueva (Bellingham Review)
“Ohio Deathbed, 1990” by Greg Marzullo (Arkana)
“This Must Be the Place” by Jeffery Helton (Appalachian Heritage)
“Of Leaf and Limb” by Hamilton Kohl (The Arcanist)
“Bloom” by Lori Sambol Brody (matchbook)
“Coloring Book Sky” and “Holy Noodles” by Elizabeth Elliott (Remington Review)
[Note: Elizabeth graduated from the Creighton MFA program before I did.]
“Tips on Discipline” by Jeff VanderMeer (wonderbooknow.com)
“Jeff VanderMeer on the Art and Science of Structuring a Novel” by Jeff VanderMeer (Electric Literature)
“Rebuking A Sexist Prayer” by Diane J. McDougall (Fathom Magazine)
“Every Bright Patch of Green” by Rachel Joy Welcher (Fathom Magazine)
“Birds of a Feather” by Tianna Grosch (Okay Donkey)
“The Piano Room” by Lily Wang (Cosmonauts Avenue)
Wow, May and June are stellar months for flash fiction. There were a lot of contest and special issues that were recently published—the majority of which I haven’t had the chance to read yet. Here are just a few recommendations for flash lovers: Wigleaf’s Top 50, SmokeLong Quarterly’s contest issue, and the FlashFlood blog.
Anyway, here is the list of everything short I read this past month. Please remember: this list is not necessarily meant to act as a review, a show of favor, or a “best of” list. Feel free to share your own findings in the comments!
“Drift” by Toti O’Brien (Bridge Eight)
“Fruit” by Jacquelyn Bengfort (matchbook)
“Why I Write Sad Stories” by Kevin Fitton (Ruminate blog)
“Gator Butchering For Beginners” by Kristen Arnett (Recommended Reading Commuter)
“The Vector of Our Love” by Elizabeth Shack (freeze frame fiction)
“An Ocean This Big” by Christine Hennessey (Monkeybicycle)
“The Mansion of Endless Rooms” by L Chan (Syntax & Salt)
“Upon Discovering That Cows Can Swim” by Santino Prinzi (Jellyfish Review)
“I Open I Wince” by Shane Kowalski (Peach Mag)
“Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid (The New Yorker)
“The Huntress” by Sofia Samatar (Tin House Online)
“There is No Albuquerque” by Kathy Fish (Newfound)
“A Man Named Magritte” by Abby Burns [Bending Genres (50mm Microfiction Contest first place)]
“Happiness is Gold” by Jean Reyes [Bending Genres (50mm Microfiction Contest, second place)]
“Sisyphus Speaks” by Jennifer Wortman [Bending Genres (50mm Microfiction Contest, third place)]
“Wings of Desire” by Jude Higgins [Bending Genres (50mm Microfiction Contest, honorable mention)]
“Tiny House” by Nancy Stohlman (New Flash Fiction Review)
“A Husband Should Be Eaten and Not Heard” by Megan Giddings (Split Lip Magazine)
Three poems by Erin Pulsipher (Déraciné Magazine)
[Note: Erin graduated from the Creighton MFA program the same time I did.]
“Full” by Carolina VonKampen (Déraciné Magazine)
“The Soul Sucker” by Andrea Salvador (Déraciné Magazine)
All of Crack the Spine Issue 238
[Note: My flash fiction story “While Taking Photographs in Nepal” is in this issue!]
“Final Girl Slumber Party” by Meghan Phillips (Barrelhouse)
“Hospice” by Tara Isabel Zambrano (The /tƐmz/ Review)
“Filaments of Air” by Tommy Dean (FlashFlood)
“Grateful” by Laura Pearson (FlashFlood)
“This Isn’t as Much Fun as I Thought It Would Be” by Mary Lynn Reed (FlashFlood)
“A Day for Watching Birds” by Anna Vangala Jones (FlashFlood)
“Whale Fall” by Alvin Park (SmokeLong Quarterly)
“Nocturne” by Leslie Marie Aguilar (The Common)
“Snowstorm” by Tara Isabel Zambrano (Atticus Review)
“Shoot by Grace” by Grace Campbell (Jellyfish Review)
“The Rats” by Blake Middleton (Hobart)
“The Devil and Ellen and Charles” by Mary Clemens (Hobart)
“Greetings From” by Melissa L. Amstutz (Tin House Online)
May was a really good month for reading. At least for me. I read twelve books and micro-chapbooks. The summer micro-chapbook series is really boosting my numbers! What did you pick up in May, blog readers?
The following reviews will cover what worked well in the books. If you wish to discuss what didn’t work in the books or what you enjoyed about the books, then I’d encourage you to comment on this post.
Without further ado, here are the mini-reviews for this month. (Mild spoilers may follow.)
Brass by Xhenet Aliu is another novel I picked up from the Bellevue Public Library. I found the cover art curious and so I picked up the book and read the synopsis. I put it down at first because I was unsure if I really wanted to try it out. But then I circled back and took it to the checkout counter. I’m glad I took the time to read this one in the end.
Synopsis from the Penguin Random House website:
A waitress at the Betsy Ross Diner, Elsie hopes her nickel-and-dime tips will add up to a new life. Then she meets Bashkim, who is at once both worldly and naïve, a married man who left Albania to chase his dreams—and wound up working as a line cook in Waterbury, Connecticut. Back when the brass mills were still open, this bustling factory town drew one wave of immigrants after another. Now it’s the place they can’t seem to leave. Elsie, herself the granddaughter of Lithuanian immigrants, falls in love quickly, but when she learns that she’s pregnant, Elsie can’t help wondering where Bashkim’s heart really lies, and what he’ll do about the wife he left behind.
Seventeen years later, headstrong and independent Luljeta receives a rejection letter from NYU and her first-ever suspension from school on the same day. Instead of striking out on her own in Manhattan, she’s stuck in Connecticut with her mother, Elsie—a fate she refuses to accept. Wondering if the key to her future is unlocking the secrets of the past, Lulu decides to find out what exactly her mother has been hiding about the father she never knew. As she soon discovers, the truth is closer than she ever imagined.
Told in equally gripping parallel narratives with biting wit and grace, Brass announces a fearless new voice with a timely, tender, and quintessentially American story.
Who should read Brass:
When I read 1Q84 in 2014, I knew deep down that Haruki Murakami would be a major influencer of my own writing. Here was a writer who took big chances with his work, made it really weird at times, and still managed to pull in a large and devoted audience of readers. I wanted to be just like him in a lot of ways. Since then I’ve bought many of his books and have listened to the audiobook of Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage. I borrowed After the Quake from the Bellevue Public Library when I noticed Murakami’s name on the spine of this yellow book and realized it was a story collection I hadn’t read yet.
Synopsis from the Penguin Random House website:
Set at the time of the catastrophic 1995 Kobe earthquake, the mesmerizing stories in After the Quake are as haunting as dreams and as potent as oracles.
An electronics salesman who has been deserted by his wife agrees to deliver an enigmatic package— and is rewarded with a glimpse of his true nature. A man who views himself as the son of God pursues a stranger who may be his human father. A mild-mannered collection agent receives a visit from a giant talking frog who enlists his help in saving Tokyo from destruction. The six stories in this collection come from the deep and mysterious place where the human meets the inhuman—and are further proof that Murakami is one of the most visionary writers at work today.
What worked well:
Who should read After the Quake:
When Terese Marie Mailhot‘s book was forthcoming, I saw an advertisement for it on social media and decided to buy it. I didn’t know what to expect when I preordered Heart Berries from Counterpoint Press; I only knew how hungry I was for First Nation perspectives.
Synopsis from the Counterpoint Press website:
Heart Berries is a powerful, poetic memoir of a woman’s coming of age on the Seabird Island Indian Reservation in the Pacific Northwest. Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing only to find herself hospitalized and facing a dual diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder and bipolar II disorder; Terese Marie Mailhot is given a notebook and begins to write her way out of trauma. The triumphant result is Heart Berries, a memorial for Mailhot’s mother, a social worker and activist who had a thing for prisoners; a story of reconciliation with her father—an abusive drunk and a brilliant artist—who was murdered under mysterious circumstances; and an elegy on how difficult it is to love someone while dragging the long shadows of shame.
Mailhot trusts the reader to understand that memory isn’t exact, but melded to imagination, pain, and what we can bring ourselves to accept. Her unique and at times unsettling voice graphically illustrates her mental state. As she writes, she discovers her own true voice, seizes control of her story, and, in so doing, reestablishes her connection to her family, to her people, and to her place in the world.
What worked well:
Who should read Heart Berries:
I listened to All Rights Reserved by Gregory Scott Katsoulis on audiobook. I was interested to see how the author would pull off a book about an able speaker choosing not to talk. As a writer, I was intrigued by this idea and how it could (or if it should) work. As a reader and science fiction fan, I wanted to understand what being charged for every word and gesture would be like. It definitely was a fascinating book.
Synopsis from the Harlequin Teen website:
In a world where every word and gesture is copyrighted, patented or trademarked, one girl elects to remain silent rather than pay to speak, and her defiant and unexpected silence threatens to unravel the very fabric of society.
Speth Jime is anxious to deliver her Last Day speech and celebrate her transition into adulthood. The moment she turns fifteen, Speth must pay for every word she speaks (“Sorry” is a flat ten dollars and a legal admission of guilt), for every nod ($0.99/sec), for every scream ($0.99/sec) and even every gesture of affection. She’s been raised to know the consequences of falling into debt, and can’t begin to imagine the pain of having her eyes shocked for speaking words that she’s unable to afford.
But when Speth’s friend Beecher commits suicide rather than work off his family’s crippling debt, she can’t express her shock and dismay without breaking her Last Day contract and sending her family into Collection. Backed into a corner, Speth finds a loophole: rather than read her speech—rather than say anything at all—she closes her mouth and vows never to speak again. Speth’s unexpected defiance of tradition sparks a media frenzy, inspiring others to follow in her footsteps, and threatens to destroy her, her family and the entire city around them.
What worked well:
Who should read All Rights Reserved:
Another audiobook I finished in May is Parasite by Mira Grant (a. k. a. Seanan McGuire). I had a hard time feeling engaged by McGuire’s writing style in Every Heart a Doorway, so I wanted to try a different book by her. While I liked Parasite better, I think I’m too disenchanted at this point to continue the series.
Synopsis from the Hachette Book Group website:
A decade in the future, humanity thrives in the absence of sickness and disease.
We owe our good health to a humble parasite — a genetically engineered tapeworm developed by the pioneering SymboGen Corporation. When implanted, the Intestinal Bodyguard worm protects us from illness, boosts our immune system — even secretes designer drugs. It’s been successful beyond the scientists’ wildest dreams. Now, years on, almost every human being has a SymboGen tapeworm living within them.
But these parasites are getting restless. They want their own lives . . . and will do anything to get them.
What worked well:
Who should read Parasite:
I wanted to support the film version of A Wrinkle in Time but felt guilty about not reading the book before the movie released. I watched A Wrinkle in Time in theaters anyway and decided to read the book later on. I ended up downloading the audiobook from my local library. Madeleine L’Engle is an inspiring writer and I’m glad I had the chance to listen to some of her work.
Synopsis from the Penguin Random House website:
Madeleine L’Engle’s ground-breaking science fiction and fantasy classic, soon to be a major motion picture. This movie tie-in audiobook includes an introduction read by director Ava DuVernay, a foreword read by the author, and an afterword read by Madeleine L’Engle’s granddaughter Charlotte Jones Voiklis.
Meg Murray, her little brother Charles Wallace, and their mother are having a midnight snack on a dark and stormy night when an unearthly stranger appears at their door. He claims to have been blown off course, and goes on to tell them that there is such a thing as a “tesseract,” which, if you didn’t know, is a wrinkle in time. Meg’s father had been experimenting with time-travel when he suddenly disappeared. Will Meg, Charles Wallace, and their friend Calvin outwit the forces of evil as they search through space for their father?
In 1962, Madeleine L’Engle debuted her novel A Wrinkle in Time, which would go on to win the 1963 Newbery Medal. Bridging science and fantasy, darkness and light, fear and friendship, the story became a classic of children’s literature and is beloved around the world. Now Disney is taking it to the silver screen! Directed by Ava DuVernay and with an all-star cast that includes Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, Chris Pine, and newcomer Storm Reid, the major motion picture brings the world of Wrinkle to life for a new generation of fans.
What worked well:
Who should read A Wrinkle in Time:
When I read that Melanie Finn had a new book coming out, I knew I had to buy it. In the past, when I worked at Tethered by Letters, I read The Gloaming for a review. Back then, I wasn’t familiar with her work. Now I know how much of a genius she is. It was inevitable that I would preorder The Underneath from Two Dollar Radio.
Synopsis from the Two Dollar Radio website:
With the assurance and grace of her acclaimed novel The Gloaming—which earned her comparisons to Patricia Highsmith—Melanie Finn returns with a precisely layered and tense new literary thriller.
The Underneath follows Kay Ward, a former journalist struggling with the constraints of motherhood. Along with her husband and two children, she rents a quaint Vermont farmhouse for the summer. The idea is to disconnect from their work-based lifestyle—that had her doggedly pursuing a genocidal leader of child soldiers known as General Christmas, even through Kay’s pregnancy and the birth of their second child—in an effort to repair their shaky marriage.It isn’t long before Kay’s husband is called away and she discovers a mysterious crawlspace in the rental with unsettling writing etched into the wall. Alongside some of the house’s other curiosities and local sleuthing, Kay is led to believe that something terrible may have happened to the home’s owners.
Kay’s investigation leads her to a local logger, Ben Comeau, a man beset with his own complicated and violent past. A product of the foster system and life-long resident of the Northeast Kingdom, Ben struggles to overcome his situation, and to help an abused child whose addict mother is too incapacitated to care about the boy’s plight.
The Underneath is an intelligent and considerate exploration of violence—both personal and social—and whether violence may ever be justified.
What worked well:
Who should read The Underneath:
*BONUS TITLES!
From Likely Red Press:
From the Ghost City Press Summer Micro-Chapbook Series:
*I have strong affiliations to these particular titles and their publishers.
Here is the list of everything short I read this past month. Please remember: this list is not necessarily meant to act as a review, a show of favor, or a “best of” list. Feel free to share your own findings in the comments!
“Ghost Story” by Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint (Split Lip Magazine)
“At the Plant Shoppe in OKC I Learn That I Need to Nurture a Plant” by Kimberly Priest (Storm Cellar)
“Mario Reconsiders His Profession in Plumbing” by Dustin M. Hoffman (Booth)
“Other Metamorphoses” by Fabio Fernand {Lightspeed [from People of Colo(u)r Destroy Flash Fiction!]}
“The Logicians” by James Warner (Ninth Letter)
“Sapphires” by Melissa Goodrich (The Forge Literary Magazine)
“The Dependants” by Michael Noll (The New Territory)
“A Change in Latitude” by Brianne Kohl [Wigleaf (winner of The Mythic Picnic Prize)]
“The Gift” by Rose Andersen [Gone Lawn (from Wigleaf Top 50)]
“Extinction of Female Blue Morphos from the Love Archive of a Museologist” by Karen An-hwei Lee (Minola Review)
“Columbus, Ohio” by Joseph Grantham (Fanzine)
“Glass House” by Elise Blackwell (Necessary Fiction)
“The Liar” by Brandon Giella (Fathom)
I’ve read 17 books so far this year. For the month of April, I focused primarily on reading library books. Bellevue Public Library started the 2018 Adult Library Program and I wanted to participate. It’s been fun trying out different books and authors.
The following reviews will cover what worked well in the books. If you wish to discuss what didn’t work in the books—or better yet, your own reading goals for the year—I’d encourage you to comment on this post.
Without further ado, here are the mini-reviews for this month. (Mild spoilers may follow.)
Before I began reading library books in earnest for the month of April, I decided it was time to read another Two Dollar Radio book. Palaces by Simon Jacobs caught my eye right away with that startling black, white, and red cover. After reading the synopsis, I decided to give the novel a try.
Synopsis from the Two Dollar Radio website:
Who should read Palaces:
The title of Julia Leigh‘s novella, Disquiet, intrigued me when I examined it on the shelves at Bellevue Public Library. I wanted to know why the characters were disquieted, what would cause that. I cracked open the book and began reading to find out.
Synopsis from the Penguin Random House website:
Olivia arrives at her mother’s chateau in rural France (the first time in more than a decade) with her two young children in tow. Soon the family is joined by Olivia’s brother Marcus and his wife Sophie, but this reunion is far from joyful. After years of desperately wanting a baby, Sophie has just given birth to a stillborn child, and she is struggling to overcome her devastation. Meanwhile, Olivia wrestles with her own secrets about the cruel and violent man she married many years before. Exquisitely written and reminiscent of Ian McEwan and J. M. Coetzee, Disquiet is a darkly beautiful and atmospheric story that will linger in the mind long after the final page is turned.
What worked well:
Who should read Disquiet:
I expected to like Can’t and Won’t by Lydia Davis but ended up not liking it. Even so, I’m glad I had a chance to read Lydia Davis’s work and would be open to reading more of her work at some point.
Synopsis from the Macmillan website:
Her stories may be literal one-liners: the entirety of “Bloomington” reads, “Now that I have been here for a little while, I can say with confidence that I have never been here before.” Or they may be lengthier investigations of the havoc wreaked by the most mundane disruptions to routine: in “A Small Story About a Small Box of Chocolates,” a professor receives a gift of thirty-two small chocolates and is paralyzed by the multitude of options she imagines for their consumption. The stories may appear in the form of letters of complaint; they may be extracted from Flaubert’s correspondence; or they may be inspired by the author’s own dreams, or the dreams of friends.
What does not vary throughout Can’t and Won’t, Lydia Davis’s fifth collection of stories, is the power of her finely honed prose. Davis is sharply observant; she is wry or witty or poignant. Above all, she is refreshing. Davis writes with bracing candor and sly humor about the quotidian, revealing the mysterious, the foreign, the alienating, and the pleasurable within the predictable patterns of daily life.
What worked well:
Who should read Can’t and Won’t:
After listening to Han Kang‘s Human Acts on audiobook, I knew that reading more of her work would be both a joy and an extreme challenge for me. The Vegetarian was exactly that—a joy and a challenge—and, like Human Acts, I think it is an extremely important book.
Synopsis from the Penguin Random House website:
What worked well:
Who should read The Vegetarian:
Due to starting a new job, I wasn’t able to read as much as usual. I managed to get a few stories in despite being so busy. Here is the list of everything short I read this past month. Please remember: this list is not necessarily meant to act as a review, a show of favor, or a “best of” list. Feel free to share your own findings in the comments!
“Fathers” by Amanda DeNatale (Toasted Cheese)
[Note: Amanda is a good friend of mine. She also graduated from the Creighton MFA program.]
“Rainbow, Fungus, Rainbow” by Liam Johnson (The Molotov Cocktail)
“The Clearing” by Alexi Zentner (Orion Magazine)
“To Live and Die in E.V.” by Oscar Mancinas (Storm Cellar)
“No One Worships What They Find Under Their Fingernails” by Kathryn McMahon (Booth)
“Better than Healed” by Michael Harris Cohen (Apparition Literary Magazine)
I’ve read 13 books so far toward my goal of 52 books for this year. I’m mostly excited to share my thoughts about what I’ve read this month. I write “mostly” because I was surprised how strongly I disliked one of Neil Gaiman’s books. As a huge fan of Gaiman’s Neverwhere, Coraline, and Fragile Things—and an appreciator of The Graveyard Book—I was shocked to realize American Gods would rank among my least favorite books of all time.
Nevertheless, the following reviews will cover what worked well in the books. If you wish to discuss what didn’t work in the books—or better yet, your own reading goals for the year—I’d encourage you to comment on this post.
Without further ado, here are the mini-reviews for this month. (Mild spoilers may follow.)
After seeing Shasta Grant‘s name appear in some of my favorite literary journals and magazines, I became really curious about her work. Perusing the Split Lip Press store, I noticed Grant’s collection of stories, Gather Us Up and Bring Us Home, was runner-up for the 2016 Turnbuckle Chapbook Contest. I decided to purchase the chapbook and I’m glad reading it gave me the chance to become even more acquainted with Grant’s work.
Summary from the Split Lip Press website:
Who should read Gather Us Up and Bring Us Home:
The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Flash Fiction is my go-to guide for flash fiction writing. This isn’t the first time I’ve read it and it won’t be the last. For a writing craft book, it’s by far one of my favorites, and I have much respect for the editing knowledge of Tara L. Masih.
Summary from the Rose Metal Press website:
FEATURING ESSAYS FROM:
Steve Almond • Rusty Barnes • Randall Brown • Mark Budman • Stace Budzko • Robert Olen Butler • Ron Carlson • Pamelyn Casto • Kim Chinquee • Stuart Dybek • Pia Z. Ehrhardt • Sherrie Flick • Vanessa Gebbie • Tom Hazuka • Nathan Leslie • Michael Martone • Julio Ortega • Pamela Painter • Jayne Anne Phillips • Jennifer Pieroni • Shouhua Qi • Bruce Holland Rogers • Robert Shapard • Deb Olin Unferth • Lex WillifordWith its unprecedented gathering of 25 brief essays by experts in the field, The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Fiction meets the growing need for a concise yet creative exploration of the re-emerging genre popularly known as flash fiction. The book’s introduction provides, for the first time, a comprehensive history of the short short story, from its early roots and hitherto unknown early publications and appearances, to its current state and practice. This guide is a must for anyone in the field of short fiction who teaches, writes, and is interested in its genesis and practice.
What worked well:
Who should read The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Flash Fiction:
Here’s a weird secret: I love self-help books. Whether they work to actually change habits or not, I find them immensely valuable for the potential change they can lead to. When I was growing up, my dad read a lot of business self-help and professional development books. He’s one of the hardest working people I know and I’m always aspiring to be more like him regarding my professional relationships. When I saw Treating People Well: The Extraordinary Power of Civility at Work and in Life surface on my OverDrive app, I knew I had to read it. I was also intrigued to read a book co-written by Lea Berman and Jeremy Bernard. Despite vastly different political views and different experiences within the white house, they chose to work together and create a business self-help book. The choice to put politics on the backburner and focus on each other’s humanity is an important gesture for all citizens of the United States to consider.
Summary from the Simon & Schuster website:
A guide to personal and professional empowerment through civility and social skills, written by two White House Social Secretaries who offer an important fundamental message—everyone is important and everyone deserves to be treated well.
Former White House social secretaries Lea Berman, who worked for George and Laura Bush, and Jeremy Bernard, who worked for Michelle and Barack Obama, have written an entertaining and uniquely practical guide to personal and professional success in modern life. Their daily experiences at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue taught them valuable lessons about how to work productively with people from different walks of life and points of view. These Washington insiders share what they’ve learned through first person examples of their own glamorous (and sometimes harrowing) moments with celebrities, foreign leaders and that most unpredictable of animals—the American politician.
This book is for you if you feel unsure of yourself in social settings, if you’d like to get along more easily with others, or if you want to break through to a new level of cooperation with your boss and coworkers. They give specific advice for how to exude confidence even when you don’t feel it, ways to establish your reputation as an individual whom people like, trust, and want to help, and lay out the specific social skills still essential to success – despite our increasingly digitized world. Jeremy and Lea prove that social skills are learned behavior that anyone can acquire, and tell the stories of their own unlikely paths to becoming the social arbiters of the White House, while providing tantalizing insights into the character of the first ladies and presidents they served.
This is not a book about old school etiquette; they explain the things we all want to know, like how to walk into a roomful of strangers and make friends, what to do about a difficult colleague who makes you dread coming to work each day, and how to navigate the sometimes-treacherous waters of social media in a special chapter on “Virtual Manners.” For lovers of White House history, this is a treasure of never-before-published anecdotes from the authors and their fellow former social secretaries as they describe pearl-clutching moments with presidents and first ladies dating back to the Johnson administration.
The authors make a case for the importance of a return to treating people well in American political life, maintaining that democracy cannot be sustained without public civility.
Foreword by Laura Bush
What worked well:
Who should read Treating People Well: The Extraordinary Power of Civility at Work and in Life:
This book is downright awesome. Sue Burke has pulled off a major feat with Semiosis. This ambitious novel offers risks that I crave in science ficiton writing. She really went for it and the result is something challenging and beautiful. This is the type of ingenuity I want publishers to invest in more often.
Summary from the Macmillan website:
Colonists from Earth wanted the perfect home, but they’ll have to survive on the one they found. They don’t realize another life form watches…and waits…
Only mutual communication can forge an alliance with the planet’s sentient species and prove that humans are more than tools.
What worked well:
Who should read Semiosis:
While I was surprised how much I disliked American Gods, there are definitely things that Neil Gaiman did well in the writing. If this novel doesn’t suit your fancy, I’d recommend trying some of his other books.
Summary from the Macmillan website:
It has been a decade since #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman (Sandman, Anansi Boys, The Graveyard Book) rocked the literary world with American Gods—his breathtaking tale of the war on Earth between old gods and new. For those who have yet to experience Gaiman’s bestselling tour de force—a novel USA Today called “a powerful, searing force that makes readers confront what is real and what is not”—and for those eager to enter this astonishing world again, comes the Author’s Preferred Text 10th Anniversary Edition. Winner of the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, and Bram Stoker Awards, with a special introduction by the author, this is American Gods as Neil Gaiman always meant it to be.
What worked well:
Who should read American Gods:
Here is the list of everything short I read this past month. Please remember: this list is not necessarily meant to act as a review, a show of favor, or a “best of” list. Feel free to share your own findings in the comments!
“The Town of Milkcarton Kids” by Ali Rachel Pearl (Redivider)
“No Girls Allowed” by Anna Valente (Fairy Tale Review)
“Raw Materials” by c.a. schaefer (Superstition Review)
“Forty-Five Feet” by Joshua Jones (Split Lip Magazine)
“Girl in Dog House” by Carol Guess and Aimee Parkison (New Delta Review)
“Red City” by Ashley Kunsa (Sycamore Review)
“Rattle and Spin” by Jeanette Sheppard (Bare Fiction)
“Investigations on the Theft of Heaven” by Abhishek Sengupta (Outlook Springs)
“TOMWABFAM” by Matt Tompkins (Puerto del Sol)
“The Ones Who Chose the Rain” by George Edwards Murray (Daily Science Fiction)
“Everything Red” by Emily Lackey (Monkeybicycle)
[Note: I met Emily at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts during her residency there.]
“Alien Love” by Jennifer Lynn Christie (Atticus Review)
[Note: I read this on the 2017 Best of the Net website.]
“Rut” by Maria McLeod (The Journal)
“Swayze” by Natalia Hero (The /tƐmz/ Review)
“What Strangers Do” by Christopher Allen ([PANK])
“A Priest of Vast and Distant Places” by Cassandra Khaw (Apex Magazine)
Here is the list of everything short I read this past month. I’m going to cheat this time and include some nonfiction and poetry with the flash fiction and short stories. Please remember: this list is not necessarily meant to act as a review, a show of favor, or a “best of” list.
Feel free to share your own findings in the comments!
“Paper Shackles” by Sean Enfield (Lunch Ticket)
[Note: I worked with Sean—namely, performed some minor edits—on his piece “Colorblind Passengers,” which was printed in F(r)Online.]
“Prom Night” by Jayne Martin (Crack the Spine)
“Life Without Anesthesia” by Kristen M. Ploetz (Crack the Spine)
“Death and Dying in America” by Bailey Bridgewater (Crack the Spine)
“Forever Jung” by Leah Mueller (Crack the Spine)
“The Diamond Girl” by Courtney Bird (Fairy Tale Review)
“The Clowns” by Rodney Gomez (Fairy Tale Review)
“Ashes” by Aimee Pokwatka (Fairy Tale Review)
“Delicate” by Jasmine Sawers (Fairy Tale Review)
“Interrogation” by Michael Chin (Prime Number Magazine)
“Devil’s Hopyard” by Donald Hubbard (The Harpoon Review)
“The World for a Heart” by Kenneth Otani (The Harpoon Review)
“Trajectories” by Alex Miller (The Harpoon Review)
“Otherwise Panic” by Mary Kuryla (Shenandoah)
“Resort” by Mary Miller (Wigleaf)
“Now That the Circus Has Shut Down, the Human Cannonball Looks for Work” by Meghan Phillips (Wigleaf)
“Parliament of Owls” by Jeff Ewing (Smokelong Quarterly)
“Princess Shipwreck” by Tessa Yang (Smokelong Quarterly)
“Ueno Zoo” by E. J. Koh (Smokelong Quarterly)
“חלב חם” by Lea Klibanoff (Smokelong Quarterly)
“New Yorker Story About Michigan” by Carolyn Nims (Smokelong Quarterly)
“The Jumper” by Geoff Kronik (Smokelong Quarterly)
“The Cartographers” by Joshua Jones (Smokelong Quarterly)
“The Noises from the Neighbors Upstairs: A Nightly Log” by Amber Sparks (Smokelong Quarterly)
All the shortlisted flash fictions for the VERA (Vestal Review)
[Note: James R. Gapinski’s story, “Tuxedos and Evening Gowns,” appeared in F(r)iction #6]
“Moorish Architecture” by Erinrose Mager (The Adroit Journal)
“Check My ID” by Krys Malcolm Belc (The Adroit Journal)
“The Cry of the Butterfly” by Matthew Baker (The Adroit Journal)
“Chinaman, Run” by Kathryn Hargett (The Adroit Journal)
“Harvest” by Stephen Case (Bracken)
“poltergeist ii” by Candice Wuehle (Sonora Review)
“We Are Trying to Understand You” by Joy Baglio (TriQuarterly)
[Note: I’m pretty sure I missed a few.]
With eight books now read, I am closer to my goal of reading 52 books this year. For the short month of February, I decided to check out the collected novellas of Ursula K. Le Guin and revisit some of the books I read in college.
The following reviews will cover what worked well in the books. If you wish to discuss what didn’t work in the books—or better yet, your own reading goals for the year—I’d encourage you to comment on this post.
Without further ado, here are the mini-reviews for this month. (Mild spoilers may follow.)
With Ursula K. Le Guin‘s passing, I felt the need to read her collected novellas as an act of mourning. She was such a talented writer and the breadth of her work could not be contained by any one genre.
Summary from the Simon & Schuster website:
Ursula K. Le Guin has won multiple prizes and accolades from the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters to the Newbery Honor, the Nebula, Hugo, World Fantasy, and PEN/Malamud Awards. She has had her work collected over the years, but never as a complete retrospective of her longer works as represented in the wonderful The Found and the Lost.
Includes:
-Vaster Than Empires and More Slow
-Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come Out Tonight
-Hernes
-The Matter of Seggri
-Another Story or a Fisherman of the Inland Sea
-Forgiveness Day
-A Man of the People
-A Woman’s Liberation
-Old Music and the Slave Women
-The Finder
-On the High Marsh
-Dragonfly
-Paradises LostThis collection is a literary treasure chest that belongs in every home library.
Who should read The Found and the Lost:
I read Our Sister Killjoy in college and remembered nothing about it. I decided to give Ama Ata Aidoo‘s work another try and, while not my favorite book, I am glad I reread it.
Summary from the Pearson website:
A profound version of the theme of self discovery, this novel explores the thoughts and experiences of a Ghanaian girl on her travels in Europe.
What worked well:
Who should read Our Sister Killjoy:
Your Name Shall Be Tanga by Calixthe Beyala is another novel I read in college. This one was difficult to read again, as it deals with extremely heavy subject matter not for the faint of heart.
Summary from the Barnes & Noble website:
This is the story of two female prisoners who become spiritually linked. One is labelled mad the other a counterfeiter. One is of French-Jewish origin, the other African. Their solidarity intensifies as prison life deteriorates. Calixthe Beyala underlines the solidarity that unites women across racial, religious, class and national lines in this novel about a young woman dying in a West African prison cell.
What worked well:
Who should read Your Name Shall Be Tanga:
Passing is another book I read in college and it’s one of my favorites of all time. I’m convinced Nella Larsen was one of the best writers of the Harlem Renaissance.
Summary from the Penguin Random House website:
Nella Larsen’s powerful, thrilling, and tragic tale about the fluidity of racial identity that continues to resonate today. A New York Times Editors’ Choice
Clare Kendry is living on the edge. Light-skinned, elegant, and ambitious, she is married to a racist white man unaware of her African American heritage, and has severed all ties to her past after deciding to “pass” as a white woman. Clare’s childhood friend, Irene Redfield, just as light-skinned, has chosen to remain within the African American community, and is simultaneously allured and repelled by Clare’s risky decision to engage in racial masquerade for personal and societal gain. After frequenting African American-centric gatherings together in Harlem, Clare’s interest in Irene turns into a homoerotic longing for Irene’s black identity that she abandoned and can never embrace again, and she is forced to grapple with her decision to pass for white in a way that is both tragic and telling. This edition features a new introduction by Emily Bernard and notes by Thadious M. Davis.
What worked well:
Who should read Passing:
Hey, everyone! How is your New Year going? Are those resolutions a habit yet or are they falling by the wayside? What goals have you made for your writing or reading this year?
One of my less rigid goals for 2018 was to read more flash fiction and short stories. I figure it’s cooler to read and share, so these monthly posts will cover all of the individual pieces that I’ve read in a 28+ day period. This list is not necessarily meant to act as a review, a show of favor, or a “best of” list—so please keep that in mind when I’m sharing these stories. Hopefully, my resolution to do this will become a habit and not fall by the wayside. 🙂
Feel free to share your own findings in the comments!
“Something Elemental” by Alyssa Jordan (CHEAP POP)
[Note: Alyssa works for Tethered by Letters, where I volunteer.]
“Wind Warning” by Traci Skuce (Varnish Journal)
[Note: Traci’s work is in Issue #2 along with my flash fiction story!]
“In the Corner Under Baby Jesus on the Cross” by Dawn Wilson (Paper Darts)
[Note: Dawn leads Inklings, which is a new writing group I attend.]
“Aphorisms of Someone More Famous Than You” by Frankie Bielfeld (Laurel Magazine)
&
“The King’s Last Meal” by Philip Charter (Laurel Magazine)
[Note: both flash fiction stories appear before my flash fiction story in this issue!]
“Nature.” by Cheryl Pappas (SmokeLong Quarterly)
“There Are Songs That Only Echo in the Belly of the Sea” by Rebecca Saltzman (SmokeLong Quarterly)
“Mechanical Martyr” by Rachel Levy (Atticus Review)
“Midwestern Girl Is Tired of Appearing in Your Short Stories” by Gwen E. Kirby (Guernica)
“The Beast” by Megan Cummins (CRAFT)
“Pigeon Forge” by Jenny Xie (The Offing)
“The Changeling” by Matt Jones (Ruminate)
“In the Lakewater” by Monica Wang (The /tƐmz/ Review)
“The Little Transient” by Lorri McDole (Prime Number Magazine)
“Homecoming” by Noël Rozny (Prime Number Magazine)
“Nebraska” by Nathan Knapp (The Collagist)
“Sleeping Beauty is Not Well” by Cezarija Abartis (Bennington Review)
“Fantasy World Has Fallen Into Disrepair” by Alexandra Tanner (Nashville Review)
“On Top of the World” by Len Kuntz (Wigleaf)
“Clemency” by Cady Vishniac (The Lascaux Review)
Excerpts: Half of What I Say by Anil Menon (Mithila Review)
For 2018, I hope to read at least 52 books by the end of the year. This may seem like a low goal, so it may also come as a surprise to you that I’m a slow reader, considering how much I read. However, my undergraduate and graduate courses have helped me nail the novel-per-week schedule in the past, so I think 52 books is doable for me.
At the end of the month, as a response to each book, I plan to write mini-reviews. The reviews will consist of mainly what worked and links to the book. If you wish to discuss what didn’t work in the novel—or better yet, your own reading goals for the year—I’d encourage you to comment on this post.
Without further ado, here are the mini-reviews for this month. (Mild spoilers may follow.)
How could a dystopian junkie pass up The Salt Line? I couldn’t of course. Holly Goddard Jones had me at deadly ticks and outdoor excursions.
Summary from the Penguin Random House website:
Who should read The Salt Line:
Seeing the title Idaho on a book jacket while walking around my local Barnes & Noble piqued my interest immediately. I know little about the state and jumped at the chance to see it portrayed in fiction. Emily Ruskovich doesn’t disappoint with this interesting novel.
Summary from the Penguin Random House website:
A stunning debut novel about love and forgiveness, about the violence of memory and the equal violence of its loss—from O. Henry Prize–winning author Emily Ruskovich
Ann and Wade have carved out a life for themselves from a rugged landscape in northern Idaho, where they are bound together by more than love. With her husband’s memory fading, Ann attempts to piece together the truth of what happened to Wade’s first wife, Jenny, and to their daughters. In a story written in exquisite prose and told from multiple perspectives—including Ann, Wade, and Jenny, now in prison—we gradually learn of the mysterious and shocking act that fractured Wade and Jenny’s lives, of the love and compassion that brought Ann and Wade together, and of the memories that reverberate through the lives of every character in Idaho.
In a wild emotional and physical landscape, Wade’s past becomes the center of Ann’s imagination, as Ann becomes determined to understand the family she never knew—and to take responsibility for them, reassembling their lives, and her own.
What worked well:
Who should read Idaho:
I’m always looking to read another Two Dollar Radio book after first falling in love with The Gloaming by Melanie Finn. I bought Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib‘s collection of essays, They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, from the small press. Abdurraqib is a genius writer from my home state of Ohio and his essay collection is arguably one of the most important essay collections ever written—especially when considering the political climate of recent years.
Summary from the Two Dollar Radio website:
In an age of confusion, fear, and loss, Hanif Abdurraqib’s is a voice that matters. Whether he’s attending a Bruce Springsteen concert the day after visiting Michael Brown’s grave, or discussing public displays of affection at a Carly Rae Jepsen show, he writes with a poignancy and magnetism that resonates profoundly.
In the wake of the nightclub attacks in Paris, he recalls how he sought refuge as a teenager in music, at shows, and wonders whether the next generation of young Muslims will not be afforded that opportunity now. While discussing the everyday threat to the lives of black Americans, Abdurraqib recounts the first time he was ordered to the ground by police officers: for attempting to enter his own car.
In essays that have been published by the New York Times, MTV, and Pitchfork, among others—along with original, previously unreleased essays—Abdurraqib uses music and culture as a lens through which to view our world, so that we might better understand ourselves, and in so doing proves himself a bellwether for our times.
What worked well:
Who should read They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us:
Much of my own published writing is flash fiction, so it only makes sense for me to read and learn from some of the best writers in the field. I practically vibrated with excitement when I cracked open The Best Small Fictions 2017 and began to read. This series underwent major changes this past year and it’s great to know that editor Tara L. Masih and team fought so hard to make sure it continued.
Summary from the Braddock Avenue Books website:
The Best Small Fictions is the first contemporary anthology solely devoted to honoring the best short hybrid fiction published in a calendar year. The series began in 2015, featuring seasoned and emerging writers. Flash, micro fiction, prose poetry, and haibun stories are just some examples of the hybrid forms honored. Tara L. Masih founded the annual series and serves as series editor; guest editors include Pulitzer Prize–winning author Robert Olen Butler (2015), PEN/Malamud Award winner and O. Henry Prize winner Stuart Dybek (2016), and Rea Award and PEN/Malamud Award winner Amy Hempel (2017).
What worked well:
Who should read The Best Small Fictions 2017:
“Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.”
– Barbara Kingsolver
All readers come to fiction as willing accomplices to your lies. Such is the basic goodwill contract made the moment we pick up a work of fiction.
—Steve Almond
LeeAnn Adams
Meredith Spears, an MFA candidate at Creighton University, was kind enough to take some time to talk to us about writing, the publication process, and her new romantic suspense novel, The Mood for Trouble.
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LeeAnn Adams
The 2016 Blue River Editors’ prize for creative nonfiction went to Chloe Livaudais’ essay “Lazy Eye.” In her essay, our editors found a mixture of powerful storytelling and craft. Livaudais takes us into memory and, at the same time, weaves a sense of the present in an imperative second person voice. Chloe Livaudais kindly took some time to answer some questions for us.
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What a rough year 2016 was—the countless deaths of our favoriteauthors, actors, and musicians; wars at home and abroad; Brexit; not to mention our own mind-boggling political election. We still have books, though, and thank goodness for that. I read all over the literary map for work, school, and pleasure, and have come up with ten novels, broken into three categories, that sustained me this year:
2. The Gloaming
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Another month gone by, another leap into the wealth of excellent speculative short fiction available online. There are so many wonderful websites and zines that publish short fiction these days: support the ones you like. Subscribe, use Patreon, buy single issues… it makes a difference to the sites and zines, and it makes a difference for the writers, too.
Here we go: 11 wondrous speculative fiction stories I read this past month.
Man of the House, by Pamela Ferguson in Daily Science Fiction. “Our man is not producing any energy. There is no electricity to power the house. Nothing works.” This is a fabulous short-short story that is so deceptively simple in its construction, and so completely brilliant. If you want to read a story that demonstrates how you can completely twist a story sideways with one sentence (I actually gasped), then this story is for you.
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The Blue River staff are a supportive group. I’m blessed to work with them.
Blue River staff
Creighton grad students and the Blue River team alike are having plenty of success this summer, and the good news continues this month with two publications from staff members at the journal!
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A Vase of Wildflowers 