good stories and essays

Marshall Moore The Infernal Republic Signal 8 Press

2012-02-03T03:07:00.001-08:00

Marshall Moore, author of the novel The Concrete Sky (2003), Black Shapes in a Darkened Room (2003, 2009), An Ideal for Living (2010), recently released a new collection, The Infernal Republic.

The Infernal Republic is an electric, eclectic collection of stories with topics ranging from Portland suicides to hell-dwelling demons.

In "Urban Reef," the opening story, a suicide bonds two lonely acquaintances in Portland, while "Everything Has Been Arranged" delivers a surreal, somber house-moving that hints at the diverse range of styles and subjects in the collection.

The surreal continues in other stories, such as "Marble Forest," about insomnia, family curses, and art-- "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living" describes a psychic connection a psychologist shares with a shark.

Other wonderful experiences, such as embodying architecture in "215" and witnessing graduating levels of punishment in "Flesh, Blood, and Some of the Parts," give way to stories of relationships, such as in "Town of Thorns," about a gay man who, after being bashed, alters in troubling ways, and in "Toast, Belladonna, and the Heat Death of the Universe," in which a wonderful exchange of dialogue leads to attempted gunfire in a crowded restaurant.

These and so many other stories showcase Moore's craft.

Check it out: The Infernal Republic.

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正义

www.justinnicholes.com

Sandra Allen "Plow" Hayden's Ferry Review

2012-01-23T22:53:00.001-08:00

Appearing in Hayden's Ferry Review, Sandra Allen's essay "Plow" details with captivating clarity and insight a series of memories and thoughts that occur to the narrator, and patterns the narrator beholds, while listening to the radio, and while reflecting on one of her old teachers, Cecily, who calls to say she's ending her marriage.

Throughout the essay, as the writer reflects on a friend's long-planned suicide, wonderful explorations of narratives occur, as well as the people in the world who seem to live lives worthy of stories.

"I read once about how much, as a species, we rely on patterns. The world is full of too much and without patterns we wouldn't see, say, a leopard face in the fauna, or a bullet, or an oncoming train. People who see more patterns than others we might call spiritual, or schizophrenic, or writers."

The final lines of the essay, in which the writer turns inward and explores, are among some of the best I've read.

Read this essay.

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正义

www.justinnicholes.com

Sascha Feinstein "Children of Paradise"

2012-01-21T20:25:00.001-08:00

Appearing in Hunger Mountain, Sascha Feinstein's work of creative nonfiction "Children of Paradise" details a childhood viewing of the Marcel Carné-directed movie Children of Paradise. Boredom soon overcomes the writer, and the movie seems intolerable: "I don't know how old one needs to be to embrace metaphor and theme over linear plot, but I couldn't do that at eight, nor did I find ancient footage of amorous desire the least bit enticing."

With honed prose and masterful pacing, the essay made me laugh out loud, as well as nod my head in empathy, as Feinstein goes on to describe other movies viewed at the drive-in and exchanges during the movie with his parents.

A gut-splitting summary of a final movie experience punctuates this wonderful essay.

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正义

www.justinnicholes.com

Ian Bassingthwaighte "The Cardboard Dress" TriQuarterly

2012-01-13T20:32:00.001-08:00

Ian Bassingthwaighte's story "The Cardboard Dress" appears in TriQuarterly and presents the first-person point of view of Charlie, who goes with his wife Adelle to dinner with another couple, Marcus and Dary.

Charlie hates Marcus, and though at first he tells us he might be imagining the way Marcus gawks lustfully at Charlie's wife, later Marcus brings up wanting to swap lovers, and Charlie wants murder.

Instead, however, the story progresses with dreamlike momentum until, as Charlie says, "slowly we ruin each other."

Piercing, fervent prose. Check it out at TriQuarterly.

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正义

Ash Dogs, a novel

www.justinnicholes.com

Michael Schulze "Cover Letter for The Cabin" ~ Xenith

2011-12-29T19:16:00.001-08:00

Michael Schulze's story "Cover Letter for The Cabin" appears in Xenith and presents the worst possible cover letter an author could ever append to his novel submission.

The cover letter tells a strange--in a good way--absurd tale in which the narrative tone of voice feels real and honest enough to allow readers to slip into the fictive dream. Quirky, funny paragraphs abound, such as one that concerns rewriting in which the author tells the editors that there are exactly one hundred words.

At times, it's possible to get lost in passages concerning the current action, only to be reminded that, in fact, this is a cover letter for an obviously awful novel.

I've never read anything like it; check it out.

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正义

Ash Dogs, a novel

www.justinnicholes.com

Peter D. Kramer "Permutations" ~ The Summerset Review

2011-12-11T21:30:00.001-08:00

Peter D. Kramer's story "Permutations" appears in The Summerset Review and gives of the story of a mentally ill guy who's trying to get better. He visits Vassar to dwell on a life he might've had before dropping out, and to find a date.

Both the narrator (who introduces himself as Alex) and his girlfriend, Libby, have mental issues--chiefly depression, it seems, and OCD. Alex goes with Amanda, a woman he met at Vassar, for brunch, where he applies his shrink's advice for successful social interaction. Here, he articulates insight about his illness: "My trouble started there, in my insistence that the best fiction comes from stolen vignettes." Also obsession-laden descriptions of he and Amanda having sex masterfully convey character.

The story reads as vivid character analysis as well as meaningful social commentary.

Check it out.

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正义

Ash Dogs, a novel

www.justinnicholes.com

Jennifer Haigh "In Other Words" ~ Narrative Magazine

2011-11-25T01:41:00.001-08:00

Jennifer Haigh's story "In Other Words" appeared recently in Narrative and tells the story of Karl and his mistress, Robin, who travel to Sweden--where Robin, an American, begins to grate on Karl.

Backstory efficiently explains how Karl, a Norwegian who imports flowers from Holland, and Robin, who works for an American cable TV company located in Belgium, meet on a pleasantly warm day. The story then returns to current action, concerning Karl and Robin on a bike ride.

The action allows for a precise narrative voice to convey Karl's dilemma. Action and dialogue, as well as efficient explication, create his character.

Just a little over a third into the narrative, something life-changing happens, and through additional backstory and development of Karl's decisions, the story takes readers through a series of vivid, captivating moments.

An enthralling read from an accomplished, very capable storyteller.

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正义

Ash Dogs, a novel

www.justinnicholes.com

Joe Bonomo "Live Nude Essay!" ~ Gulf Coast

2011-10-22T00:17:00.001-07:00

Joe Bonomo's work of nonfiction "Live Nude Essay!" appears in Gulf Coast and contemplates aspects of nudity, and the author's discovery of sex and nakedness, as as way to urge us to value the wonders of the "clothed essay."

"I'm thinking of the clothed essay versus the nude essay. The clothed essay prizes craft and subtlety, evocation and song."

This essay captivates with its form: section breaks juxtapose the clothed beside the nude, with one section hinting at how "nude" an essay the writer could very well write if he were to so choose, and the reader winces, agreeing.

A thought-provoking, socially relevant read.

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正义

Ash Dogs, a novel

www.justinnicholes.com

Andrew D. Cohen "Boys School" ~ Colorado Review

2011-10-16T00:37:00.000-07:00

A work of nonfiction, Andrew D. Cohen's "Boys School" is published in Colorado Review and explores the writer's being moved by his parents into a private school in New York, "one of the oldest, most competitive schools in the country, dating back some three hundred years to a time when its founders had to petition the London-based Society for the Propagation of the Gospel for funding."

At the school, the writer is made aware of his "Jewishness," and a number of thoughtful examples bring the place alive as well as help communicate dimensions of life and of the writer himself.

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正义

Ash Dogs, a novel

www.justinnicholes.com

Caroline Arden "Yolo County" ~ Colorado Review

2011-10-16T00:17:00.001-07:00

"She thought of calling the guests to explain but couldn't bear doing it, and so she turned off the lights, drew the shades, and lay on the couch while guests rang the doorbell, understanding that she was outside society now and might as well grow hard."

Caroline Arden's story "Yolo County" appears in Colorado Review and begins with a horrific event. The tone of voice contributes to the tension and conveyance of Miriam's character--a girl who shows up early to a baby shower and accidentally allows a child to choke.

Afterward, Miriam goes with her boyfriend Orin to Yolo County to watch an artist couple's farmhouse.

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正义

Ash Dogs, a novel

www.justinnicholes.com

Nico Alvarado "A Hunger Artist" ~ Witness

2011-10-08T18:14:00.001-07:00

"Then he came over and opened the jar of bees in my face."

A work of nonfiction, "A Hunger Artist" by Nico Alvarado appears in Witness and starts off with evocative descriptions of a boy. The narrative continues by explaining more about the boy, Rico, and anecdotes further (vividly and thoughtfully) clarify his character. The narrative concludes with a tense confrontation with Rico, who has to bathe, and final images of the bees he has stunned.

This is a very worthwhile, thought-provoking read about the trials of social workers and one afflicted young man.

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正义

Ash Dogs, a novel

www.justinnicholes.com

Noam Chomsky "The Responsibility of Intellectuals, Redux" ~ The Boston Review

2011-09-13T20:28:00.001-07:00

"If the responsibility of intellectuals refers to their moral responsibility as decent human beings in a position to use their privilege and status to advance the cause of freedom, justice, mercy, and peace—and to speak out not simply about the abuses of our enemies, but, far more significantly, about the crimes in which we are implicated and can ameliorate or terminate if we choose—how should we think of 9/11?"

Noam Chomsky, revisiting some themes from his earlier works, explores collective memory and perceived enemies in this intriguing, in-depth essay.

Check it out at Boston Review.

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正义

Ash Dogs, a novel

www.justinnicholes.com

Seth Abramson "Six Myths about the MFA Program in Creative Writing" ~ Huffington Post

2011-09-04T20:42:00.001-07:00

Seth Abramson's article "Six myths about the MFA program in creative writing" is a very valuable, brief article anyone thinking about an MFA should take a look at.

It's also a fine article to help debunk some misconceptions. The attitude out there, sometimes from writers without MFAs, is that people with one are somehow "elite."

Fact is, you don't need an MFA to write and write well, but for people with the time and desire, it's the ideal program to attend.

Anyway, take a look.

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正义

Ash Dogs, a novel

www.justinnicholes.com

Jo Scott-Coe "Domestic Order Suite" ~ turnrow

2011-08-30T20:31:00.001-07:00

"Domestic Order Suite" appears in turnrow and is a work of art.

Part 1 of the story features the story's wonderfully appropriate second person point of view, in which the narrator accosts herself for failing to "come forward" after witnessing a girl being assaulted in a school parking lot.

The story goes on in Part 2 to detail, with moving metaphors, the life of a teacher in a run down school. The tone is again spot on.

Part 3 employs a brilliant method to convey the narrator's ennui and anxious melancholy while also stimulating a number of questions about standardized teaching.

My kind of story; definitely worth the read, and the re-read.

Check this fabulous work out at turnrow.

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正义

Ash Dogs, a novel

www.justinnicholes.com

Heather Fowler "Making Love to the Fruit Shooter" ~ The Summerset Review

2011-07-14T23:51:00.001-07:00

"We went through a bushel of apples some days. Before he nocked the first arrow in his bow, I pulled my hair back and fastened it low on my neck, my part centered clean-split down the middle like the apple would be."

Heather Fowler's sexy, poetic story "Making Love to the Fruit Shooter" appears in The Summerset Review and gives the point of view of a girl whose boyfriend, Claus, shoots fruit off women's heads for a living.

The story moves forward with conflicts concerning Claus's accident (on his TV show, he impales a huge-breasted girl's head with an arrow) and the law firm the narrator works for, as well as the narrator taking up the hobby of watching Claus's show, where she sees his interaction with other fruit-bearing girls.

An excellent read.

Samuel Roberts "Recalling Samuel Battle" ~ The New York Times

2011-06-26T16:44:00.001-07:00

I'm always enthralled by the stories of guys like Samuel Battle, the first African American in the New York Police Department. "Recalling First Black Appointed to New York Police Dept." by Samuel Roberts of The New York Times is an article I'd like to recommend. Even though it's not a work of fiction, the character of Samuel Battle excites the imagination the same way.

It starts this way:

"His parents were among the last generation born into Southern slavery, and his own birth in 1883 was notable for another benchmark: At 16 pounds, he was the biggest baby ever recorded in North Carolina.

" 'I guess I've always wanted to be large, and I have been large,' Samuel Jesse Battle recalled decades later."

Leslie Johnson "Other Lives" ~ Colorado Review

2011-06-23T02:37:00.001-07:00

Leslie Johnson's "Other Lives" appeared in Colorado Review and tells the story of Dean, who gets bored in his adult life and suddenly decides to go the the funeral of his fourth-grade teacher.

As he enters the parlor, Dean thinks back to his boyhood at the elementary school and eventually remembers that, at least, he has had more success than his teacher once predicted:

"You could tell a shifty boy, she used to say, a lazy boy, too, by that weak and wobbly cursive."

As Dean is moving closer to Mrs. Zarembinski's body, he runs into a hot-with-age former Mormon girl and, with her prompting, recalls more of the complexity of the teacher's sometimes cruel methods.

Eventually, as Dean reminds himself that he has to be getting back to Family Pizza Night with his wife and son, his thoughts wax somewhat metaphysical.

A worthy read.

Tim Bascom "Community College" ~ Witness

2011-05-11T17:15:00.001-07:00

Appearing in Witness, Tim Bascom's "Community College" is a brilliant, funny, moving piece of nonfiction. The narrative voice is mostly objective while at times almost exasperated and sarcastic but thoroughly feeling and human throughout. The story unfolds through a sort of role call for class attendance. The narrator tells us who hasn't come from the class, who has come, and meanwhile readers are treated to a very original, gripping read and wonderfully vivid, fleshed out character. Check it out.

Richard Froude "The Girl Who Fell Through the Ice" ~ Witness

2011-05-11T16:58:00.001-07:00

Richard Froude's "The Girl Who Fell Through the Ice" appears in Witness and tells, in passages of vivid moments and experiences, a timeline of its narrator. The structure of the piece is fractured by white space and time but made coherent through connecting imagery and metaphor patterns. It explains the writer's imagination and growth and suicidal thoughts, and ends with an affirmation of storytelling. Highly recommended.

Jeff Walker "Case against the Driver" ~ Witness

2011-04-29T17:48:00.001-07:00

Jeff Walker's piece "Case against the Driver" appears in Witness and conveys remarkably vivid, surreal images as its narrator reflects on his driver, Koko.

"On most of my drives with Koko, there is at least one point where I catch my hand edging toward the door handle, regardless of the speed we are moving, and this little game makes me smile."

Koko transports foreigners, it seems, back and forth from a guarded compound and to the airport, through cities and villages, where disgruntled natives sometimes sling stones and grope through car windows with knives.

A very finely crafted, uniquely moving work of nonfiction.

Nicola Mason "Cancer Party" ~ Blackbird

2011-04-14T20:29:00.001-07:00

Appearing in the recent issue of Blackbird, Nicola Mason's "Cancer Party" launches off with a tone whose effect is both jubilant and melancholy.

Hey! There's a party going on, and everyone's invited. Cliff's got cancer, and it's not your average household malignancy—not your zap-and-run, slap-a-hat-on-it kind. Cliff's cancer is crafty. It's pushy. It's crass. It's a desperate salesman who shoves through the door with a vacuum no one will buy, who gives a demonstration so sloppy you find the attachments weeks later, one at a time, in all those hard-to-reach places. Deep in the stuffing of the sofa in the living room. Clogging the kitchen drain. Rattling through the A/C ducts like the last cashew in the can.

Just as moving as the tone are the many beautifully accurate, dead-on metaphors, such as,

Then come the doctors—bandits who unmask at bedside, their pink chins gleaming. And this is significant, because outlaws only show their faces to the safe bets. The ones who won't get away.

This is a rare story whose tone seems to embolden a reader even as she is invited to embody a guy who slowly learns he's got more than just indigestion. It's a brave tone, a story with an attitude that laughs at death (what else is there to do?) while seeming to enjoin readers to cherish what living there's left to do. It's a communal tone, one that makes a reader feel strength in family and friends and our shared vulnerability.

Check it out at one of our finest literary journals.

Edgar Allan Poe "Annabel Lee" illustrated by J.B. Bonivert ~ Oxford American

2011-03-11T18:09:00.001-08:00

An excerpt from illustrations in a new book entitled Graphic Classics: Edgar Allan Poe are featured online at Oxford American and feature J.B. Bonivert work on E. A. Poe's "Annabel Lee."

The illustrations are evocative and puff a new kind of life over Poe's morose, haunting poem.

Suzanne E. Smith "Where Did Our Love Go? Contemplating the Life and Death of Motown and the Motor City" ~ Michigan Quarterly Review

2011-03-07T16:39:00.001-08:00

Suzanne E. Smith's "Where Did Our Love Go? Contemplating the Life and Death of Motown and the Motor City" appeared recently in Michigan Quarterly Review and gives the writer room to "explain more specifically how [her] study of funeral directors and death grew out of [her] Motown research."

"During the era of Jim Crow segregation, funeral homes were often one of the few public spaces available to African Americans outside of the black church. For this reason, funeral directors regularly offered their homes for social gatherings, community organizing, and even weddings."

Touching on childhood memories, Smith reflects on her interest in how black funeral directors helped link members of black communities, especially Motown musicians, such as Florence Ballard and the Supremes.

Another fascinating discussion centers around the narrative of Detroit's "dying."

"July 24, 1967, of course, marked the ﬁrst full day of rioting in Detroit's 'Great Rebellion,' which lasted over a week and has come to be seen—in popular collective memory, at least— as the ﬁrst major cause of Detroit's 'death' as a thriving industrial city."

The piece concludes with Smith arguing that the death and what seems to have been a distracting funeral of Florence Ballard offer hopeful ideas about how Detroit might "reinvent itself by viewing its own supposed death in new ways." The essay's final anecdote features Charles C. Diggs, who envisioned a new kind of cemetery, which became "the ﬁrst African American corporation in Michigan."

A very engaging, worthwhile read.

Stephen Ansolabehere and James M. Snyder, Jr. "Weak Tea" ~ Boston Review

2011-03-04T06:58:00.001-08:00

"The penchant for endorsing candidates in Republican-leaning areas almost completely explains the Tea Party's success rate."

Stephen Ansolabehere and James M. Snyder, Jr.'s "Weak Tea" appeared recently in Boston Review and discusses whether the Tea Party in fact has provided candidates it has backed an advantage in recent general elections.

"To isolate the Tea Party effect, we compared the performance of Tea Party-endorsed Republicans with non-endorsed Republicans running in similar districts. That effect is a statistically insignificant three-tenths of one percent."

Ansolabehere and Snyder, Jr., go on to consider whether Tea Party backing provided candidates with more money, but also the numbers seem to minimize the TP's clout.

"This is not the picture of a political faction awash in cash funneled from wealthy individuals and corporate interests, as was commonly portrayed in media accounts."

Check out this brief, insightful, and informative article in the Boston Review.

Alexis E Santí "It Only Takes One Mistake" ~ Our Stories

2011-02-26T16:33:00.001-08:00

In our recent Winter 2011 issue (Our Stories), Alexis E. Santí gives advice and insight into the often capricious nature of editors as a whole in "It Only Takes One Mistake."

Though it's true that most editors are just too overwhelmed with (and sometimes underwhelmed by) the sheer amount of submissions that come to any given literary journal inbox, a lot of writers sometimes make mistakes early on, mistakes that often can be cleared up with either spelling checks or careful revision. Usually, it seems a manuscript just needs to be set aside for a while, or maybe a friend needs to take a look at it for a writer, before it ever should reach an editor.

Still, Alexis reinforces the goal at Our Stories, which is to read and give feedback on every single submission we receive.

Check it out.

Richard Spilman The Estate Sale

2011-02-05T21:06:00.001-08:00

I just finished reading Richard Spilman's story collection The Estate Sale. Richard was my thesis advisor at Wichita State when I was in its MFA program from '04 to '07, but I don't think I'm biased in recommending this collection. These stories are as good as they get.

Maybe what will strike readers most is the clarity with which these stories convey character.

Some of the most wonderful moments happen in the stories that explore the hearts of youths. The second story in the collection, "Where the Spiders Sleep," gives a child's point of view in an abusive household. The anguish and confusion are tangible, and details and settings are haunting, as are the recollections of a narrator in "Pieta," also from a difficult home, who in retelling events around her father's murder explains the wonder of her life after her mother, coming into money, leaves the abusive father: "My senses blossomed as if they'd been brought out of the basement into the light, and I had wonderful dreams." Another story, "Bella," also conveys the p.o.v. of a youngster, where the bruises on peaches (the delicious secrets of the imperfect) echo the nature of a store owner, named Bella, as well as the nature of what her kind of store meant to towns in the first place.

Stories about adult frustration and redemption are likewise moving. There's a guy who's just been robbed in San Francisco who's unsettled enough to wreck a party and a relationship in the opening story, "Robbery." Surreal moments of passersby laughing while the first-person narrator's being held up are vivid, as are the scenes depicting other kinds of ways the character's been robbed. There's an artist in "Where He Went Under" who witnesses a man drown just beyond where he was painting--and the story details how that death births his artistic method. "Rain Forest Crunch" is a wonderful story about a young man with a lot of hang ups. I mean, how can you argue with the opening lines? "He is young and has many opinions. Everything sucks..." Yet our central character finds intimacy, and through that reflects, and undergoes change. "Spice" is another story that shows a character's adjusting to a relationship with understanding and love. In a sort of honeymoon trip to New York, paid for by an uncle, a husband realizes he has more in common with the beer-drinking sports fans in a local bar than the more "cultured" people his wife can also befriend. "Unclean Spirits"--wow! The best exorcism in fiction!

The later stories in the collection mostly deal with older or elderly characters. An old woman in "Pie" staves off neighbors with an obsolete rifle make so that cherries on a wind-blown tree (blocking a lane of the road) can ripen. A son holds the hand of his dying mother in the poetic "Speaking in Code." And the story "The Estate Sale" is an extremely moving story about a reverend after suffering strokes, whose belongings are being sold around him, because he needs to live in a retirement home. This work is a vivid and heart-wrenching story about confession, redemption, and bravery in the face of growing old and changing. Language and details recreate the sometimes confused viewpoints of the reverend, and who couldn't cheer for an old guy with enough conviction to stab a jerk's hand with a pen? Go, Reverend! The collection's final story, "Light," is likewise heart-wrenching. We get the perspectives of an assisted living nurse and caretaker who may have developed lupus from the stress of her job, and we get an elderly woman who, though she's losing control in certain ways, entertains vivid images filled with detail, such as the final lines:

A shaft of light lanced through the seam where the curtains met. She made a cup of her hands and filled them with it. Dust motes danced like snow in a Christmas ball. Sunlight, she noticed, was not uniform. It could be hotter here than there, and if you ran your hand through it, it rippled like water. Clouds of insects swarmed above a stubble in a field, and a creek angled around a bow-shaped cutbank with cattle grazing on the far side. The air was rich with the smell of newly cut alfalfa.

Highly recommended, and Richard may be the main reason I recommend any member of our writing community looking for a good MFA program to consider Wichita State's.

William M. Chace "Affirmative Inaction" ~ The American Scholar

2011-01-20T02:42:00.001-08:00

William M. Chace's essay "Affirmative Inaction" appears in the Winter 2011 issue of The American Scholar and touches on the history of affirmative action before entering into a very sobering discussion, which features real cases and judgments found both in favor and against universities, of why this topic ought to concern Americans, especially those of us involved in higher education:

"Anyone interested in higher education should want to contemplate, on behalf of colleges and universities, students and faculty, alumni and paying parents, the fate of affirmative action. How should it now play out on campus after campus? Will it continue until the year 2028? If not, why not? If so, should it then end? If not, for how long should it be sustained?"

Chace's essay brings up a number of thought-provoking issues facing African Americans (especially males), who don't seem to be benefiting as much as one might at first think from affirmative action, and also a number of issues facing affirmative action itself.

"Black men in prison are a function of that poisonous history, and affirmative action is a societal antidote to this and other existing effects of racism. We must not forget that history. History matters."

The American Scholar has published an extremely relevant, necessary discussion which ought to be recommended reading for any citizen of conscience.

Mary Rechner "The Loop Trail" ~ New England Review

2011-01-13T02:08:00.001-08:00

Joanna worried that wherever Mark was, he was lonely. That was what the wake seemed to be proving.

Appearing in New England Review, Mary Rechner's "The Loop Trail" gives the point of view of Joanna as she attends a wake for Mark, her best friend Therese's husband.

The story masterfully conveys Joanna's distancing, somewhat self-absorbed character, mostly through her thoughts which often show a concern for clothing or, in one case, perfume. When Joanna first encounters Therese at the wake, for instance, her thoughts almost seem to dodge emotional honesty and instead center on Therese's inclination for wearing Fracas, and pulling it off.

Through episodes of consolation and admissions, eventually Joanna seems to awaken.

Justin Nicholes "Summer Ice" ~ Prick of the Spindle

2011-01-02T04:06:00.001-08:00

My story "Summer Ice" just appeared in Prick of the Spindle, a journal I highly respect and admire.

The story took me a year and a half to revise before I felt like it was ready to be sent out.

Nothing feels better than for an editor, especially someone like Editor-in-Chief and founder Cynthia Reeser, to affirm that work.

Wame Molefhe "Sethunya Is Our Bride" ~ AGNI online's Portfolio of African Fiction

2010-12-12T14:43:00.001-08:00

Appearing in AGNIonline, Wame Molefhe's "Sethunya Is Our Bride" is featured from the magazine's Portfolio of African F iction. The story concerns Johnnie, an escaped chimp, and Sethunya, who gets married and is carefully instructed in how to be a "good Motswana wife."

While Sethunya goes through and observes the traditional process of marriage in her society, those images of Johnnie, as well as memories of a former love, perplex her even while her husband tries to embrace her.

An informative, somber piece.

Alexis Enrico Santí "One Pure Thing" ~ Prick of the Spindle

2010-12-05T00:44:00.001-08:00

When I drank vodka I felt something pure was running my life. Bringing vodka to my lips was a godly act that took me to the best part of me. Vodka, cranberry with lime: The Cape Codder. Absolut. Stoli. Smirnoff. Ketel One. Top Shelf. Rail. The best I ever felt in my life was when I was drunk.

Appearing in Prick of the Spindle, "One Pure Thing" by Alexis Enrico Santí (editor in chief at Our Stories, where I edit fiction) may be the most moving work I've ever read.

Structurally, the piece is tremendously gripping. "Form is content" is exemplified here.

When it comes to tone of voice and imagery, though, the work conveys the most immediate sense of honesty and urgency I've ever experienced.

Absolutely a must-read.

Peter Orner "Lincoln" ~ Conjunctions

2010-12-03T01:46:00.001-08:00

Sheila and I would drive up and down Sheridan Boulevard and look at those houses. Once she pointed to one of them and said, in all seriousness, "Who would we be if we lived there?"

Appearing in Conjunctions, Peter Orner's "Lincoln" captures a somber sense of loss with a final, rising epiphany. The description of Lincoln, Nebraska, and a sprawling, overwhelming highway system contribute to the piece's dominant, unified impression of grappling with some past, dashed opportunity.

The piece, two paragraphs, immediately establishes a powerful, trustworthy voice with poignant prose.

Check it out.

Kseniya Melnik "The Witch" plus interview ~ Granta

2010-11-11T21:18:00.001-08:00

Appearing in Granta, Kseniya Melnik's story "The Witch" follows Alina, whose migraines have become so terrible the family has run out of options.

On various levels and through different characters, questions about sickness in relation to the body arise, creating a wonderfully original, vivid, and moving piece.

Kseniya also answers questions about writing in English and Russian (her first language) at the end of the story. Her insight to writing, submitting to journals, and teaching all make this a must-read.

Check it out!

Alex Perez "Eggs" ~ Subtropics

2010-11-11T20:59:00.000-08:00

It was simple: Our father had left us. He'd jumped classes. We were about to jump him.

Appearing in Subtropics, Alex Perez's story "Eggs" tells the story of two Cuban immigrant brothers, the narrator (Danny) and his brother Ricky, who catch their dad, Rigo, having sex with a white woman in their own house on the poorer side of Miami.

Current action, involving old, reeky eggs, follows the brothers' plotting revenge.

The final scene is vivid and moving.

Saadat Hasan Manto "The Dog of Ṭeṭvāl" Translated by Aatish Taseer ~ Granta

2010-10-15T19:18:00.001-07:00

Appearing in Granta, Saadat Hasan Manto's "The Dog of Ṭeṭvāl" (translated by Aatish Taseer) opens with a scene of war.

With an omniscient narrative p.o.v. that knows no bounds (even wonderfully conveying how sounds of gunfire hurt the hearing of nearby birds), the story starts by telling of Corporal Harnam Singh, along with others, on the side of India at war against Pakistan in the mountain region of Ṭeṭvāl.

Amid the battles, Indian soldiers gain the companionship of a dog they playfully dub as an Indian. Meanwhile, later on the Pakistani side, Captain Himmat Khan spots the same dog and realizes it had spent the night on the Indian side.

What ensues is a hilarious, vivid exchange of wills mediated by a timid dog that can only wag its tail.

Jerome Charyn "Silk & Silk" ~ Narrative Magazine story of the week

2010-10-14T23:21:00.001-07:00

Jerome Charyn's "Silk & Silk" appeared recently in Narrative Magazine as a story of the week and follows Marla Silk, who graduates from Columbia Law and becomes a lawyer in the family business. The family business, Silk & Silk (which deals in arbitrage), eventually leads to Marla's father facing twenty-five years "at some government facility in Kansas." Marla, motivated by filial piety, gets "shadow men" to eliminate witnesses against her aging and traumatized dad, but too late: her father has a stroke.

Charyn's narrative-passage-heavy style blazes through detail-rich, intelligent backstory until settling on an incident concerning Raoul Banders, who slides into Marla's life claiming to be an ex-employee (fired) of Silk & Silk. When she asks her dad, with his face damaged from the stroke, she finds out about Raoul's sinister past. Marla reemploys her father's shadow men, more details emerge, and the outcome is both emotionally poignant and sexy.

A very unique, almost Fitzgerald-esque style of writing and storytelling that deals with the sometimes depraved, but ultimately human, dealings of the rich.

Yiyun Li "A Small Sacrifice" ~ The Threepenny Review

2010-09-29T18:27:00.001-07:00

Appearing in The Threepenny Review, Yiyun Li's "A Small Sacrifice" starts with a wonderful conflict: the landlord has been texting, reminding Moyan every day, that her pet pig, named Tiny, must go.

Tiny has exploded in size, no longer, well, Tiny.

A married man gave Moyan the pig. A peddler had told him it was a breed that wouldn't grow beyond the size of the basket the pig was sold in.

She needed something young and lively around her when he was not with her, he said when they knew each other better. She wondered if he meant for her to keep a puppy, or a kitty, but when he came with Tiny, he said that he was tired of being looked down upon by all the cats in the world, and he was tired of having to look up at the world like a dog. A pig, the man said, looks into your eyes like a fellow sufferer.

Amid poignant impressions and honesty, as well as parallel images echoing conflicts and story meaning, the story ends with a thoughtfulness that is a triumph of writing.

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Jerome Charyn "Lorelei" ~ The Atlantic

2010-09-09T04:17:00.001-07:00

Appearing at The Atlantic, Jerome Charyn's "Lorelei" features a third-person point of view allowing for enough psychic distance to hear a perspicacious, forgiving but critical narrative tone. Most importantly, though, we get a complex character, Howell, who's the kind of guy we find both despicable but also endearing.

Howell, who's "been a grifter most of his life," has one MO:

His grift was quite simple. He'd settle into a small town, deposit $10,000 into the local bank, walk around in a very conservative suit, register at the best hotel, and wait: the women would always come to him. He never poked around, never asked questions, never made a list of wealthy widows.

Among a good deal of backstory and exposition, current action conveys what Howell's doing. He's come for Naomi Waldman, a girl he remembers from his youth, and asks for a room in the exclusive Lorelei where she'd once lived. (Howell, on the other hand, lived in the basement since his dad worked there.)

Ben Greenman "Letters from an Earth Ball to, or Concerning, Sean Hannity" ~ McSweeney's

2010-08-29T16:53:00.001-07:00

Every hour, on the hour, Sean Hannity stopped talking so his radio station could break for the news. It was like a sea of sewage parting. I did not think of that on my own. It was something Coach Parker liked to say, except that he said "shit" instead of "sewage." What he meant was that the news reported the same events as Sean Hannity, but without the a-hole rhetoric and jackass distortions (again, Coach Parker).

Appearing in the always worthwhile McSweeney's, Ben Greenman's "Letters from an Earth Ball to, or Concerning, Sean Hannity" tells the story of an inflated ball in a locker room lamenting the depressing change of a friend, a construction cone named Nate, as a result of Sean Hannity's radio show.

The story conveys the depressing, frustrated feeling someone might feel when imposed upon by Sean Hannity's blurriness. Inanimate objects meant for play or work imbued with human emotions humorously communicate the piece's meaning and purpose.

Alexis E. Santi "Concrete" ~ Our Stories

2010-08-24T21:45:00.001-07:00

"Concrete" is a heartfelt and poignant letter from Alexis E. Santi, the Editor-in-Chief of Our Stories, which appears in the latest Emerging Writer issue.

The letter beseeches a previous love to stay alive.

A moving must-read.

Lisa Cupolo "Long Division" ~ Ploughshares

2010-07-12T10:31:00.001-07:00

Lisa Cupolo's "Long Division," published in Ploughshares, tells the story of a father who hires someone to help him track down his son, Ted, in Kenya and does so to discuss his daughter (Ted's sister) Maddy.

He wants Ted to come home and help with Maddy, but Ted cannot.

"I realize that I'm seeing Tim as he is in the world, with no reference to me at all. I'm a businessman, even in retirement. Tim is all pathos. I have always believed that you have to pay close attention to what the other guy is thinking; Tim just anticipates what others might need."

An excellent, character-revealing story.

Dinaw Mengestu "An Honest Exit" ~ The New Yorker

2010-07-11T17:32:00.001-07:00

Appearing in The New Yorker, Dinaw Mengestu's "An Honest Exit" tells the story of a teacher, whose Ethiopian father has just died, telling his students his father's story.

After telling part of his father's story, the teacher feels embraced by his students (imagining them firing off email and text messages about him) and therefore continues to suspend regular class procedures to tell them more.

"Soon, stories about my father were circulating freely around the Academy. I heard snippets of my own narrative played back to me in a slightly distorted form—in these versions, the story might take place in the Congo, amid famine. One version I heard said that my father had been in multiple wars across Africa. Another claimed that he had lived through a forgotten genocide, one in which tens of thousands were killed in a single day. Some wondered whether he had also been in Rwanda—or in Darfur, where such things were commonly known to occur."

A very engaging, finely written piece.

Justin Nicholes "The Factory" ~ The Medulla Review

2010-07-08T09:31:00.001-07:00

My story "The Factory" appeared recently in The Medulla Review.

Here's what the editor-in-chief, Jennifer Hollie Bowles, had to say about it:

"visceral, stygian, and disturbingly surreal."

Glad you liked it enough to publish, Jennifer!

Anthony Varallo "At Ease" A 2009 World's Best Short Short Story Contest Finalist ~ The Southeast Review

2010-06-17T18:03:00.001-07:00

Anthony Varallo's "At Ease" appears in The Southeast Review and tangibly conveys the story of a boy taking a girl whose boyfriend died in Iraq to the high school prom.

The awkwardness of the events leading up to and during the prom, the spectral presence of the dead ex-boyfriend, and the relief afterward make for an extremely engaging read.

Lisa Norris "Please Use the Password" ~ Ascent

2010-06-12T22:14:00.001-07:00

Appearing in Ascent, Lisa Norris's "Please Use the Password" gives the story of Evelyn, who's dating an older man named Barry--"60 to his 65"--and dealing with calls from the radiologist.

The characters develop as Evelyn, to soothe her own anxieties and fears, questions Barry about his role in the war in Vietnam. And with that knowledge, she's able to disclose what will change her own life and also test their relationship.

Great story.

Tony Macnabb "An Audience with Osama" ~ The Barcelona Review

2010-06-11T19:54:00.001-07:00

Tony Macnabb's "An Audience with Osama" appears in The Barcelona Review and gives the story of Dr. Rashid (" 'champion of interfaith dialogue' ") summoned to get information from a former student who's been arrested and detained after a failed car-bomb attack.

After talking fruitlessly with Alan Knight, Dr. Rashid is told of a final effort to get the detainee to talk. Though the doctor objects, interrogators threaten deportation, and he knows that if his former pupil doesn't talk, he'll be tortured abroad.

An extremely interesting, topical work worth reading.

Matthew Lang "Island Paradise" ~ Our Stories

2010-05-16T18:11:00.001-07:00

At Our Stories, Matthew Lang's flash "Island Paradise" was a runner up for the Gordon Award in flash fiction.

Poetic and mesmerizing, the story tells of a Season of Drifting which has left folks, including our narrator, alone on islands and grounded boats.

"We all washed up on our islands in the Season of Drifting Away. Most of us thought the Floating would end with a big storm, or an unexpected wave, but what happened was we just stopped paying attention to each other."

Trenchant and somber. An excellent read.

Diana Joseph "Bullets Going through Objects in Slow Motion" ~ Willow Springs

2010-05-04T01:38:00.001-07:00

Diana Joseph's nonfiction piece "Bullets Going through Objects in Slow Motion" appears in Willow Springs and details post-divorce anguish.

Missing Al, the author checks his e-mail: "He and I weren't talking much—we seemed beyond any kind of talk that wasn't saying the things we'd already said—but I missed him. A lot. Looking at his e-mail made me feel connected to him."

The most moving sections concern the author and her son, a relationship which becomes more complex (and which allows much introspection) when "the boy" gets a girlfriend.

One of the most engrossing works I've read.

Thomas Gabriel-Ventimiglia "The Sluice" ~ The Baltimore Review

2010-05-03T01:27:00.001-07:00

Appearing in The Baltimore Review, Thomas Gabriel-Ventimiglia's "The Sluice" tells the story of Laura Miller, who hates her brother Billy, especially after he claims to have swum through the drainage tunnel that kills kids every generation and which everyone calls The Sluice.

Through competition and self-affirmation, Laura finds redemption and self-empowerment.

Lisa Glatt "Strangers in the House" ~ Gulf Stream

2010-04-18T15:34:00.001-07:00

Lisa Glatt's "Strangers in the House" appears in Gulf Stream and tells the story of Kate, whose husband's in jail, and whose neighbor Diane is depressed and hardly taking care of twin babies.

Though Kate helps Diane, she also has partly contributed to some of Diane's pain.

The story ends with tension but, finally, relief--as Kate finds a kind of resolution.

Jeremy Griffin "Reshma" ~ Gulf Stream

2010-04-12T17:37:00.001-07:00

Jeremy Griffin's story "Reshma" appears in Gulf Stream and tells the story of Caleb Waltz, thirteen years old, who goes to deliver a mixtape to Reshma Mohammadian, whose brother Farhad just recently died during track practice at school.

Instead of finding Reshma, Caleb finds her father--and what proceeds is a sort of mutual healing and grieving.

John Haskell "Three Quick Lives" ~ Salt Hill Journal

2010-04-10T18:08:00.001-07:00

Appearing in Salt Hill Journal, John Haskell's "Three Quick Lives" poetically abbreviates the lives of Eadweard Muybridge, William Burroughs, and a sharpshooter.

Weaving in themes of fear, murder, and agonized love, this piece moves a reader with its clarity of expression and brevity.

Elisa Pulido "Mrs. Ruzicka Goes Solo" ~ Literal Latte

2010-04-10T16:09:00.001-07:00

Appearing in Literal Latte, Elisa Pulido's "Mrs. Ruzicka Goes Solo" presents a surreal, vivid story in the present tense about Mrs. Ruzicka's love for a concertmaster and concern for her breast health.

Through wounds and removal of organs and other material from her body, readers are kept at an emotional distance from Mrs. Ruzicka's suffering, which startlingly coincides with musical movements.

Steven G. Kellman "That Goes without Saying: A Treatise on Silence" ~ Puerto del Sol

2010-04-04T02:11:00.001-07:00

Speech is strength, which is why grievances of the weak remain by definition unvoiced; breaking silence is seizing power.

Steven G. Kellman's "That Goes without Saying: A Treatise on Silence" appears in Puerto del Sol and offers a detailed account of silence's sociocultural implications and manifestations.

With the piece at times humorous but always trenchant, silence (and fascinating questions about whether it can ever really exist for humans) finds as eloquent an expression as approximating words allow.

Jon Methven "Cinderella Story Miscues" ~ McSweeney's Internet Tendency

2010-03-26T04:16:00.001-07:00

Our spirit was strong and our calves were toned.

Jon Methven's "Cinderella Story Miscues," appearing at the always worthwhile McSweeney's, offers hilarious, intelligent reading.

Justin Nicholes "Mei Ling Qian" ~ Slice Magazine

2010-03-21T15:38:00.001-07:00

Last winter, I was living for about six weeks in a city in southern Henan province, named Xinyang city. I was there to meet and hopefully earn the approval from the father of a girl I've been seeing (still waiting). Though I've been in China for almost three years, picked up enough survival Mandarin to be able to have small, localized conversations at stores, on taxis, or on trains and buses--and studied northern-style kung fu, Chinese kickboxing, and learned fundamental strikes with the Chinese waxwood staff--I will perhaps always be a signal to homeless or needy folks here of someone who can spare a yuan or five mao.

I wrote a story while I was in Xinyang, trying to embody the perspective of a homeless woman toting along a daughter she was looking to rent out to men in hotels. I wondered what, seeing me, she would think. The result was a kind of poetic but also anguished flow of words into a narrative, a story entitled "Mei Ling Qian," which kind of means "I don't have small change" ... "change" here meaning money.

Slice Magazine picked up the story, and it is forthcoming in Issue 6. The theme is Metropolis.

Anyone interested in this issue, this theme of Metropolis, might consider pre-ordering.

**Now available for pre-order! Ships in late April.**
Issue 6: Metropolis (Spring/Summer 2010) $8.00

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Rayne Debski "How to Feed a Muse" ~ Flashquake

2010-03-06T16:47:00.001-08:00

Appearing in Flashquake, Rayne Debski's "How to Feed a Muse" presents a playful work of flash delightful in its vivid details, which intelligently associate foods and flavors with place and deferred anticipations of lovers.

Inspiration becomes tangible as the story casts a compelling, unbroken fictive dream.

Howard Zinn "The Power and the Glory" ~ Boston Review

2010-02-16T19:25:00.001-08:00

After the horrors of the first World War, Albert Einstein said, "Wars will stop when men refuse to fight."

Appearing again in the Boston Review to commemorate the life of Howard Zinn, The Power and the Glory: Myths of American Exceptionalism briefly traces a powerful discourse that has justified American military engagements throughout the history of the US.

With direct, unpretentious prose, Zinn develops an argument whose exigency calls citizenry to demand an end to reckless preventive military action.

Jesse Goolsby "Touch" Winner of the 2010 Richard Bausch Short Story Prize ~ Our Stories

2010-02-15T21:12:00.001-08:00

I've been back home two weeks, and as I look out a corner window I still can't get over how much the mountains east of town mirror the cracking peaks circling Kabul.

Jesse Goolsby's "Touch" won our Richard Bausch Prize this year at Our Stories, recognition the story rightly deserves. It gives the somber, sober viewpoint of a soldier who's served in various tours in Afghanistan. Details of home remind him, even during church, of carnage in war zones.

His wife, Elsa, wants to know how to connect with him. He doesn't know.

An achingly touching, insightful story; one of the best I've read.

Carolina De Robertis "On the Brink of Words" ~ 580 Split

2010-02-12T23:53:00.001-08:00

She did not understand the writing life. It did not have a function in the strictest sense.

Carolina De Robertis's "On the Brink of Words" appears in 580 Split and presents the anxious thoughts of a writer who can't write, who longs to be back within the process of writing the book she's already finished.

With trenchant metaphors and syntax shaping to emotion, the story manifests a writer's anguish.

Intelligent, vivid prose.

xTx "I Choo Choo Choose You!" ~ Pindeldyboz

2010-02-11T21:05:00.001-08:00

Flash fiction appearing in Pindeldyboz, xTx's "I Choo Choo Choose You!" poetically describes a failed relationship and a suicidal victim of it.

Spare but poignant thoughts and details make pain and confusion tangible.

Here's an exciting writer to watch.

Mark Brazaitis "I Return" ~ Cimarron Review

2010-02-05T00:50:00.001-08:00

"I'd always vowed that if I died young—any age shy of senility—I would return to earth as a ghost to look after my wife and children."

Appearing in Cimarron Review, Mark Brazaitis's "I Return" follows a man, Michael, who returns to earth as a ghost. Once there, however, his attempts to rekindle old relationships are comically denied.

A story with a fun, unique voice.

Travis Klunick "Yegus Y Caballos" The Robert Watson Literary Prize Story ~ The Greensboro Review

2010-01-10T19:02:00.001-08:00

By Travis Klunick, "Yegus Y Caballos" appears in The Greensboro Review and is the Robert Watson Literary Prize Story.

The story begins with a detail-rich metaphor Larry recognizes about storms. Larry's wife, Sarah Beth, takes off.

Left with their daughters, Abigail and Isabelle, Larry builds a windmill for Mister Raburn and rekindles an old friendship.

Final images reinforce Larry's metaphysical pondering and offer cyclic images that signal hope.

Ersi Sotiropoulos "An Almost Guinea Fowl" Karen Emmerich trans. ~ The Literary Review

2010-01-09T23:53:00.001-08:00

Appearing in The Literary Review, Ersi Sotiropoulos's "An Almost Guinea Fowl" tells the story of Telis, a young lawyer whose wife, Maro, says she has bought "a very special guinea fowl" when in fact it's just a chicken. After Telis invites friends for dinner, he enjoins Maro to find a real one.

With Jeanette and Christos having eaten a turkey (sitting in for guinea fowl), Telis and Maro skirt the fact that the guinea fowl was an impostor.

In the end, a game of truth or dare ignites a conflict between Telis and Maro.

Shannon Robinson "Secondhand Body" ~ Whiskey Island Magazine

2010-01-09T00:20:00.001-08:00

Because this body hasn't always been mine, it's filled with surprises.

Shannon Robinson's "Secondhand Body" appears in Whiskey Island Magazine and gives the first person voice of a girl who's found herself inhabiting a new body.

Final lines present a kind of aching insight, insight of forgone introspection, perhaps, and a sense of the vastness of isolation, of loneliness.

A. D. Jameson "A Sad Story of Factory Girls" ~ Caketrain

2010-01-08T17:38:00.000-08:00

A. D. Jameson's "A Sad Story of Factory Girls" appears in Caketrain and churns forward with predicate-heavy sentence after sentence, lyrically carrying readers along the story of a man and a girl.

Great read.

Elizabeth Eslami "Hibernators" ~ The Minnesota Review

2010-01-07T17:03:00.001-08:00

What he thought was that their love would bloom in the dark like the birth of a mole rat.

Appearing in The Minnesota Review, Elizabeth Eslami's "Hibernators" tells the story of a girl ("a feminist") and a guy who dig a hole to escape the world's expectations.

The story offers a fascinating allegory while the attempt to escape ironically results in the realization (and perhaps creation) of snares.

John S. Walker "What You've Done for Me" First Place Winner in the Raymond Carver Short Story Award ~ Carve Magazine

2009-12-31T03:52:00.001-08:00

Winning first place in the Raymond Carver short story award at Carve Magazine, John S. Walker's "What You've Done for Me" tells the story of sailors--specifically of a guy (Clay) meeting his brother's wife, Rita, to talk over an affair his brother Del had in Singapore while serving in the Navy.

Images of the vastness of oceans and continents incarnate the story's emotional meaning.

Jeff Brewer "Sketchy Etchings" ~ The Portland Review

2009-12-14T00:44:00.001-08:00

Appearing in The Portland Review, Jeff Brewer's "Sketchy Etchings" gives the point of a view of a father dealing with the violent imaginations of two boys, nameless, who rob from the neighbors and interrupt the narrator's generating a mold of his wife.

The wife, who's run away with the neighbor lady, generates an absence that sparks the boys' "incidents."

A strange (in that good intuitive way), surreal tale.

Shelley Scaletta "Sugaring Off" 2009 Fiction Contest Winner ~ The Briar Cliff Review

2009-12-03T22:59:00.001-08:00

But Eleanor could not look away; she was fascinated with his lips. She wondered what they felt like; if they were still soft or maybe hard now with all those scars.

Shelley Scaletta's "Sugaring Off," nominated for a Pushcart and the 2009 Fiction Contest Winner at The B riar Cliff Review, tells the story of Eleanor Dixon, a fifty-five year old cancer survivor who's just had both breasts removed, mesmerized by the mangled mouth of Paul Grimm, who visits the library where she works.

Paul, who checks out a book about maple syrup entitled From Sap to Syrup, becomes someone in whom she finds some kinship and, though she's married, someone with whom she feels compelled to share the reality of her changed body.

While her husband Sam ignores her, Eleanor experiences a defining moment in the sugar shack among Paul's tapped and scarred maples.

Marilyn Dorf "Friday's House" ~ South Dakota Review

2009-11-28T15:22:00.000-08:00

One thing Clete could not tolerate, however, was the way his house stood eye to eye with Friday's house.

Marilyn Dorf's "Friday's House," which appeared in South Dakota Review, starts with an effective metaphor. Clete Conway's house becomes a character as it faces Friday's house, where Clete's ex-wife now lives. She went there after leaving him.

While the first half of the story details the turning of Clete's house, so that the front faces the barns, the second half follows his life after the doctor sends him home to die, with "some pills to ease the pain a little and reduce the pesky cough and discharge."

Near the end, an event brings Clete some traces of redemption.

Ron Rash "Redfish, Possums, and the New South" ~ South Carolina Review

2009-11-08T04:46:00.000-08:00

"True," says Gerald, "but it proves one thing. It is physically possible to eat a possum."

Appearing in South Carolina Review, Ron Rash's "Redfish, Possums, and the New South" gives the first person point of view of a man who, with a friend, starts a possum farm.

Unfolding action and an articulate narrator make an interesting, very good read.

Aja Gabel "How Someone Can Not Recognize You" ~ /nor

2009-10-19T20:35:00.001-07:00

Appearing in New Ohio Review, Aja Gabel's "How Someone Can Not Recognize You" gives the point of view of Jane, whose father just died, as she stays with her fiance Jeremiah in her father's house and mourns while preparing the house for sale and her father's cremation. A kind of subplot concerning Korean masseurs who commit suicide, images running through Jane's mind, echoes and adds momentum to the primary story line.

Joyce Carol Oates "In the Absence of Mentors/Monsters" ~ Narrative

2009-10-08T17:47:00.001-07:00

Appearing in Narrative magazine, Joyce Carol Oates, one of the most prolific and influential writers we've got, placed "In the Absence of Mentors/Monsters," a reflection on influences on her art.

Most compelling are her vivid commentaries on writerly relationships with Donald Barthelme and John Gardner because of their offering insight into the literary landscape of the 1970s, which still impacts the attitudes prevalent in MFA programs nationwide.

This is perhaps the most moving article I've read this year.

***"In the Absence of Mentors/Monsters" appears in Mentors, Muses & Monsters: 30 Writers on the People Who Changed Their Lives (Free Press/Simon & Schuster, November 2009).

Laura Loomis "The Sign" ~ Many Mountains Moving Flash Fiction Contest Winner

2009-10-05T02:43:00.001-07:00

To appear in Many Mountains Moving in 2010, Laura Loomis's "The Sign" (winner of The Flash Fiction Contest) conveys the point of view of Jesse, a boy who's grown up in a deaf home, as he recalls his first days of preschool as well as an important event from high school.

Jesse meets Gabe, becomes friends with him, and gives him insight about the limitations of spoken language.

Gabe discovered what any deaf person could tell him: words are clumsy.

Gabe, in turn, helps Jesse discover something about himself, and the clumsiness of love.

Laurah Norton Raines "Slow Freeze" ~ Post Road Magazine

2009-10-03T16:21:00.001-07:00

You reached for your beer, and I noticed you'd shaved off your sideburns. I was the only girlfriend you'd ever had that liked them.

Appearing in Post Road Magazine, Laurah Norton Raines' story "Slow Freeze" gives a powerful narrative voice addressing "you," her boyfriend, in a truthful, solemn recounting of a toxic relationship.

Vivid details and honesty convey complex, achingly real characters and conflict. The story's brevity and pace simulate our narrator's feelings until she's overwhelmed.

Very moving work.

Jeff O'Keefe "The Great Crowd" ~ Swink

2009-10-03T04:19:00.000-07:00

"Anyone?" says Ted, looking around. "Anyone other than Sister Counihan want to take a shot? Sister McLellan?"

Jeff O'Keefe's "The Great Crowd" appeared in Swink and presents the heartbreakingly complex, intriguing point of view of Stephanie, who at first has locked herself from her apartment and is late, for the first time, to worship at the Kingdom Hall. Through Stephanie's simple but honest voice, we learn she has something wrong with her chromosomes, and eventually this indirect mode of characterization (thought/dialogue) presents a fragile human being deserving and finding in her own way some dignity.

Most artful are O'Keefe's accomplishments with vivid scenes with action, gestures, and descriptions that themselves present in miniature the meaning of the entire story.

"Oh," I say. I picture the basketball rolling and rolling."

A highly recommended, unified work of art.

J. David Stevens "Literally," "Ghost Story," "An Old Woman-Her Shoe," "Soup," and "Spectacle" ~ The Journal

2009-09-29T18:18:00.001-07:00

"Gavin was from the country and took everything literally. Out back, we shot him, and he died."

J. David Stevens' flashes, appearing in The Journal, are sometimes hilarious, often playful works of prose that show its writer's keen attention to language and tone.

From meditations on semantics in "Literally," in which Gavin dies, and the meaningfully distant, objective tone in "Ghost Story" to the retelling in "An Old Woman--Her Shoe;" and from the the metaphor of the pot of "Soup" to the strangeness (in that good way) of "Spectacle," this is moving work.

Oh, and then there's... "The bears, wrapped in C-4 explosive and ten-penny nails, had been trained by counterintelligence agents to detonate themselves at the precise moment of his impact."

Sharma Shields "Souvenirs" ~ Fugue

2009-09-02T22:11:00.001-07:00

"He was my serial killer. I call him mine because he lived across the street from me."

Published in Fugue, Sharma Shields "Sourvenirs" not only starts with an engaging first line but presents the compelling first-person point of view of Sarah, neighbor of a serial killer, who's named Rold.

A gruesomely fascinating relationship ensues.

Tom Jenks "A Brief Handbook of Revision for Writers" ~ Narrative

2009-09-02T01:13:00.001-07:00

"Like a musician or painter, a writer practices, learns, and overlearns the techniques of an art so that once inculcated they may be performed with an exactness and ease of proficiency fed by inspiration."

Co-editor of Narrative, Tom Jenks in "A Brief Handbook of Revision for Writers" provides advice for writers on the topic of revising fiction. Premises to the essay include master works of fiction evidencing a writer's carefully revising early drafts. As co-editor of a magazine that publishes some of our very best writers, such as Richard Bausch (whom we honor over at Our Stories with an annual contest), Joyce Carol Oates, and Stuart Dybek (whom we just interviewed at OS), Jenks offers insight into the very competitive act of trying to publish fiction. The essay also clarifies the bane some writers who submit to literary journals: writers often assume early drafts clearly communicate the fire of artistic motivation that moved the writer to conceive of her story. Many times, though, submissions almost immediately, often as early as the first few pages, show signs of needed revision.

This is a very beneficial essay for the student of writing as well as for the friend (whether that be teacher or reader) of developing writers.

Erik Hoel "Big Cats" ~ Our Stories

2009-08-12T11:29:00.000-07:00

A story we published in our recent issue at Our Stories, Erik Koel's Big Cats caught my interest from those opening passages. Something strange happens, and that strangeness conveys to me some emotional weight Daniel, the story's main character who walks with invisible tigers his entire life, seems to feel.

Check it out.

Adina Davis "Dead Wood" ~ Frostwriting

2009-07-03T07:32:00.001-07:00

"From my window, I could see that the crown was bare, just dead wood, though from below it looked healthy."

Adina Davis' story "Dead Wood" appears in Frostwriting and gives the point of view of Elizabeth, who watches from a window as men take away a dead tree.

The image of the extirpated tree accurately mirrors the anguish from a departing father, and the ending rings true.

Kathleen Glassburn "Kauai" ~ Cadillac Cicatrix

2009-07-02T08:41:00.001-07:00

"As time has passed I feel the shape of our life pulling further apart, and I don't know if I care about remolding it."

Kathleen Glassburn's "Kauai" appears in Cadillac Cicatrix and conveys, mostly through thought and description, the character of Carla, who goes on a vacation with her husband Ben a year after Dale, their son, died.

Carla's tone effectively illuminates the story's meaning and purpose--that sometimes second chances mean at least transient moments of capitulation to even the most painful realities.

John Abbot "The King" ~ Upstreet

2009-07-01T10:08:00.001-07:00

"His mom was crying. He could hear her even though he was in the kitchen. The sound of her crying seemed to rise above the voices coming from the TV..."

Appearing in Upstreet magazine, John Abbot's "The King" follows Reggie, a boy who disguises himself as Elvis one Halloween and who, after spotting his mom and boyfriend drunkenly screwing on the couch, hangs with a neighbor named Mr. Lecrone to distribute candy to trick-or-treaters.

Afterwards he goes home again and overhears another detail, and makes a choice, that contributes to the story's overall tone of ennui.

Erin Lyndal Martin "If a Body" ~ Hotel Amerika

2009-06-20T05:25:00.000-07:00

"people were less afraid of death when they could imagine climbing up outside of themselves."

Appearing in Hotel Amerika, one of our most exciting literary forums, Erin Lyndal Martin's "If a Body" presents poetic prose creating a kind of threnody until bathos turns the piece darkly humorous.

Excellent prose.

Christopher Merkner "Check the Baby," "I Am Sleeping," & "Afternoon" ~ Gulf Coast

2009-06-10T17:17:00.001-07:00

Christopher Merkner's flashes, entitled "Check the Baby," "I Am Sleeping," & "Afternoon," appear in Gulf Coast and follow the first-person p.o.v. of a new father.

The insightful voice movingly whispers confessions, of adultery, feelings of confinement, boredom and nauseating guilt.

Very well-wrought prose.

Robert Olen Butler "Little Fuckers" ~ Narrative

2009-05-01T03:54:00.000-07:00

Upon reception of the Million Writers Award for best online publication, Narrative is featuring 8 notable stories recognized by the award committee.

One of those stories, Robert Olen Butler's "Little Fuckers" brilliantly glimpses into viewpoints of famous people having sex.

From Jean-Paul Sartre's awkward experience with Simone de Beauvoir, to Bonnie and Clyde on the eve of their death; and from Walt Whitman's romp with Oscar Wilde, to Thomas Jefferson's tryst with his sixteen-year-old slave, these stories keenly condense lives and impulses in stream-of-conscious musings during sex.

Very enjoyable read.

Gary Edward Holcomb "Fly Fishing Romania" ~ Exquisite Corpse

2009-04-24T06:03:00.000-07:00

"And we think this ourselves, we academics. It's a thing of pride with us that we are constantly at work. So I am incessantly busy, or appear to be, which is most important. Writing this essay, for instance, both counts as work and doesn't count."

Gary Edward Holcomb's "Fly Fishing Romania" appeared in Exquisite Corpse and details an academic's "leisure" time in Romania while welcoming new Fulbright scholars.

The discussion touches on assertions in Dialectic of Enlightenment by Theodor Adorno, specifically that leisure time signifies time for passively consuming capitalist products and, in the process, time for shaping folks to quietly embrace this kind of economic ethos. Yet fly fishing more closely represents work than play.

Holcomb fascinatingly likens fly fishing not only to the act of critical reading but also to the process of writing.

The piece moves most forcefully when Holcomb describes, and refers back to, a hole he found in the North Fork, where he lost but really found himself alone in the process.

"I dream of returning to that spot. I literally dream about the spot, the pool appearing to me sometimes like some deep, unfathomable uncertainty. In my dream I find the pool finally but don't have time to fish it before I awaken."

More stories follow echoing the initial sensation of finding oneself through fish and fly fishing--and evocative stories illustrate other people's personal manifestations of the process of exhilarating leisure.

Trenchant writing at one of our most exciting forums.

Marylou Fusco "Weather Girls" ~ Carve Magazine

2009-04-21T20:15:00.000-07:00

Marylou Fusco's "Weather Girls" appeared in Carve Magazine and offers a second-person p.o.v. reminding a character ("you") named Christine of her feelings about the incommensurable Meredith Durmont in high school.

Christine, fascinated with weather, feels strangely threatened by Meredith, and through imagery the story conveys the character, not only of the narrator, but also of "you."

Molly Giles "Ghost Dog" ~ Blackbird

2009-04-18T05:48:00.000-07:00

"My stalker was old, starved, all bones and bristle, with eyes so white they had to be blind."

Appearing in Blackbird, Molly Giles's "Ghost Dog" gives the first person p.o.v. of an abused, hopeful vagabond living on the island of Kaua’i. The hope is the man she loves, Les, will build the Center--where an ancient Asian ritual of visualizing energy will apparently heal sickness.

Complications, at least as the narrator sees them, come in the forms of Simon and Sonia, who get drunk and fight enough to bloody sheets, and Sonia even mauls Les's ear after a night of coke.

The problem is, what the narrator has always wanted, the Center and Les and them together, is impossible: Sonia, who has the money, wants what will necessarily send, once again, the narrator into the jungle with all the other escaped animals with which she feels kinship.

Hauntingly wonderful story, with a genuinely feeling and vulnerable narrator who heartbreakingly moves towards painful realization.

Most moving, the vivid image of the ghost dog poetically encapsulates the entire meaning and purpose of as powerful a story as anyone can read.

Kristiana Colón "ex libris" ~ Our Stories

2009-04-11T06:39:00.000-07:00

"We choked our thrill and tensed for footsteps. We blushed."

Kristiana Colón's "ex libris" appeared in our recent issue of Our Stories.

This piece of flash fiction, when I dredged it from the slush pile, instantly gripped me with its undeniable sensuality and vivid characterization.

Check it out.

Jerald Walker "My Fear of the South" ~ Oxford American

2009-04-11T05:30:00.000-07:00

Without thinking, I refused.

“Why?” she asked.

I searched for an answer, and there were many, but only one that was undeniably true: My fear of the South was back, flushed from my subconscious by the prospect of my return.

Jerald Walker's essay "My Fear of the South" appeared in Oxford American in a special issue on race.

This is one of the most captivating essays I've read, emphasizing at least to me just how important discussions of race in an intelligent forum remain. Even from China, and after travels to other continents and way South (Mexico), this topic dredges up in me, too (partly because I'm also a Northerner and ignorant of the realities of the imagined South), some shade of the fear Walker describes; the essay moves me in a way only an American, I think, can be moved by the topic.

Walker's tone is insightful and honest, and Oxford American has compiled a special issue ("devoted to the 'Past, Present, and Future' of Race") absolutely necessary for Americans of consciousness to embrace.

Elise Moser "The Miniature Breaths" ~ The Antigonish Review

2009-04-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

"Paul danced at dusk."

Appearing in The Antigonish Review, Elise Moser's "The Miniature Breaths" offers startlingly pithy and moving images to convey the character of Paul.

Short and poetically loaded, this narrative, in its surreal dream, casts the spell of any good longer work.

Kenny Byerly "Chip Tusken: Road-Sign Writer" ~ McSweeney's Internet Tendency

2009-03-29T17:43:00.000-07:00

Kenny Byerly's "Chip Tusken: Road-Sign Writer" appears in McSweeney's Internet Tendency and had me rolling.

Just read it.

Ellie Kemper "I Am Not on a Roll" ~ McSweeney's Internet Tendency

2009-03-29T17:30:00.000-07:00

"Sometimes artists will convince themselves that they're on a roll, in an effort to ensure that the roll not be broken. Sometimes rescued tuxedo kittens sneak out in the middle of the night as a hilarious joke, but then forget to come back."

As always, the sure-fire way for a good laugh and fascinating reawakening to language is: go to McSweeney's Internet Tendency.

Ellie Kemper's "I Am Not on a Roll" delivers all you can expect and never will I look again at the phrase, "on a roll," the same.

E. L. Doctorow "The Writer in the Family" ~ ''Lives of the Poets: Six Stories and a Novella"

2009-03-29T01:44:00.000-07:00

E. L. Doctorow's story "The Writer in the Family" appears as the first story in ''Lives of the Poets: Six Stories and a Novella" and is one of the most moving stories anyone can read.

It follows a youth named Jonathan, whose father Jack has died, but whose paternal side of the family, in particular Jonathan's Aunt Frances, lies to Jonathan's paternal grandmother that Jack, failed salesman, has moved to Arizona.

In truth, Jack, Jonathan the narrator's father, has died.

“Years ago his life had fallen into a pattern of business failures and missed opportunities. The great debate between his family on the one side, and my mother Ruth on the other, was this: who was responsible for the fact that he had not lived up to anyone’s expectations?”

Aunt Frances, to appease the whims of Jonathan's grandmother, asks Jonathan to write letters--in the name of his dead father. Jonathan does.

Though published twenty years ago, here is one of the best stories anyone who loves fiction, and who is wondering about the writer's role in a family, can read.

Laura van den Berg "Up High in the Air" ~ Boston Review

2009-03-13T04:58:00.000-07:00

“Is that a picture of Lake Michigan?”
“No,” he said. “It’s a picture of something in Lake Michigan.” He sat up and pointed at a dark speck in the center of the photograph. “Right there. The monster is what I’m looking at.”

"Up High in the Air," by Laura van den Berg, appeared in Boston Review and follows Diane, an assistant prof. of etymology who's screwing her student, Dean, and whose mother (widowed after the narrator's father drowns years earlier in the Platte) calls to say strange things.

Her husband, rejected by mainstream academia and the Lake Michigan Federation, gets a call from the Mishegenabeg Discovery Group to find, as Diane the etymologist almost says, "a big fucking snake."

Diane's life becomes increasingly confused.

Good story with several interesting plot lines.

Diane Greco "Eleven, The Spelunker" ~ The Saint Anne's Review

2009-03-08T04:42:00.000-07:00

"I only wish that, in casting me as the pedantic, spinsterish anti-heroine in your book, you’d given me a fuller head of hair; baldness in women is so difficult, so tragic, that I think you, as a writer, might have misstepped in failing to imagine my character’s suffering sufficiently."

Diane Greco's "Eleven, The Spelunker" appeared in The Saint Anne's Review and, an epistolary story, gives a letter a geology prof. writes to a guy who wrote a novel apparently featuring her.

In the letter, she details events concerning her and a spelunker faculty member so that the writer can transform the details into an award-winning work of fiction.

Slowly, we learn where the prof. is.

Very good story, concluding with a fascinating image of multiple exits.

G. K. Wuori "Why We Are in Iraq" ~ The Gettysburg Review

2009-03-06T02:49:00.000-08:00

"REFORM IS A KISS FROM A BLIND WHORE,  AND I SMOOCHED HER GOOD."

Appearing in The Gettysburg Review, G. K. Wuori's "Why We Are in Iraq" follows a first-person narrator, Franklin McCormick, who works for Harrison Whitehead (as his "drunk"), a farmer who puts McCormick in a shed and comes by to beat him, as do "the boys," Corky and Baker--as well as other things.

McCormick witnesses something terrible, and his sober, intelligent voice makes for one of the most indelible stories anyone can read.

John Tirman "The Future of the American Frontier" ~ The American Scholar

2009-03-05T03:57:00.000-08:00

"The hero is the human exponent of the frontier myth, and all heroes embody qualities that speak to the anxieties of the age."

John Tirman's "The Future of the American Frontier" appeared in The American Scholar and explores a powerful discourse in the US, reinforced throughout the history of the country, that Americans have always possessed an inherent right to expand frontiers while taming enemies. Though its power is diminishing, the myth perseveres in evolving political manifestations.

Fascinating, insightful work.

good stories and essays

Marshall Moore *The Infernal Republic* Signal 8 Press

Sandra Allen "Plow" Hayden's Ferry Review

Sascha Feinstein "Children of Paradise"

Ian Bassingthwaighte "The Cardboard Dress" TriQuarterly

Michael Schulze "Cover Letter for The Cabin" ~ Xenith

Peter D. Kramer "Permutations" ~ The Summerset Review

Jennifer Haigh "In Other Words" ~ Narrative Magazine

Joe Bonomo "Live Nude Essay!" ~ Gulf Coast

Andrew D. Cohen "Boys School" ~ Colorado Review

Caroline Arden "Yolo County" ~ Colorado Review

Nico Alvarado "A Hunger Artist" ~ Witness

Noam Chomsky "The Responsibility of Intellectuals, Redux" ~ The Boston Review

Seth Abramson "Six Myths about the MFA Program in Creative Writing" ~ Huffington Post

Jo Scott-Coe "Domestic Order Suite" ~ turnrow

Heather Fowler "Making Love to the Fruit Shooter" ~ The Summerset Review

Samuel Roberts "Recalling Samuel Battle" ~ The New York Times

It starts this way:

Leslie Johnson "Other Lives" ~ Colorado Review

Tim Bascom "Community College" ~ Witness

Richard Froude "The Girl Who Fell Through the Ice" ~ Witness

Jeff Walker "Case against the Driver" ~ Witness

Nicola Mason "Cancer Party" ~ Blackbird

Edgar Allan Poe "Annabel Lee" illustrated by J.B. Bonivert ~ Oxford American

Suzanne E. Smith "Where Did Our Love Go? Contemplating the Life and Death of Motown and the Motor City" ~ Michigan Quarterly Review

Stephen Ansolabehere and James M. Snyder, Jr. "Weak Tea" ~ Boston Review

Alexis E Santí "It Only Takes One Mistake" ~ Our Stories

Richard Spilman The Estate Sale

William M. Chace "Affirmative Inaction" ~ The American Scholar

Mary Rechner "The Loop Trail" ~ New England Review

Justin Nicholes "Summer Ice" ~ Prick of the Spindle

Wame Molefhe "Sethunya Is Our Bride" ~ AGNI online's Portfolio of African Fiction

Alexis Enrico Santí "One Pure Thing" ~ Prick of the Spindle

Peter Orner "Lincoln" ~ Conjunctions

Kseniya Melnik "The Witch" plus interview ~ Granta

Alex Perez "Eggs" ~ Subtropics

Saadat Hasan Manto "The Dog of Ṭeṭvāl" Translated by Aatish Taseer ~ Granta

Jerome Charyn "Silk & Silk" ~ Narrative Magazine story of the week

Yiyun Li "A Small Sacrifice" ~ The Threepenny Review

Jerome Charyn "Lorelei" ~ The Atlantic

Ben Greenman "Letters from an Earth Ball to, or Concerning, Sean Hannity" ~ McSweeney's

Alexis E. Santi "Concrete" ~ Our Stories

Lisa Cupolo "Long Division" ~ Ploughshares

Dinaw Mengestu "An Honest Exit" ~ The New Yorker

Justin Nicholes "The Factory" ~ The Medulla Review

Anthony Varallo "At Ease" A 2009 World's Best Short Short Story Contest Finalist ~ The Southeast Review

Lisa Norris "Please Use the Password" ~ Ascent

Tony Macnabb "An Audience with Osama" ~ The Barcelona Review

Matthew Lang "Island Paradise" ~ Our Stories

Diana Joseph "Bullets Going through Objects in Slow Motion" ~ Willow Springs

Thomas Gabriel-Ventimiglia "The Sluice" ~ The Baltimore Review

Lisa Glatt "Strangers in the House" ~ Gulf Stream

Jeremy Griffin "Reshma" ~ Gulf Stream

John Haskell "Three Quick Lives" ~ Salt Hill Journal

Elisa Pulido "Mrs. Ruzicka Goes Solo" ~ Literal Latte

Steven G. Kellman "That Goes without Saying: A Treatise on Silence" ~ Puerto del Sol

Jon Methven "Cinderella Story Miscues" ~ McSweeney's Internet Tendency

Justin Nicholes "Mei Ling Qian" ~ Slice Magazine

Rayne Debski "How to Feed a Muse" ~ Flashquake

Howard Zinn "The Power and the Glory" ~ Boston Review

Jesse Goolsby "Touch" Winner of the 2010 Richard Bausch Short Story Prize ~ Our Stories

Carolina De Robertis "On the Brink of Words" ~ 580 Split

xTx "I Choo Choo Choose You!" ~ Pindeldyboz

Mark Brazaitis "I Return" ~ Cimarron Review

Travis Klunick "Yegus Y Caballos" The Robert Watson Literary Prize Story ~ The Greensboro Review

Ersi Sotiropoulos "An Almost Guinea Fowl" Karen Emmerich trans. ~ The Literary Review

Shannon Robinson "Secondhand Body" ~ Whiskey Island Magazine

A. D. Jameson "A Sad Story of Factory Girls" ~ Caketrain

Elizabeth Eslami "Hibernators" ~ The Minnesota Review

John S. Walker "What You've Done for Me" First Place Winner in the Raymond Carver Short Story Award ~ Carve Magazine

Jeff Brewer "Sketchy Etchings" ~ The Portland Review

Shelley Scaletta "Sugaring Off" 2009 Fiction Contest Winner ~ The Briar Cliff Review

Marilyn Dorf "Friday's House" ~ South Dakota Review

Ron Rash "Redfish, Possums, and the New South" ~ South Carolina Review

Aja Gabel "How Someone Can Not Recognize You" ~ /nor

Joyce Carol Oates "In the Absence of Mentors/Monsters" ~ Narrative

Laura Loomis "The Sign" ~ Many Mountains Moving Flash Fiction Contest Winner

Laurah Norton Raines "Slow Freeze" ~ Post Road Magazine

Jeff O'Keefe "The Great Crowd" ~ Swink

J. David Stevens "Literally," "Ghost Story," "An Old Woman-Her Shoe," "Soup," and "Spectacle" ~ The Journal

Marshall Moore The Infernal Republic Signal 8 Press