Finding an Interesting Writer a Phone Call Away

by Derek Alger

Originally published on October 4, 2010

The other week my brother and sister, who are a year apart in age, and both younger than me, attended a high school reunion.  I can’t believe what year reunion it was because I still think of my siblings as teenagers, even though age wise, they could be very young grandparents. My brother and sister [...]

Kelly Cherry

interviewed by Derek Alger

Originally published on October 1, 2010

Kelly Cherry is the author of nineteen books of fiction — both novels and collections of stories — poetry, memoir, essay, and criticism. Cherry’s short fiction has been reprinted in Best American Short Stories, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, The Pushcart Prize, and New Stories from the South, and has won three PEN/Syndicated Fiction Awards.

Coward

by Nathan Stretch

Originally published on October 1, 2010

They walked past those houses whose lots are so small the yards are mostly cars: whose tenants keep their tiny lawns with ancient blades exhibiting their age in the protesting swirls of clippings, in chipping-off paint.

A Letter To My Brain

by Michael Broek

Originally published on October 1, 2010

When the brain asked, “Are you saturated yet?” “Are you saturated yet?” I thought I had misheard, maturated, pasteurized, stratified, satisfied, the echoes of my lobes, random thoughts: tree – vagina – coffee – vagina Bakhtin, did he get laid – chocolate muffin – another word for vagina – rattling like box cars at the [...]

Literature, The Northwest, and Me

by Ryan Gleason

Originally published on October 1, 2010

My finger drifts along the books’ spines. I insist on being casual, skimming through hundreds of alphabetized names and titles as though they were one relentless, underwhelming sentence.

Ruined for All Other Men

by Jane Eisenhart

Originally published on October 1, 2010

While she prayed, Christa heard organ music – the sound of a hundred unrelated sounds forcibly coupled together. Behind shut eyelids she registered white blurry hums from the altar candles.

Catfishing

by Jeff Santosuosso

Originally published on October 1, 2010

A catfish aroma woke me up, Hungover, and sloppy, my beard over-whiskered like the barbels on a catfish, And rough, as if that fish had scales. My Abyssinian had passed away. I paused at his bowl on the floor Scrap-less and vacant, No paws to fish out the treats, No hungry whisker reminders brushing my [...]

Image Wasteland

by Rachel Nagelberg

Originally published on October 1, 2010

And on the fifth day the artist knelt down and wrapped his arms around the wild beast, bringing it to the surface of his neck and chest.

Wu Wei

by S.J. Dunning

Originally published on October 1, 2010

My dog leaps from seat to seat, window to window, shaken by
something so much larger than herself, by the wind’s thrust against her jowls.

WHEN THE SLUT STRIPPED

by Ashok Rajamani

Originally published on October 1, 2010

WHEN HE, THE SLUT, STRIPPED NUDE FOR THE CROWD HE CRIED OUT, “MARRY ME, MARRY ME” TO NO ONE IN PARTICULAR. LATER THAT NIGHT ON TV AFTER HE SAW HER AFTER HE SAW BEYONCE SING OF SINGLE LADIES, THAT NIGHT LIKE ANY FLAMING MAN, LIKE ANY BURNING MAN WHO YEARNED TO WEAR A WEDDING DRESS [...]