Great reads:

I visited the local Barnes & Noble while I was out of town recently and picked up a couple of journals that my hometown B&N doesn't carry. I love, LOVE the stories I found:

From the #6 - Spring/Summer 2010 issue of HOW Journal:

"Economics" by Aryn Kyle. I fell in love, all over again, with words while reading this story! I realize this sounds a bit strange because, really, words are just words, right? No! They are so much more. I found myself pausing as I read this, letting the beauty of the prose sink in. I even read a passage to my husband (whose reading list includes entrepreneur type publications, as well as sports magazines) because I was so enamored with it.

"Confabulated Stories: The Doctor's Wife, From 1960-1962" by Luis Jaramillo. The style is more sparse than not and the story is broken up into sections, each with its own subtitle. The wife/mother is never given a name, always referred to as "the Doctor's Wife." But all these combine into a charming, engaging story.

From the Spring 2010 issue of The Pinch:

"The Apple And Paradise Too" by Erica Johnson Debeljak. I slipped right into this story. The prose was colorful and warm; it enveloped and lured me in.

"High School And The Mysteries Of Everything Else" by David Borofka. Interestingly enough, this story is also separated into distinct sections, each with its own subtitle. David creates a very likable character in Leanne, one who is at once smart, witty, and vulnerable.

Fireworks!

I've been playing around with my camera (code for trying to learn how to USE it) and thought the fireworks presented a terrific opportunity to experiment with nighttime photography. I did lots of research beforehand, attempting to assimilate the various required settings and admit the most frustrating part was trying to figure out how to GET TO the "bulb" setting. But I found it! I was pleasantly surprised at how well the photos turned out - they look like actual fireworks! It was a lot of fun though fending off the mosquitos was not.

Bitter Oleander

Received an acceptance for a short-short of mine from editor Paul Roth of The Bitter Oleander. Woo-hoo!!! To say that I'm swooning over-the-top thrilled would be an understatement.

The fall issue should be out in October.

It was the nicest acceptance letter I've ever received. Did I mention how thrilled I am??

I LOVE this journal:

PANK Issue No. 4. I've been leisurely working my way through this journal, thoroughly enjoying the stories, and while I'm not finished with it yet, I'm so excited and moved and thrilled by what I've read that I decided to go ahead and tell you about it. My faves:

"Funhouse" and "Superman And Jesus" by Katherine Grosjean
"October of Brief Empire" by Craig Davis
"Fallen" by Alicia Gifford
"Unzipped" by Aaron Burch
"Babies On The Shore" by Ethel Rohan
"Struck Dumb" by Nick Sansone
"The Twelve Times Cristina Paz Quoted Tupac" by Ryan Dilbert
"But You Don't Really Care For Music, Do You?" by Angi Becker Stevens
"When A Heart Is A Bull's Eye" by Steven J. McDermott

Look at all these great stories! And I still have a ways to go! It's well worth your time to pick up a copy and enjoy it for yourself.

Great read:

I have just finished reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and my reaction? Wow. I love, love, love it when I'm able to lose myself in a fictional world, when the characters are so real, so engaging, when the storyline is so compelling that I find myself dwelling on it even when I'm not reading it. Such was the case with The Lovely Bones.

I loved this. What I loved most was the idea of it, the story being told from the murdered child's POV, and how bits and pieces of "her heaven" were weaved in. Very creative. I have to say, also, that watching the gut-wrenching pain of a family struggling to deal with the horror and devastation of losing a child/sibling was tough. And gripping. What a testament to the author: it was so well done, the prose so delightful, so honest that I fell into the story, feeling what these characters felt, living their nightmare. The mom's pain, in particular, and how she dealt with it was rendered beautifully. That's not to say that the father's pain was any less; no, it was tender and just as painful. But there was something about the way the mother handled it -- being numb, avoiding it, never looking directly at it, running away physically, long after she'd left emotionally, coming back 7 years later to finally, tenuously, begin to heal -- that felt so real, like how I might react. So unbearable and yet you must go on.

I thought the reunion with Ray was masterful.

This was a great read. Very poignant, very moving in all the best ways.

Have you read it?

Summer

The days are perfect: temperatures in the upper 70's, no humidity, cloudless brilliant blue skies. The kind of day where anything seems possible.

The weeds need pulling, vegetables need planting, the grass needs water. But, instead, I sit outside on the patio with a good book... it's what I wait all year for, what I dream about during the white, snow-filled days of winter.

Great reads:

The last few days have been miserably cold and rainy, perfect for folding the loads of laundry waiting for me. But, instead, I've been reading. Here are some stories I found, read, and thoroughly enjoyed:

From the April 2010 issue, #10, of Knee-Jerk: "The Meaning of The Hat" by Anne Leigh Parrish. Its subtlety is what makes it so sublime.

From the April 2010 issue, #5.04, of Pank: "Seven Items In Jason Reynolds' Pocket, Two Days After His Suicide, As Found By His Eight-Year-Old Brother, Grady" by Robert Startwood. This is complex, full of rich layers and beautifully rendered.

From Issue 10.1 of Night Train: "Fresh Eggs" by Jeffrey N. Johnson. This is charming and full of meaning.

Go ahead and set your own waiting laundry aside and enjoy these.