Author Archives: susan

This winner of the 2004 Sarah Tucker Fiction Award is well-written by Nan Frydland as to storyline, structure, plot and voice.  Some of the imagery is exceptional: Mornings I listen to the birds for a while from bed, listen to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

The Getaway by Martha Whitmore Hickman has a wonderful storyline, that of a woman raising a family in a small town in New Hampshire in the early part of the 20th century.  Rachel is different from most folks of her … Continue reading → Continue reading →

While completely understanding deadlines, typesetting, etc., all the pressures of running a magazine, I still find it hard to accept that in a journal of this caliber I’ve already found nine typos. The worst part? Most of them appear to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Byron Y. Adams has gotten us intimately into the head of his main character, William, partner in a law firm.  Opening the story in a men’s room where the elderly William notes that a young associate seems to always be … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Written by Jane Bradley, this story is a second person pov, about a woman whose husband has just told her "we have no future, Alice" and covers a very brief period of time as she sits at an airport bar … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This story stands out from the rest as daring in content: the first person narrator, a Thalidomide baby now grown, who has his first sexual experience with an overpainted, boozing, drug-loving, epileptic midget (little person), with a twist of humor … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Normally I dislike first person revelatory introspection stories, but this by Katherin Nolte is smooth and quick enough to overcome the typical flippant and sassy attitude of a life gone wrong and the paths it might have taken instead. Roseanne … Continue reading → Continue reading →

I did enjoy this short story by Paul Crenshaw, both for its story and for the writing style.  In the setting of an insane asylum (sorry, mental institution) it opens with the first person narrator retelling a story a fellow … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Written by a highly credentialed (published novelist, short stories in lit journals, winner of grants and awards, creative writing teacher at NY University) Nahid Rachlin, Hotel Hafez tells of Mustafa, a young man who’s lost his family and becomes prime … Continue reading → Continue reading →

A simple story by Stephen Tuttle of rivalry, self-esteem, wishes and aging, I would think, but presented in an unusual style that I’ve seen before but am still not quite taken with it.  Grunwald’s a juggler, Semple, a contortionist.  As … Continue reading → Continue reading →

By Irvin Faust, this story relates from first person pov a young soldier’s time spent in Japan  right after the War and tells of his relationship with a young Japanese woman.  He takes her into the destroyed city of Hiroshima … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This story by Katherine Vaz took me longer to read since I found myself putting it down every few pages.  The reason is likely the feeling I got that it was disjointed and while as afterthought it was understandable, the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

This story by James Lee Burke flows back to an earlier time of a patriotic America, the recollection by the narrator of when he and his best friend were twelve and came up against the neighborhood bully.  This fight mirrors … Continue reading → Continue reading →