Well, that didn’t work.
The plan was to catch up on some of my backlog of lit journals since a) I tend to read all the short stories–there’s usually six of ’em max, and b) the novels I’ve been reading have claimed my attention to the point of being really detrimental to my more serious reading such as Barthes, philosophy, the learning texts of Hypertext 3.0 and software how-tos, and the learning/fun play of the interactive game stories. Unfortunately, I’ve spent the day reading this issue alone.
The True History by Brent Spencer starts off well with a volunteer group of Texians looking for the war. First person pov puts the protagonist in the midst of men who aren’t’ really committed to the cause, are undisciplined, and the inevitable happens when they hunger for food, promised gold, and are horny to boot. Well written, but rather predictable.
Bess Helen’s Dog by Paul Lisicky is an excerpt from a novel, and I really would like to know how the rest of the book is written. This is first person pov, the narrator being, I believe, a dead pet dog. It’s a bit surrealistic as it ties in with a human dream, and it is written much better than the usual doggie pov, and it holds promise of an interesting story.
An Amateur’s Story by Carol Bly gives us a small town with some interesting characters, and focuses on one in particular, a doctor who nobody really likes because he seems rather cool. We see him however in a much different way as he tries the only way he hasn’t already in saving a battered wife, that of insisting that she join the church choir which he feels will give her some self-confidence and at the least, get her out of her house for a while. Well written and good depth of character.
The last three stories will be briefly reviewed in a bit–as soon as I finish the last one. The poetry I have scanned through, reading each without being tempted to get involved, were not enough to get me excited about anything. But this caveat: I’m not particularly moved by anything but truly awesome poetry, and that means either in form, use of language, great imagery, wonderful metaphor, or relativity.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology