Tag Archives: Ploughshares

In truth, I’m more impressed with the poetry in this issue (Vol. 30, No. 4) than in the short stories.  I am certainly no expert at either writing or critiqueing poetry, but words and form such as this delight me: … Continue reading → Continue reading →

While it was my intention to breeze through these literary journals quickly, reading just the limited number of short stories, I do tend to check out some of the many poems when walking with the book in hand or just … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Quite excited about this issue, even delved a bit into the poetry.  Read the six fiction stories and all were very interesting and well written.  Also read the two nonfiction pieces and I herein admit that had I not known … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Before I allow myself the pleasure of The Best American Short Stories, I’d like to work on the backlog of lit journals a bit more, especially when I’m so close to clicking the "print" button on one of my own … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Dragged my way through to the end, and found something of real interest in this edition.  Out of twelve authors whose work is presented, only one has never been published.  Most of the rest are published in their own novels … Continue reading → Continue reading →

In the next to last story I’m reading in this issue, Lady of The Wild Beasts by Debra Spark, the narrative structure is a case of braiding two stories together.  The opening story is of a man in an office … Continue reading → Continue reading →

S’um bitch.  One of the stories I really didn’t like because it seemed just another neurotic sitting at a desk with his memories and daydreams and problems with alcohol is included in a newly published collection by this writer.  While … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Why in the name of all that is sacred and hallowed do I feel this great need to finish every story I start to read?  Is it the artist granting his fellows due respect?  Is it to learn how not … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Another good one in this same Fall 200 issue, by Randa Jarrar.  Qamar, a young girl who decides at nine she wants the moon for a neighbor boy who marries another before Qamar is fully grown.  She becomes a ballerina, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Just discovered that some of these stories may be read online, and in finding the link to Ploughshares for the previous post, I’ve found the story by Miles Harvey that I discussed (or, I suppose I should say "held forth" … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Sometimes there’s an extra special story in a literary journal and I’ve found one that excels on all counts.  Drought by Miles Harvey (Ploughshares, Fall 2004) is an exquisitely written story based on the simple premise of an adulterous affair … Continue reading → Continue reading →

No great shakes as yet, but this line stood out, from Intimacy and The Feast by Leslie Daniels: I thought you could see through the black letters on the page to the author, but they couldn’t see you.  I thought … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Okay, I’m not afraid; I’ll start naming names.  Rebecca Brown’s The Last Time I Saw You, in Ploughshares, Fall 200four: "I think the last time I saw you may have been that time near the church.  I still like that … Continue reading → Continue reading →

BTW, I’m actually an issue prior to the one I noted previously, since I found the earlier one unread and am weird about keeping things chronologically organized in my catching up of the lit journals. One of the stories in … Continue reading → Continue reading →