Issue 23 includes ten stories from ten excellent writers, including Wells Tower, Chris Bachelder, Ann Beattie, and other agile talents bringing visions of the Dallas/Fort Worth fake-watch trade and Papua New Guinea in the 1960s. Every story gets its own front and back cover, drawn, collaged, or embroidered by the polymathic Andrea Dezsö. The whole thing is wrapped in a jacket that unfolds into five square feet of double-sided glory--spread it out one way for dozens of very short stories by Dave Eggers, arranged in what we're pretty sure is a volvelle; flip it over and witness all those Dezsö illustrations stitched into one unbroken expanse.
Table of Contents
Wells Tower - Retreat
I had not spoken to my brother Matthew in thirteen months when he telephoned me last autumn.
Roddy Doyle - Black Hoodie
My Girlfriend is Nigerian, kind of, and when we go through the shops, we’re followed all the way.
Shawn Vestal - About As Fast As This Car Will Go
I never wanted to be a criminal until I was one.
Ann Beattie - Girls in Bad Weather
They were in Maine when it seemed Hurrican Wilma might land in Key West.
Chris Bachelder - My Son, There Exists Another World Alongside Our Own Dear Son,
Your mother reports, nigh hysterically, the locked doors, crusty socks, slow-moving drains.
Deb Olin Unferth - Bride
He came back at last to make her his wife.
Christopher Stokes - The Man Who Ate Michael Rockefeller
Half-Moon Terror and I were talking politics at the edge of the swamp when the billionaire’s son first appeared.
April Wilder - The Butcher Shop
Jack circles the block looking for Ann’s junker Saab and tonguing his lower left canine, which is loose and clicks in his gum like a light switch.
Clancy Martin - How To Sell
Before she killed my brother the Polack called me out of courtesy and told me what she was going to do.
Caren Beilin - I’m the Boss So Do What I Say
She had a ruffled rainbow suit––and I kissed Analiese.
