"The Anniversary," by Sanja Condit

The opening dialogue works with musical rhythm. Condit’s writing entices us immediately to listen to the characters as their relationship and situation unfolds.  The close point of view leans well into associative leaps like the houses once were as”neat as wooden blocks./He’d made a set of wooden blocks for Olivia...”.  Through the way the character’s mind works we get close to the emotion of loss and loneliness experienced in this story.  And the story moves in surprising ways as it uncovers this complex character immersed in a life that always seems just out of reach. Read it here in Sleet Magazine.

"Requiem," by James Joshua Wilson Mattern

I like the voice of this writer. I especially like the control that reigns in the story to the present moment before the beginning of a funeral. Authentic feeling is here: anger, recalling intense teenage desire to fly free from his dad’s influence, judgment by the young boy of his dad, and the deepening retrospective look. This narrative has a masterful way of turning corners and brings into focus the young man’s view of his dad while touching irrefutable connections. The practice of hate and anger has a self-sustaining life of its own. Without apology, this character’s emotional honesty enables him to honor a complex of feelings he has for his deceased dad. Read it here in Sleet Magazine.