That Frankenstein-Like Creation Glorified In Print

Above is the cover of the Spring/Summer 2010 issue of Alaska Quarterly Review.

It is Volume 27, No. 1 & 2.

It has a special feature, guest-edited by Amy Hempel, entitled:

Innovative Fiction: 21 Writers

The best part?

I'm featured as one of the 21 writers.

This is something that's been in the works for quite some time, so long, in fact, that I had almost given up hope that it would ever become a reality. But to be involved in it, and to see it finally happening, after everything that's gone on these past couple of weeks--it couldn't be more uplifting.

Here's everyone that will be included:

Introduction by Amy Hempel
No One Will Ever Marry You, You Know by Patricia Lear
My Music by Lily Tuck
Fire in the Taxidermy Shop by Mi Ditmar
Girl by Peter Markus
The Woman with High Heels by Paola Peroni
El Paso by Daryl Scroggins
How the Past Retruns by Daryl Scroggins
For the Record by Daryl Scroggins
The Ride Home from Church by Daryl Scroggins
Influences by Daryl Scroggins
What Remains by Daryl Scroggins
Footnote by Daryl Scroggins
Compost Conversion by Daryl Scroggins
Quarter by John Rybicki
Sell It Back to Me by Katie Arnold-Ratliff
Bricks by Robert Lopez
Hell on Church Street Blues by Robert Lopez
Chop Suey by Robert Lopez
The Turn Worming by Robert Lopez
Flesh by Michael Ahn
Up 58 South by Jamie Quatro
The End of Something by Nick Falgout
The Social Life of Mice by Megan Mayhew-Bergman
I Had It Out by Anna DeForest
The Last Day of Summer by James Donovan
Did You See Me See You? by Patricia Volk
An Unexpected Pleasure by Christopher Kennedy
And the Harps Play Us Off Excerpts from Hall of Mirrors by Timothy Liu

Mirrors by Joe Stracci
The Day Before Christmas Eve by Joe Stracci

Success Story by Julia Slavin
We Are Not Shelter Men by Julia Slavin
Famous Last Words by Bernard Cooper

NONFICTION

How to Write a Good Sentence: A Manual for Writers Who Know How to Write Correct Sentences by Arnold G. Nelson

POETRY

The Love Hotel by Heather Kirn
The Peace Dome by Heather Kirn
Water Notes by Carolyn Stoloff
Dream of Early Life Beneath the Waves by Dan Stryk
The Rowboat by Michael Hettich
Old Sayings Apply in Here by Rob Talbert
Jumper by Rob Talbert
School Yard by Doug Ramspeck
The Fat Man Sings of Despair by George Looney
This Poem by Dan O'Brien
My Mother, at Six, Speaks to Me by Jeanne Emmons
Cutting Apples by Michael Salcman
Rubia Writes a Poem about Light for a Contest by Amy Groshek
The Sky I Die by Will be Grey by Todd Boss
The Death of a Scholar by Andrew Merton
Your Date with Death by Andrew Merton
The Mortician's Fiance by Sara McKinnon
Mass Grave at Shiloh by James Doyle
The May of Winter by Elizabeth Swados
Fight or Flight by Christine Butterworth-McDermott
Ultrasound Aubade by Amber Flora Thomas
Cavity in the Rubenesque Facade by Amber Flora Thomas
Meditation of Four West by Amber Flora Thomas

The mix of names here, some major ones and some people I'm happy to say I'm friends with, leaves me dizzy with excitement.

There's some information here on how to get a copy and hopefully I'll have more in the future. And here is the "official" table of contents.

As a writer, the reward comes on the page. When you read something you wrote and you're proud of it and after skinning it alive and dolling it up and putting it back together again, you put it aside and call it complete.

To see that Frankenstein-like creation glorified in print--brought to life for the consumption and hopeful enjoyment of others--it's an honor, something I could definitely get used to.


More soon.

JS