NEW ISSUE. SMOKELONG QUARTERLY 23

New issue of SMOKELONG QUARTERLY. Authors include:

LYDIA COPELAND
KYLE HEMMINGS
STEFANIE FREELE
TANIA HERSHMAN
TAI DONG HUAI
BARRY GRAHAM

...and many others. Included in this issue is my story CAVED IN. Read it here:

http://smokelong.com/flash/barrygraham23.asp

And if you've read along this far, you might as well check out my interview. Here's an excerpt:

This story is a first-rate example of how every word is chosen purposefully: the resurrection of the cigarettes, the weaving of a small scourge, the coagulation of the blood. How do you choose these images – the weeping willows, cigarette butts, a cedar pew, the big white bus? And in the end, Karly draws pine trees. Why pine trees?

I chose words that held some sort of religious connotation; blood, pew, weeping, church, white, resurrect, and of course the small scourge, which for me invokes Jesus’ overly violent reaction against the Jewish tradesmen in the synagogue. I grew up in Sunday school, as did many of the children in my neighborhood. And I guess as an adult I am interested in the idea of so much violence and abuse happening to children who devoted so much faith and hope to memorizing Bible verses and singing Jesus Loves Me, and I wanted to bring that conflict into a collection of small fictions.

Read the rest here:

http://smokelong.com/interview/barrygraham23.asp