This week on the r.kv.r.y. blog, I’m excited to feature the work of Jessica Handler, author of the fine essay Hungry from our fall/winter issue. I’ve long been an admirer of Jessica’s work. Let me see if I can articulate what impresses me the most about her writing. I’ll write as if I’m blurbing her book: “Jessica Handler has an amazing ability to distill a moment by taking us through the perfect combination of past events and the minute dissection of all things internal–especially engaging when read in her assured storyteller form.” Wait–that sounds like artspeak gobbledygook, doesn’t it? Clearly, I’m having a difficult time doing what she does so well (and by all appearances, effortlessly). Perhaps the best way to understand my rambling attempt at description is to read one of her marvelous essays or her moving memoir, Invisible Sisters.

In addition to Hungry, you can read her excellent short essay To the Moon in Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction.

If you prefer to listen to her mellow, assured, dulcet voice, I recommend this link to an interview on Georgia Public Radio.

Her blog has links to many others and you can visit that here: Swimming in the trees.

And I highly recommend her memoir Invisible Sisters, which can be purchased here.

Here is the book’s write up: “When Jessica Handler was eight years old, her younger sister Susie was diagnosed with leukemia. To any family, the diagnosis would have been upending, but to the Handlers, whose youngest daughter Sarah had been born with a rare congenital blood disorder, it was an unimaginable verdict. By the time Jessica Handler turned nine, she had begun to introduce herself as the “well sibling;” and her family had begun to come apart.

Invisible Sisters is Handler’s powerfully told story of coming of age—as the daughter of progressive Jewish parents who move south to participate in the social-justice movement of the 1960s; as a healthy sister living in the shadow of her siblings’ illness; and as a young woman struggling to step out of the shadow of her sisters’ deaths, to find and redefine herself anew. With keen-eyed sensitivity, Handler’s brave account explores family love and loss, and what it takes not just to survive, but to keep living.”

I’m proud and honored to have Jessica’s awesome essay appear in my first issue as r.kv.r.y.’s editor.

I’ve admired, appreciated, and been inspired by Alicia Gifford’s work for a long time. It was in 2003 that I first “e-met” her online at Zoetrope Studios and ever since then I have been consistently wowed by the energized, engaged, and edgy work she produces. Her short story Fallen in the current issue of r.kv.r.y. caught my attention right away. It’s written in close third-person with the perfect mix of humor, crass, and insight, and I feel so fortunate that she let us share it with you here.

Alicia is also a fantastic editor at Night Train, and her short story “Toggling the Switch” published in Narrative Magazine won the 2005 Million Writers Award for best online short story of 2004. More of her fine work can be read by following the links below. And I’ve got to tell you, if you’re reading her work for the first time, you’re in for a rare treat–a storyteller smorgasbord.

Surviving Darwin

You Go

Gravitas: Epilogue

Wreckers

Ugly, Tasty, SVU

I also know that Alicia has been at work for some time on a novel-in-stories. I am eagerly awaiting its publication (after some smart agent snaps her up and sends out the manuscript, of course). Her short story Fallen is taken from that work-in-progress and although Fallen had been previously published (the brilliant editors at PANK snatched it up first) I knew I wanted it for r.kv.r.y.’s first issue with me as editor. (If for no other reason than to be able to someday say, “Oh, Alicia Gifford? Yeah, we published her way back when–well before she won the National Book Award for her novel-in-stories.)

Oh, and just FYI, there is also a female bodybuilder by the name of Alicia Gifford, but our Alicia Gifford is not that Alicia Gifford…though it is entirely possible they both have buns of steel.

Our fabulous former editor, Victoria Pynchon, has written a book! And, lucky you, it’s coming out in just a few weeks.

The ABCs of Conflict Resolution is a primer on the resolution of disputes that range from the neighbor’s barking dog to the man with a bomb in his shoe.  Whether we’re trying to understand the most recent outbreak of violence in the Middle East or negotiate our way out of a cell-phone contract, the principles and practices used by international diplomats, school principals, Wall Street executives, corporate lawyers, and, yes, used car salesmen, to close the deal reach or settle the case  are the same –- one in which my gain does not equal your loss and your loss does not cause my gain.

You can join the book’s Facebook fan page here.

Congratulations, Victoria!!

I first became a fan of Jericho Brown when I heard him read at the Bread Loaf Writers Conference in the Green Mountains of Vermont. I often cringe when someone describes a writer as “brave” but that’s the word that comes to mind when I read Jericho’s work. Or, perhaps “fearless” works just as well with less tincture of condescention. For surely, Jericho fearlessly opens us up to the creative life of a man both black and gay, and he does this with a rare, unflinching honesty and closeness. He owns this voice and yet, at the same time, he isn’t afraid to employ the voice of other narrators: Diana Ross, for example, or the lion from the Wizard of Oz, Marvin Gaye, Janis Joplin. And each one has something special to tell us about their world, about the author’s world.

Jericho’s book, Please, is filled with stunning poems, each expressing a special sort of longing, of burning. From the book’s description: “Please explores the points in our lives at which love and violence intersect. Drunk on its own rhythms and full of imaginative and often frightening imagery, Please is the album playing in the background of the history and culture that surround African American/male identity and sexuality. Just as radio favorites like Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway, and Pink Floyd characterize loss, loneliness, addiction, and denial with their voices, these poems’ chorus of speakers transform moments of intimacy and humor into spontaneous music.”

Mark Doty reviewed Please here.

You can read more of Jericho’s work by following the links below, or by visiting his website.

An interview at New American Poets

Verse Daily

Another interview

And a very special treat that I highly recommend: visit From the Fishhouse and listen to Jericho recite his excellent poetry just for you.

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Well, I have finally made my editorial decision as to which three pieces I would nominate for Dzanc’s Best of the Web 2011. It was difficult, and many of the pieces didn’t qualify because they were not web-exclusive. There were so many I would have loved to nominate, but I also tried to take into consideration which ones I thought had the best chance of being selected, given what I know of Dzanc’s previous choices. Ultimately, if I was on the fence about several pieces, that was the deciding factor (I believed it had a greater chance of being selected). I only wish I could have nominated them all. But r.kv.r.y.’s three nominations are (drumroll):

Hungry by Jessica Handler (essay)

Weight of the Moment by Jeffery Hess (fiction)

and

What I Can Tell You Now by Tracy Crow (essay).

Thank you to all the fine r.kv.r.y. contributors and good luck to Jessica, Jeff, and Tracy!

How do you feel afterward? More powerful? Smarter? Virtuous? More
handsome? Vindicated? Why did you do it? You violated his privacy in
cyberspace. Others of your ilk beat, physically torture and even kill their
victims. Does it matter? Is cyberspace preferable to physical abuse? To
the victim, I imagine that your means is unimportant. To him, whatever way
you do it is equally crushing. All he wants is to live his own life: work, eat,
love, laugh, have friends, enjoy freedom, be left alone.

Despite what you believe, he did not choose his life as a homosexual any
more than you chose your brown eyes. Do his actions bother you? Does
his life bother you? Are you such a superior being that you can condemn
the actions of others?

I could never serve on your jury. Whether you drove another to suicide,
beat him or physically tortured him, I could not judge you in court. I’ve
already judged you and found you to be beneath contempt. No one would
let someone who feels as I do be on your jury. Would the lawyers be able
to find anyone to serve? There are those who agree with you, who think
“those weirdos” choose their feelings and their lifestyles. There are those
who agree with me, who think that people should be left alone.

Is there anyone in the middle? Open minded, non-judgmental? Our
country appears to be so polarized that each side claims its superiority The
great middle, the common denominator, seems to have been permanently
silenced. I’m as much at fault as anyone.

Even our little ones seem to feel the need to assert themselves by bullying
other children: for being “different” or “just because.”

By your example, you’re teaching the young ones well, indeed. Perhaps as
they get older, they can go on to hound, beat, torture their contemporaries
to death. Congratulations!

Hallie Block lives and writes in Buffalo, New York.

Jim Harrington has a great blog for writers. Each week he features a different editor answering six questions about what they are looking for in submissions. This week I’m up, answering questions about selections for r.kv.r.y..

SQF: What are the top three things you look for in a story and why?

MA:

1. I look for a story to tell me something universal about the human condition. And by the way, just because we have our theme as “recovery” doesn’t mean all of our stories are about characters who are successfully recovering. Often it’s not the recovery story that says the most about the process of recovering. I like to read stories that show heart and depth of character. Writers should love their characters; even if they don’t give them happy lives, they need to respect them or the story won’t work for me.
2. I look for interesting language. Word plays, lyricism, music, these are all very important to me. And bear in mind that when I say “music,” that doesn’t mean only classical. Rock and roll, punk, hip-hop–these are music, too. A story can be hard-hitting and gritty and still have music to the words.
3. I look for strong sensory descriptions. Take me there. Let me see, smell, taste, hear the world, the experiences of your characters. Give me something I can relate to with my body.

SQF: . What are the top three reasons a story is rejected, other than not fitting into your answers to the above question and why?

MA:

1. Because it is too long. We only accept stories and essays that are 3,000 words or fewer,
2. Because it doesn’t fit our clearly stated theme of recovery, and
3. Because although it may speak to our theme, it does so in a way that doesn’t take into account the larger world.

SQF: What other common mistakes do you encounter that turn you off to a story?

MA: Typos and grammatical errors bug me but aren’t deal breakers if the writing is otherwise sharp and exciting. Poor-pitiful-me stories are usually cathartic to write but not much fun to read and we do receive a lot of those, as you can imagine. I’m not big on navel gazing stories. I like for things to happen, for conventional ideas to be challenged, big concepts explored.

SQF: Do you provide comments when you reject a story?

MA: Yes. Sometimes generic ones, sometimes more detailed ones. The farther the story gets in the editorial process the more likely I am to comment personally.

SQF: Based on your experience as an editor, what have you learned about writing?

MA: I’ve learned how important it is to start strong, to grab the reader right away. In my writer’s heart, I wish there was more time for exposition and thoughtful asides, but in reality–at least in the world of on-line publishing–there isn’t. You’ve got to get into the meat of things right away.

SQF: What one question on this topic do you wish I’d asked that I didn’t? And how would you answer it?

MA: I wish you had asked what sort of stories I would like to see that I’m not seeing. I’d like to see more humor. The fastest road to recovery involves humor and if we can’t laugh at ourselves, or see our foibles in a fictional character and laugh at them, then we won’t get very far down Recovery Road. I’d like to see some stories that address the military aspect of recovery. Recovery from war, for example, either as the service member or the civilian affected by war. I’d really like to see more stories about environmental recovery or lack thereof. Mountaintop removal, ocean degradation, oil spills–these issues are vitally important to me and should be to anyone who, you know, drinks water or breathes air. And yet they are not often addressed in the world of fiction. We should never underestimate the power of stories to change thinking and thereby change the world.

Our Fall/Winter 2010 issue in now up and LIVE. We have chosen sixteen amazing works of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction for this issue.

Our illustrator is the fabulous artist Dawn Estriin, who personally read each selection and created a custom image to accompany each work. We’re so thrilled to have this fine lineup of writers grace our pages.

Each week I will highlight one of the works and say a little something about the author and my process of selecting it.

Enjoy!

We’re very excited to announce that the October issue of r.kv.r.y. will be illustrated by Dawn Estrin, a photographer and photo collage artist who also produces fine, handmade jewelry (with her partner George Wilson) through her business Bijou Graphique.

Dawn has pursued art since her teen years when she studied metalworking at the Cleveland Institute of Art. She holds a BFA in Fine Arts for painting and drawing. Later in life, she became interested in photography, a craft she taught herself and has practiced for 15 years. She draws on a vast collection of /images for her jewelry and photo collages.

Each issue we hope to highlight the work of a current artist, and collaborate with them to illustrate our fine poetry, fiction, and essays. Artists will be given the opportunity to read the accepted pieces in advance, and encouraged to select whatever /images (from their own work or the work of others) that they believe fits the writing in theme and tone. I can’t wait to see the excellent collaborations that result.

See you in October!

Faithful readers, thanks for hanging in with us as we undergo a changing of the guard here at r.kv.r.y.

Our vissionary founder (and tireless former editor-in-chief) Victoria Pynchon has decided that she needs to devote her energies to her fledgling book–you can listen to an excellent interview with her here, and she has passed the torch on to Mary Akers whose first issue will launch in October.

Stay tuned for more exciting news to come!