A Particular Sensibility

The point of having a guest editor is to get a particular person’s sensibility to shape the section, and I didn’t see how I could do that unless I read every story that was submitted. Boy, were there a lot. Many of them were quite good; many were not. I solicited one story but wanted to keep at least four slots free, to give proper service to the chaos of the slush pile. I’m pleased with the results.

Two of the pieces here—Jen Neale’s and Emmett Matheson’s—fall into the wide category of comic fiction, but not into the almost-as-large trap of using comedy as an exit hatch or release valve from the tensions of the story. Julie Cameron Gray’s “The Little Mermaids” at first seems to be a light, comic narrative of an interestingly wasted summer, but changes into a different type of story with a gradualness and inevitability that prevents us from seeing the careful craft that brings us to the superb ending. Sofia Mostaghimi’s "Bliss" is told in the first person, but with a coolness and distance that allows the story to satirize its characters without being unsympathetic. It’s more than a neat trick—when time accelerates in the final paragraphs, it’s clear that the tone of the story’s telling is also, essentially, the point. I think so, anyway. Evelyn Deshane’s "Seven Letters to an Unknown Godhead" is a story that channels the poetic power of the best supernatural fiction, and reaches into the past without losing its unmistakably contemporary presence. I hope you enjoy reading these stories.