In looking over the stories for this issue, I’m struck by how several of them are so strongly defined by place. Whether it’s the city the characters live in, or the physical space that surrounds them, the strong sense of place defines and shapes the story and the characters within it.
In “Masters of Matchsticks” by Craig Buchner, two men battle the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina—trying not only to survive, but to figure out how the place they call home has changed and what that means for them. In Adam Peterson’s “When You Look for Us, I’ll Be Here,” the location is smaller and more specific—a grocery store—and yet that very specific place is the catalyst for the questioning of an entire relationship. A lifetime seems to hang in the balance between the potato chips aisle and the cleaning supplies, and Adam does a wonderful job here of showing us the fears and uncertainties that can creep up on you at any moment, in any situation.
Rosie Forrest masterfully captures what I like to call a “liminal space” in “Next Rest Stop, Twenty-Two Miles.” There’s nothing like the meditative space of a long road trip alone, and while “thinking and driving” may not seem like a compelling enough plot to make a story, Rosie proves you can do it and you can do it well. Her narrator is driving and musing—she is stuck between the place she left and the place she is going to, and it is in this state of suspension that a beautiful story unweaves.
We’ve got new, crooked houses, fancy restaurants, old movie theaters and veterinarian offices. And within all these places and spaces, the beauty of fiction emerges once again.
So I invite you into our virtual space to read and celebrate these 19 stories that make up our 42nd issue of SmokeLong Quarterly.
Hope you and your friends and family have a happy end of 2013. We’ll see you on the flip side.
Tara Laskowski
Senior Editor, SmokeLong Quarterly
December 16, 2013
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