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Hidden, Part One Is Now Available!
If the measure of a great novel is that you want to keep turning the pages, then “Hidden, Part One” is a smashing success! Berry has created a cast of richly detailed characters—some we empathize with from the first moments we meet them, others we loath with a feral intensity. But what makes “Hidden”…
Sheep in the Winter Night
Inside the barn the sheep were standing, pushed close to one another. Some were dozing, some had eyes wide open listening in the dark. Some had no doubt heard of wolves. They looked weary with all the burdens they had to carry, like being thought of as stupid and cowardly, disliked by cowboys for the…
What is Supposed to Happen
When you were small,we watched you sleeping, waves of breath filling your chest. Sometimes we hid behind the wall of baby, soft cradle of baby needs. I loved carrying you between my own body and the world. Now you are sharpening pencils, entering the forest of lunch boxes, little desks. People I never saw before…
Hidden Part 1, by Linda Berry, will be out later this year!
Haunted by the violent deaths of his Marine brothers in Afghanistan, twenty-eight-year-old Sully returns home to Oregon wanting to piece his fragmented life back together. His homecoming is tainted, however, by the long-buried secrets of his invalid father, which have torn the family apart. Their horse ranch has been neglected and is sliding into bankruptcy.…
Cruising with the Beach Boys
By Dana Gioia from 99 Poems. So strange to hear that song again tonight Traveling on business in a rented car Miles from anywhere I’ve been before. And now a tune I haven’t heard for years Probably not since it last left the charts Back in L.A. in 1969. I can’t believe I know the…
Tree Poem
It wasn’t that he wanted to take his life. He wanted to take his death into his own hands. There was a difference, he knew, though he couldn’t articulate it. More speculative than suicidal, more curious than depressed, more interested than not, he didn’t want to talk to a therapist. He wanted to talk to…
9 Story Openings to Avoid, Part 3
By Literary Agent Kristin Nelson & Angie Hodapp For the Part 1 of this article series, click here. For the Part 2 of this article series, click here. Angie Hodapp and I recently teamed up to bring wit and wisdom to writers who want to work on craft. During our workshop, we identified several story openings that…
Ashes
My father was a volcano spewing lava that night, tables became timber — curtains fell, walls crumbled. My mother was a hummingbird darting between him and us wings humming false promises that evaporated in the heat. In the next room, my sister and I shared a double bed like we had shared our mother’s womb,…
Almanac
My grandparents owned the land, worked the land, bound to the earth by seasons of planting and harvest. They watched the sky, the habits of birds, hues of sunset, the moods of moon and clouds, the disposition of air. They inhaled the coming season, let it brighten their blood for the work ahead. Soil sifted…