Welcome to Issue 87.
First up is Death Wish by Tara Laskowski. What happens when a co-worker is murdered? In this case the protagonist can’t stop comparing the dead girl’s boyfriend to her own. And the comparison has consequences.
In Arthur Flowers’ There Is No Rest, we move to Memphis, Tennessee, where someone is killing hoodoos. The author brings this rich spiritual tradition to life with a magically lyrical vernacular as the resident hoodoo detective, the Finder of Lost Things, takes on the case.
Turning to Nigeria, it’s a real pleasure to present Never Forget by Zino Asalor. Here we follow a young girl on a nightmare taxi ride. Asalor gives us a glimpse of the poor and struggling in that country while reminding us of the dangers that lurk in the shadows.
Last up, in Sochi, 2014, Paul Mandelbaum pulls back the curtain on Putin at the Olympic Games where we witness his pursuit of a young, married girl from the Crimea. How will she respond to his advances? What is Putin like behind closed doors? Read and discover.
In picks from back issues we feature two superb stories from the U.S. — Surviving Darwin by Alicia Gifford and Naked With Boys by G.K. Wuori.
Our quiz this issue is on War Lovers in Literature. Answers to the quiz from our last issue Bad Men and Women in Literature can be found here. Five entrants answered correctly, so the names went into a hat (yes, we really do the hat thing) and the winner: Arthur Maurer. Felicidades! And thanks to all who participated.
Book reviews this issue focus on Yelena’s Leningrad by Des Dillon and Welcome to Christiania by Fred Leebron, two exciting novelists from opposite sides of the pond.
Local News: Spain held national elections on Dec. 20th and, as the headlines declared, it was a "Lío general," a general mess. The currently ruling conservative party did not win a parliamentary majority, meaning they needed to join with another party in order to stay in power. But the only party with enough votes to form such a coalition was the Socialist party, which was not the least interested in joining forces with the opposition and was scrambling to form its own coalition. Without the possibility of a pact, there is still no functioning executive in sight and a re-election might be called. A similar mess prevails here in Catalonia where the ruling party failed to take the majority. The president stepped down and the mayor of Girona was brought in to fill the role, but the current coalition is not of similar mind and government is stalled.
In other news, TBR’s Spanish editor of many years, Barcelona-based Peruvian Ernesto Escobar, just published a collection of 11 stories, Salvo el poder, that reflects on the power in politics, terrorism, and the history and the role of the press, questioning official discourse. It has met with much critical acclaim, so for those who can read Spanish, order now – www.amazon.es TBR will be running a translation in our next issue.
Peace and love,
Jill
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