Issue 102 has arrived and it’s a pleasure to offer Last Day by award-winning writer John Edgar Wideman whose experimental style is used adroitly to track the trail of thought of a man visiting his brother in prison.  “None of the humming discontent, the simmering helplessness and frustration a person experiences upon entering a prison visiting room is accidental. Room’s layout conceived, like the rule to divide races conceived, in order to execute a plan. And plan works.”  

Next up is Kiss! by Joe Eichner, in which a young couple slides into what becomes a “marital project” based on having no sex.  It’s fun, it’s perverse, and not without consequences. Though hardly in a way you might anticipate.      

And from Roy Lowenstein we have James from the Wallet.  What happens when a man discovers he has lost his wallet?  In this case he is contacted by the person who has it, but the retrieval proves difficult.  It’s an amusing story, full of surprise, with a poignant undertow.
 
Last up is SOVA by Erin Gravley.  Here a young woman, who is having an affair with a married man, has a car accident after leaving him at a party. For her emergency contact, she listed the married man. What happens next proves illuminating.

 In our picks from back issues we have Dip Me in Honey and Throw Me to the Lesbians by Kathy Anderson (issue 72), and Ten Pound Note  by Scottish writer Des Dillon (issue 77). Two superb stories.
 
Our quiz this issue is Covid in Literature. Test your knowledge and you’re in the running to win a 30-Euro gift certificate from Amazon. For answers to last issue’s quiz, Contemporary Cuban Writers, click here.  Our winner is Liam Rodger from the U.K.  

Our book review this issue is on Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby, the author’s second crime novel, and a fine one it is.

Our next issue is due out the end of April 2022. To be notified when new issues are available, just ‘LIKE’ The Barcelona Review on Facebook (for the Spanish, LIKE Barcelona Review without the THE); or email us to subscribe (gratis, of course), though often our bulk email is blocked from servers so we cannot guarantee a notification.

Jill Adams, editor
Michael Garry Smout, tech and design

Readers:  Rachel Ballenger, Hanna Bartels, Bergita Bugarija, Michael Ferlazzo, Jamie Kahn, Milena Nigam and Sam Simon

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