Fetish by Jason Helm
This is my friend and former teacher Jason’s chapbook! You used to be able to order it here.
Escape Mushroom Style by Trinie Dalton
This is another of the Corresponding Society’s “How Now” chapbooks, and it is easily my favorite of the series. For one, and I’ve already stressed this but I should make it known now that I could never stress this enough, it and the others are very pretty. I would consider this the prettiest (full disclosure: green is my favorite color). I also found the story to be both the funniest and the saddest of the bunch and if you’ve noticed a particular trend in my reading diet over the past 85 post, it may be that I like things that are funny and sad. Or “cyberpunk,” alternately. It would be too invasive for me to detail the dynamics of a twenty page short story, especially when I think you should purchase it for yourself, so I’ll list a few talking points: dog; cancer; mushroom; escape. Doesn’t that entice you???
The Sea in Me or The Riddle We Heard by Popahna Brandes
What a beautiful object! I purchased it and two other chapbooks at a release event put on by The Corresponding Society (mostly Pratt writing program graduates) at Unnameable Books, and I couldn’t be happier to own it. The preparations for this chapbook were made by my friend Adrian, and the story itself was written by the teacher who guided us through our fiction theses last year. I’m really taken by the cover design— check out a scan of the back, as well. This was my first exposure to Popahna’s prose. It’s labyrinthine, and I don’t throw that word around lightly (other things I consider labyrinthine: labyrinths; Labyrinths; Labyrinth). A concise mix of fairy tale and desperate sadness, and something worth hearing spoken, if you ever get the chance.
