Written Word, #8, February 2008

I don’t know anything about football and never understood the whole Super Bowl frenzy. But I still loved Christopher Hivner’s “One For the Thumb” in the February, 2008, issue of Written Word. The voice, grammar, and diction of a high school senior on the 0-30 Wilcox Dairymen are spot on. No angels descend from on high to turn the fallen stars into champions. The magic of believing in yourself and the sweet ending isn’t saccharine because of the verisimilitude.

“Rudy on a Saturday Morning” by Gayla Chaney is a happy-sad tale that begins with the allusion of two lovers cuddling. It then segues to the allegorical examination of a relationship gone wrong and the advantages of dogs that belong to the canine species.

“Axe-murderers could have manners, I remind myself. I know for a fact that habitual liars can have manners and good looks too, and at certain times, showing up on my front porch like Rudy when I have little resistance, can worm their way back into my life by saying something as inane as, “I thought you might like some company tonight.”

Sparse prose highlights the isolation of the protagonist, who remains unnamed. Chaney’s mainstream, literary piece reminds me of Pam Houston’s work in Cowboys Are My Weakness, minus the horse manure.

I find autobiographical fiction compelling, and any writer can relate to “Reject, Please” by Edward Dudart and “7694 rejection slips in five years, all in the category ‘Outright.’” There is a sardonic humor to the ending of the author/protagonist’s record-breaking career. I didn’t quite get the dig at female editors at the end, but I suppose if this were my story, I’d take aim at the male ones who are never “grabbed” in the right way.

“Necessary For Survival” by Ian R. Faulkner is the longest story in this issue. A complex tale with suspenseful plot twists leads to a most unexpected ending. Alluding to guerrilla warfare, terrorism, and insurgency, Faulkner portrays, in stark detail, how difficult it is to figure out who the enemy is. Balancing some rather gruesome scenes of Sim to human combat and maser blasts, Faulkner raises the tension with a good dose of psychological warfare.

Carson, a journalist from Planet Wide News, has been recruited by Tru Gen Party headquarters to write “without gloss or spin or antigovernment propaganda” a report to “service the public’s growing concern” over those interned in camps to protect the world from their affliction.

Carson is embedded with Delaware Coombs, the organic officer in charge of a Mek expeditionary force. This futuristic war is a clear reference to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the detention (and intention) of suspected terrorists at Guantánamo Bay, and the dangers facing both troops and journalists trying to do their jobs. Their fates are no less horrific, maybe even more so, than those beheaded or blown up by roadside bombs.

“Rubies for Her” by Angela N. Hunt is another literary, though more slipstream, selection. A cache of rubies, most uncut, is Shelly’s inheritance. “Wear us and you will never suffer your mother’s fate,” they advise Shelly. When she summons the courage to polish, set, and display them at her ears, wrist and throat, she learns why her mother never had the courage to take the risk. “Rubies for Her” is a haunting, sparkling allegorical gem.

Rick Novy’s very short tale of feline plans for insurrection and world domination exhibits the complexity of flash fiction. I had to read “Cats” three times to figure it out, since the detail was so sparse.

Written Word uses odd formatting, with sections numbered in one- and two-page aliquots instead of consecutively, which might lend itself better to online reading, but I print stories out to read on the go. I could only tell for sure I was on page three of “Cats” because it said “The End.” That could have been a disaster if my paper clip had snapped off Faulkner’s “Necessary for Survival.” Nevertheless, Written Word offers a range of length and genre that will appeal to readers with varied tastes. The prose is straightforward and nuanced, the stories tightly written and well-paced.

Is it my imagination or are more literary writers dipping their toes into muddy, cross-genre waters? I enjoyed this edition, and these stories will be on my must read list for the year.