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# The Masters Review

A platform for emerging writers

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## Posts

- [What's New](https://mastersreview.com/blog/)
- [New Voices: "I Am A Tinder Lesbian Holding a Sanding Machine" by Charlie Wührer](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-i-am-a-tinder-lesbian-holding-a-sanding-machine-by-charlie-wuhrer/) - Through a series of six photos in a dating app photo gallery, meet the narrator of Charlie Wührer's new flash, "I Am A Tinder Lesbian Holding a Sanding Machine." Do you have a good sense of humor? Are you looking for a DIY queen? Behold, she begins. Here is her sanding machine. Photo No.
- [New Voices: "Adam's Nose" by Dino Enrique Piacentini](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-adams-nose-by-dino-enrique-piacentini/) - There's something magical about Adam's nose in this new story from Dino Enrique Piacentini, but only the narrator knows. It's a secret she could share with her husband's sisters and mother, seeking advice, but instead she keeps it to herself. "Adam's Nose" is a tender story of longing and belonging, propelled by Piacentini's exquisite prose—you
- [Winter Short Story Award for New Writers: December 1, 2025 - February 1, 2026](https://mastersreview.com/winter-short-story-award-for-new-writers/) - The Masters Review’s Short Story Award for New Writers is a bi-annual contest that recognizes the best fiction and creative nonfiction from today’s emerging writers. Winners and honorable mentions receive agency review from five agencies as well as publication. The winning story earns $3,000, while the second and third place runners up receive $300 and $200, respectively.
- [Summer Short Story Award for New Writers: July 1 - August 30, 2026](https://mastersreview.com/short-story-award-for-new-writers/) - The Masters Review’s Short Story Award for New Writers is a bi-annual contest that recognizes the best fiction from today’s emerging writers. Winners and honorable mentions receive agency review from five agencies as well as publication. The winning story earns $3,000, while the second and third place runners up receive $300 and $200, respectively.
- [The Reprint Prize: June 15 - June 30, 2026](https://mastersreview.com/the-reprint-prize/) - For two weeks in June, The Masters Review is open to submissions of reprints. Any fiction or creative nonfiction under 6,000 words published prior to June 1, 2024 is eligible! As always, there are no limitations on style or topic, but our primary interest is in literary prose. This challenge will be judged by our editorial staff, who will select one winner to receive a $500 prize and publication on our site.
- [Flash Challenge Runner-Up: "Postcard from the End of the World" by C.E. McKenna](https://mastersreview.com/flash-challenge-runner-up-postcard-from-the-end-of-the-world-by-c-e-mckenna/) - "Postcard from the End of the World" by C.E. McKenna is our second runner-up from The Flash Challenge! In this essay, the titular postcard, sent by the narrator's scientist grandfather, becomes a kind of touchstone for her. As the years accumulate, so too does the damage to the earth and the narrator's understanding of her
- [Flash Challenge Runner-Up: "Nebula" by Jim Humes](https://mastersreview.com/flash-challenge-runner-up-nebula-by-jim-humes/) - "Nebula" by Jim Humes is the runner-up from our Flash Challenge! In "Nebula," the narrator copes with his unimaginable diagnosis by casting his brain tumor as a celestial object and disassociating. "I find myself between my wife and the doctor. They are making a plan. My input is not required so I float up to
- [2025-2026 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers Finalists!](https://mastersreview.com/2025-2026-winter-short-story-award-for-new-writers-finalists/) - Congratulations from all of us to Carol Keeley, winner of the 2025-2026 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers! Jim Shepard selected Keeley's "Wind and Embers" as the grand-prize winner in this year's contest, a story Shepard describes as "spectacularly authoritative and persuasive in its rendering of the harrowing experience of trying to survive an
- [Reprint Prize Winner: "The Dowsing of Linus Spalding" by Craig M. Foster](https://mastersreview.com/reprint-prize-winner-the-dowsing-of-linus-spalding-by-craig-m-foster/) - Whenever I read a story for The Masters Review, I'm of course looking for excellence in craft—engaging, well-developed characters; a unique voice; expertly controlled pacing; sharply rendered setting—but usually, I'm homing in on the ending: Does this story stick the landing? Does it manage to both fulfill the promises it sets out at the start
- [Weike Wang to Judge the 2026 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers!](https://mastersreview.com/weike-wang-to-judge-the-2026-summer-short-story-award-for-new-writers/) - Weike Wang will judge this year's Summer Short Story Award for New Writers! We couldn't be more excited. Submissions for this year's contest open on July 1, and will close at 11:59pm PDT on August 30, 2026. The grand prize winner will receive $3,000, while second- and third-place finalists receive $300 and $200, respectively. All
- [New Voices: "Until She Says So" by Abhijith Ravinutala](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-until-she-says-so-by-abhijith-ravinutala/) - Abhijith Ravinutala's novel excerpt, "Until She Says So," examines the power imbalance between castes in Indian society. Rani, a former sex worker, becomes pregnant by her lover Sathish. Although Rani is allowed to live in his house, she's forced to pretend she's nothing more than a servant to his family and a nanny to her
- [New Voices: "That Kind of Girl" by Stephanie Wheeler](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-that-kind-of-girl-by-stephanie-wheeler/) - When Meryl is let go from her waitressing job, she has no choice but to turn to Gregory for work, an old man she served at the diner who has taken in girls in the past. Willing to do whatever she needs to support her son Leo, Meryl is nevertheless caught off guard when she
- [New Voices: "Shootout in Prospect Park" by Chuck Nwoke](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-shootout-in-prospect-park-by-chuck-nwoke/) - We are thrilled to present Chuck Nwoke's "Shootout in Prospect Park," an absurdist and hyperreal examination of the protests against racial violence and police brutality at the height of the coronavirus quarantine over the summer. Nwoke's short story is incisive and concise and urgent, and we don't want to keep you from it any longer.
- [New Voices: "Not Dead. Yet, (Golem Father)" by Nathan Szajnberg](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-not-dead-yet-golem-father-by-nathan-szajnberg/) - In “Not Dead. Yet, (Golem Father)” by Nathan Szajnberg, the writer reflects on his father's life, a survivor of Auschwitz, in the years since his mother's death. "My father does not live in America," Szajnberg writes. "Never did. Only his body, a Golem, roams its streets." “I go nowhere without de mamme!” my father—tatte
- [New Voices: "Catch and Release" by Grace Holtzclaw](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-catch-and-release-by-grace-holtzclaw/) - In "Catch and Release," a flash story from Grace Holtzclaw, Oliver Whigham, pitcher for the Oxnard Orioles, finds himself alone on the beach, a little too stoned. The ocean holds a special meaning for him: it was the reason his family moved here, the cause of his father's untimely demise. And, this night on the
- [New Voices: "The Photograph on the Wall" by Ope Adedeji](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-photograph-on-the-wall-by-ope-adedeji/) - We were immediately drawn into Ope Adedeji's "The Photograph on the Wall" with its opening line: "My father is a child when he returns to me the second time: blue eyes, red skin and babbles of incoherent words." Adedeji illuminates something universally human in this story that interrogates whether there's an expiration date on grief,
- [New Voices: "Different" by Sindya Bhanoo](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-different-by-sindya-bhanoo/) - In "Different" by Sinyda Bhanoo, Dr. Chandrasekharan's life is thrown into disarray when a reporter from the local newspaper calls to ask questions about alleged misconduct on his part, involving his students and unpaid housework. Even worse, the university is opening an investigation into the allegations. Chand must understand, going back to when he was
- [New Voices: "Inheritance" by Adam Byko](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-inheritance-by-adam-byko/) - "Understand this," the narrator of Adam Byko's "Inheritance" commands in the opening line: "My father was born with a bullet in his head." A brilliant opening line for a brilliant speculative story that explores the physical manifestation of the sins of our ancestors. Sink into "Inheritance" below, our New Voices story for this week.
- [New Voices: "Running From Blackness" by Allen M. Price](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-running-from-blackness/) - In the wake of Ahmaud Arbery's murder by two men in Georgia, Allen Price explores his own personal history with running as a Black man in America. Growing up, Price writes, "I never felt as good as I did when I was running." It offered him a reprieve from questions about his identity, which Price
- [New Voices: "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" by Rosemary Harp](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-lake-isle-of-innisfree-by-rosemary-harp/) - When Caitlin flies to San Francisco to visit Theo, her gay ex-boyfriend and longtime friend, she's running the risk of missing her daughter's birthday party. But Caitlin's love for Theo, as Caitlin describes it, is "tenacious, insistent." When things go awry, will Caitlin be able to tell Theo no? When Dermot asked me how
- [New Voices: "Compound Fractures" by Alice Hatcher](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-compound-fractures-by-alice-hatcher/) - In a series of vignettes, Hatcher's protagonist in "Compound Fractures," this week's New Voices story, navigates her complex and traumatic relationship with her late father. The tension and unease is immediately apparent in the story's opening lines: "At eight years old, she already has a mastery of the orthopedic lexicon." At eight years old,
- [2026 Summer Learning Series](https://mastersreview.com/2026-summer-learning-series/) - This summer, The Masters Review wants to learn with you! Join us for four live workshops designed to spark your creativity and elevate your craft. Each individual workshop will cost $20, or you can sign up today to get all four for $60! All workshops will take place over Zoom and a recording will be shared with everyone who registers, so you can participate no matter where you're located. Courses on May 21, June 18, July 16, and August 20.
- [July Deadlines: 12 Contests With Prizes Available This Month](https://mastersreview.com/july-deadlines-12-contests-with-prizes-available-this-month/) - Summer vacation can be packed full of travel plans, cookouts, and parties, but don’t forget to make time for these contests. Just like the glittering sparkle of fireworks against the night sky, once they’re gone, they won’t come back! FEATURED! Summer Short Story Award for New Writers Our contest is finally opening on July 1,
- [Stories that Teach: "This is an Alert" by Thomas Pierce—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-this-is-an-alert-by-thomas-pierce-discussed-by-brandon-williams/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [New Voices: "Obedience" by Jaime Gill](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-obedience-by-jaime-gill/) - Jaime Gill's "Obedience" brings the reader inside Lenny's Hideaway, a gay bar in postwar New York City, at a time when homosexuality was a crime. When the bar is inevitably raided by the police, our protagonist Jack, in a move antithetical to his personality, refuses to comply. This story, sadly resonant still today, reminds the
- [Summer Short Story Award 1st Place: "Ahmet Usta" by Hardy Griffin](https://mastersreview.com/summer-short-story-award-1st-place-ahmet-usta-by-hardy-griffin/) - This marvelous story begins with instructions that feel more like a kind of ritual; we soon see how grief and vengeance, when held close for so long, can shape our actions until they become a way of life—or until they do us in. The acute tension of this story focuses on the day-to-day operations of
- [Book Review: Aliens Attack! by Dave Housley](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-aliens-attack-by-dave-housley/) - There is no honorable way to kill. No gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war except its ending. “The Savage Curtain” – Star Trek: The Original Series Dave Housley’s Aliens Attack! is a comic apocalypse that’s part novel, part short story collection. Housley signals this form clearly from the first chapter’s title:
- [Book Review: Minerva by Keila Vall de la Ville](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-minerva-by-keila-vall-de-la-ville/) - In her second novel in English, Keila Vall de la Ville tells the story of Minerva, a girl and then a young woman who spends much of her early life in Caracas, Venezuela trying to figure out how she fits in her family among her parents. This three-parent household is made up of her mother, Lissa,
- [Book Review: Hope House by Joe Bond](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-hope-house-by-joe-bond/) - Hope House by Joe Bond follows a group of boys living in a home for delinquent youth in a small Kentucky town. Sitting somewhere between a traditional school story and prison literature, the novel is a kind of group Bildungsroman for troubled kids who have been abandoned by their families, the government, and their communities.
- [Book Review: Foundling Fathers by Meg Elison](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-foundling-fathers-by-meg-elison/) - One of my favorite tourist destinations in the greater Washington DC area, a place I call home, is Mount Vernon, the historic estate of George Washington. When I visit, I’m reminded that the histories I’ve read were not always written. Instead, they were actively assembled and negotiated by real people, and who their subjects really
- [Summer Short Story Award 2nd Place: "The Corpse Flowers" by Thomas Heise](https://mastersreview.com/summer-short-story-award-2nd-place-the-corpse-flowers-by-thomas-heise/) - Part of the brilliance of this story is how deftly it maneuvers between the narrative threads in which it traffics: stories explicitly and implicitly told. It’s a hard thing to pull off—having a character recount an epic-feeling tale to another character—and here, it’s done beautifully, and more importantly, it feels completely believable and even necessary
- [Best Emerging Writers Anthology: April 6 - June 7, 2026](https://mastersreview.com/anthology/) - Every year The Masters Review opens submissions to produce our anthology, a collection of ten stories and essays written by the best emerging authors. Our aim is to showcase writers who we believe will continue to produce great work. The ten winners are nationally distributed in a printed book with their stories and essays exposed to top agents, editors, and authors across the country. Beginning in 2024, winners will also be published online. Our third volume was awarded the Silver Medal for Best Short Story Collection through the INDIEFAB Awards in 2015, and our fourth volume was an honorable mention for best anthology.
- [Short Story Award 3rd Place: "Do You Believe?" by Tina Egnoski](https://mastersreview.com/15-short-story-award-finalist-do-you-believe-by-tina-egnoski/) - Congratulations to Tina Egnoski and her story "Do You Believe?" which was our third runner up for the Short Story Award For New Writers, a prize that awards payment, publication, and agency review from Katherine Fausset from Curtis Brown to three stand-out stories. "Do You Believe?" follows a mother and son on the hunt for
- [Short Story Award 2nd Place: “The Golden Arowana” by William Pei Shih](https://mastersreview.com/15-short-story-award-finalist-the-golden-arowana-by-william-pei-shih/) - Today, we are pleased to publish “The Golden Arowana” by William Pei Shih, the second runner up for our Short Story Award for New Writers. In this story, a man and his grandmother take a road trip to claim a valuable fish; each sentence of their journey shimmers. It is dead upon arrival. As
- [Short Story Award 1st Place: "Hildy" by Tom Howard](https://mastersreview.com/short-story-award-winner-hildy-by-tom-howard/) - Congratulations to Tom Howard and his story "Hildy," the winner of our Short Story Award for New Writers. "Hildy" follows a brother and sister who lived through a recent epidemic and struggle to survive a newly changed world. Howard's fresh take on a post-apocalyptic landscape and the tenderness in which he writes about Woody and
- [Summer Short Story Award 3rd Place: "The First Location" by Molly Reid](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-first-location-by-molly-reid/) - Today, we are pleased to bring you the third place winner of our Short Story Award for New Writers: "The First Location" by Molly Reid. This story depicts the interior life of a woman, Shannon, as she reacts to the disappearance of a girl in her town, and struggles with her role as a mother
- [Summer Short Story Award 2nd Place: "Ledgers" by Claire Boyles](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-ledgers-by-claire-boyles/) - Today we introduce "Ledgers" by Claire Boyles, the second-place winner of our Short Story Award For New Writers. Claire's story is about an ornithologist who returns home to care for her father after he suffers a stroke. Claire does a beautiful job of connecting her story's disparate elements in a way that drives at the
- [Summer Short Story Award 1st Place: “Red” by Katie Knoll](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-red-by-katie-knoll/) - Today, we are proud to present the chilling winner of our Short Story Award for New Writers: “Red” by Katie Knoll. In the off-kilter, fairy-tale world of this story, certain girls in a small, matriarchal community begin to turn into deer at night. The other girls are instantly jealous; each wants nothing more than to
- [Winter Short Story Award 2nd Place: "A Portrait of a Virgin" by Rachel Cochran](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-a-portrait-of-a-virgin-by-rachel-cochran/) - Join us in celebrating today's new story, "A Portrait of a Virgin" by Rachel Cochran, the second-place winner of our Summer 2018 Short Story Award for New Writers! Rachel was awarded $300 and agency review for this philosophical tale. Now, follow along as the men travel to the home of the tortoises. “There is
- [Summer Short Story Award 2nd Place "Escape Velocity" by Karisa Tell](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-escape-velocity-by-karisa-tell/) - "Escape Velocity" by Karisa Tell is the second place prize winner for our 2019 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers, selected by Tope Folarin, and Karisa's first publication! We are honored to share this incredible story of addiction, hope and family. In Tope's words, "I love the wide scope of this story, how capacious
- [Writers on Not Writing: Allison Snyder and Lindsey Kemp](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-allison-snyder-and-lindsey-kemp/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, we hear from two writers—Allison Snyder
- [Book Review: Waves of Light and Darkness by John K. Danenbarger](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-waves-of-light-and-darkness-by-john-k-danenbarger/) - Consisting of twenty-three short stories that run the gamut of length, tone, and emotional register, Waves of Light and Darkness by John K. Danenbarger is an ambitious, if inconsistent, sophomore outing. At nearly 300 pages, the collection makes its patterns hard to ignore: Some pieces crest with real imaginative force, while many collapse under overdetermined
- [June Deadlines: 9 Prizes Ending This Month](https://mastersreview.com/june-deadlines-9-prizes-ending-this-month/) - The temperature outside is heating up, and so are these contests! Check out these contests that we’ve selected, and don’t miss out if you find one you like! FEATURED! Best Emerging Writers 2026 The entry period for The Masters Review Anthology is coming to a close, but there’s still a bit of time left!
- [2025-2026 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers Shortlist!](https://mastersreview.com/2025-2026-winter-short-story-award-for-new-writers-shortlist/) - Drum roll, please! We are excited to announce that the fifteen final stories for our 2025-2026 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers are in Jim Shepard's hands. Jim has a difficult task ahead of him in selecting the top three for this year's prize from a very strong group. Please help us in congratulating
- [New Voices: "Wild Boys" by Olivia Crandall](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-wild-boys-by-olivia-crandall/) - Laura, the protagonist in Olivia Crandall's debut short story, "Wild Boys," has the perfect life: great husband, cute baby, a job she likes. But things unravel, beginning with her encounter with a coyote that's quickly upstaged by a disturbing viral video of her ex-boyfriend. The story begs the question: What are we willing to give
- [Call for Readers: Summer 2026](https://mastersreview.com/call-for-readers-summer-2026/) - The Masters Review is looking to add some talented new readers to our team this summer. If you love literary fiction and nonfiction, and three to four hours of reading submissions a week sounds like fun, we encourage you to apply. Our readers work remotely and can set their own schedules. BIPOC, marginalized, and underrepresented
- [New Voices: "Cortez Canyon" by Terry Engel](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-cortez-canyon-by-terry-engel/) - "Cortez Canyon," an excerpt from Terry Engel's book, Artifacts, due out next year, is deeply rooted in place. This coming-of-age story brims with subtle tension as the narrator begins to find himself and, in the process, pulls away from his off-the-grid family. The summer I turned eighteen, the summer before 9/11, my father and
- [From the Archives: "Back Line" by Raf Richardson-Carillo—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/from-the-archives-back-line-by-raf-richardson-carillo-discussed-by-brandon-williams/) - Matthew Salesses selected "Back Line" by Raf Richardson-Carillo as the winner of our 2024 Novel Excerpt Contest. The excerpt explores a former football player's history with one of the sport's legends. Editorially, The Masters Review has long conversations about what makes a great excerpt. It's a hard question to answer, but as the saying goes, we
- [Book Review: Lake Effect by Hillary Behrman](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-lake-effect-by-hillary-behrman/) - In “The Alvord,” the first of eighteen stories in Hillary Behrman’s debut collection, Lake Effect, Viv, a middle-aged waitress at The Fields Station, a “café-gas-garage-motel” in rural southeast Oregon, races off at the end of each shift to her Chevy Nova, down the dusty road, and across “a bone-dry wash filled with bunchgrass and knotweed,”
- [New Voices: "What More Do You Want?" by Michael Ruby](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-what-more-do-you-want-by-michael-ruby/) - In our first New Voices publication for December, Michael Ruby shares with us the story of a young boy, displaced (temporarily) from his home in Seattle, while his mother recovers from back surgery. For Bernard, as for the reader, this narrative is familiar yet surprising, quietly loving but firm. Read on below: “Stick to the
- [Writers on Not Writing: Robert Miner and Howard Maximus Meh-Buh](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-robert-miner-and-howard-maximus-meh-buh/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, we hear from two writers—Robert Miner
- [The Flash Challenge: November 9 – November 15, 2026](https://mastersreview.com/flash-challenge/) - In November, The Masters Review hosts a short call for Flash Fiction. The winning submission, selected by The Masters Review's editorial staff, will earn a $1,000 prize along with online publication, while two runners-up will each receive $250 and online publication.
- [Writers on Not Writing: Jennifer Braunfels and Jonathan Rose](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-jennifer-braunfels-and-jonathan-rose/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, we hear from two writers—Jennifer Braunfels
- [New Voices: "Banshee" by Lila-Rose Beckford](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-banshee-by-lila-rose-beckford/) - When Ranya and Maggie go on a "meet the parents" trip to Maggie's near-perfect family home in Joshua Tree, there's a sense of foreboding from the moment they get in the car. With every sentence in "Banshee," Lila-Rose Beckford creates mounting tension until an inevitable, I-told-you-so collision that has the power to either bring the
- [New Voices: "Could Be" by Pirette McKamey](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-could-be-by-pirette-mckamey/) - In Pirette McKamey's "Could Be," old flames reunite after thirty years to reminisce. In this Boston bar, McKamey demonstrates the effectiveness of gesture and suggestion in flash fiction. Maybe Marcus really robbed a bank—maybe he didn't. In "Could Be," all that matters is the possibility. Man, did Marcus get ugly. Thirty years after he
- [Book Review: Invisibila by Tom Howard](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-invisibila-by-tom-howard/) - Invisibilia, Latin for all invisible things, includes unseen forces such as thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. It is also the title of Tom Howard’s second book of short stories, the follow-up to his award-winning debut, Fierce Pretty Things. In each of the book’s eleven stories, Howard gives shape and voice to the ungraspable and unseen. The
- [Book Review: Fierce Pretty Things by Tom Howard](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-fierce-pretty-things-by-tom-howard/) - “Everything [is] linked together in funny, sad way.” This comes from “The Magnificents,” the narrator describing a magic act by a neighborhood kid. But it’s an accurate description of Tom Howard’s Fierce Pretty Things, winner of Indiana Review’s 2018 Blue Light Books Prize, too. This collection, sardonic from cover to cover, is as funny as
- [Best Emerging Writers 2024: Introduction by Gina Chung](https://mastersreview.com/best-emerging-writers-2024-introduction-by-gina-chung/) - I’m often asked what I like to read, or what kind of work pulls me in. This is both a deeply interesting and difficult question (and one that I myself have put to other readers and writers, much to their consternation). While we all inherently know when a particular story makes us sit up
- [Best Emerging Writers 2025: Introduction by Andrew Porter](https://mastersreview.com/best-emerging-writers-2025-introduction-by-andrew-porter/) - When I was in graduate school, I remember one of my professors, Frank Conroy, saying to a classroom of students that he could tell a piece of fiction was good when he could sense a soul on the other side of the words. Frank dispensed little pieces of writerly wisdom often, but this statement had
- [Craft Essay: "How to Sound Like Yourself" by Kaylie Saidin](https://mastersreview.com/craft-essay-how-to-sound-like-yourself-by-kaylie-saidin/) - What can writers learn from musicians? Here, Kaylie Saidin explores the links between music and writing including listening, mastering the basics, and developing a willingness to improvise. In middle school, jazz band was my favorite class, in part because our teacher took the class seriously. He gave us homework: Every week, we received the
- [New Voices: "Featherweight" by Davin Faris](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-featherweight-by-davin-faris/) - In "Featherweight," Davin Faris beautifully renders the death of a red-tailed hawk. With prose that is at once poetic and scientific, he brings the reader into the moment so that we, too, feel the inevitable loss of this bird, but also the sense of connection to and resilience of the larger world. A corpse
- [New Voices: "Strawberries, Metal, and Blood" by Caoimhe McKeogh](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-strawberries-metal-and-blood-by-caoimhe-mckeogh/) - At its heart, "Strawberries, Metal, and Blood" by Caoimhe McKeogh is a story about self-discovery. The protagonist, who is the middle sister in a family of three girls, defines herself largely by the actions of her siblings until she begins to understand what actually makes her happy. Layered with sensations and rich with emotions, this
- [Writers on Not Writing: Catharine H. Murray and Sarah Boon](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-catharine-h-murray-and-sarah-boon/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, we hear from two writers—Catharine H.
- [Stories that Teach: "A Brief Lesson in Native American Astrology" by Rebecca Roanhorse—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-a-brief-lesson-in-native-american-astrology-by-rebecca-roanhorse-discussed-by-brandon-williams/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [May Deadlines: 8 Contests That Are Ending Soon!](https://mastersreview.com/may-deadlines-8-contests-that-are-ending-soon/) - We’ve made it through the rainy months, so surely the time for flowers has arrived? Well, while we’re waiting on the fickle growing season, you can always count on these contests to stick to their open entry timelines! Waterston Desert Writing Prize Inspired by author and poet Ellen Waterston, this prize provides financial and other
- [Best Emerging Writers 2025: "Rolling Calf" by Stephenjohn Holgate](https://mastersreview.com/best-emerging-writers-2025-rolling-calf-by-stephenjohn-holgate/) - My grandmother would tell me stories on the nights that my mother worked late, or was studying, or was with Butchie. She would chop jackass rope finely, stuff her pipe, even though my mother hated the smell of tobacco, and tell me a wild tale of Bredda Anansi or Bredda Tacuma or King Tiger. My
- [Novel Excerpt Contest: September 1 - November 8, 2026](https://mastersreview.com/novel-excerpt-contest/) - Each fall, The Masters Review hosts a call for novel excerpts! For this contest, we’re looking for self-contained excerpts up to 6,000 words that display a strong voice, compelling characters, and carefully constructed narrative arcs. As always, we have no limitations on genre, though we are primarily interested in literary fiction. The grand prize winner receives $3,000, online publication and an hour-long consultation with a literary agent.
- [Book Review: On the Bus Without a Phone by Babak Ganjei](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-on-the-bus-without-a-phone-by-babak-ganjei/) - Bob Green is all on his lonesome. His uncompromising date Rachel, whom he matched with on a dating app and has yet to meet in person, orders him to find her at Larry’s Wine Bar, a place he has never been and which inconveniently happens to be at the very end of his London bus
- [Interview with the Winner: Thomas Heise](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-thomas-heise/) - Thomas Heise's "The Corpse Flowers" was selected as the 2nd place winner by Jennine Capó Crucet for our Summer Short Story Award for New Writers. First, read Heise's prize-winning story here, then check out this interview in which Heise talks about the weight of backstory, how poetry comes into play in his writing, and how
- [Best Emerging Writers 2025: "Animal Control" by J. Stillwell Powers](https://mastersreview.com/best-emerging-writers-2025-animal-control-by-j-stillwell-powers/) - Pauline spent most of her time dealing with domestic animals. Cats and dogs. Now and again, she wrangled fugitive cattle or goats escaped from the hobby farms in the hills north of the town center. Occasionally, she tracked a marauding raccoon or skunk. There were less enjoyable parts of the job. School visits. Town meetings.
- [New Voices: Always Open](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-year-round/) - Our New Voices category is open year round to any new or emerging author who has not published a novel-length work of fiction or narrative nonfiction with a major press. Authors with published short story collections are free to submit. We accept simultaneous and multiple submissions but ask that you inform us immediately if your story is accepted elsewhere.
- [Interview with the Winner: Rachel Vogel](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-rachel-vogel/) - Rachel Vogel's story. "Will the Real Kim Novak Please Stand Up," won third place in our Summer Short Story Award for New Writers judged by Jennine Capó Crucet. Read the story here and then check out this interview about her approach to dialogue, why place is important in fiction, and how Alfred Hitchcock played a
- [Summer Short Story Award 3rd Place: "Will the Real Kim Novak Please Stand Up" by Rachel Vogel](https://mastersreview.com/summer-ssa-3rd-place-will-the-real-kim-novak-please-stand-up-by-rachel-vogel/) - This story is layered with unforgettable descriptions and observations; you know you’re in sharp, fearless hands when a sentence ends with the phrase “her mother, who has dark hair and a crepe for an ass.” What I admired about this story is its willingness to lurk in the gray areas: Will the protagonist relapse into
- [The Flash Challenge Winner & Shortlist!](https://mastersreview.com/the-flash-challenge-winner-and-shortlist/) - We're happy to say our first Flash Challenge was a success! We read hundreds of fabulous flash fictions and essays, and one winner emerged: Congratulations to Mario Aliberto III, whose "Searching for God in a Mosh Pit" will be published this summer! A round of applause as well to our runners-up, Jim Humes and C.E.
- [Best Emerging Writers 2025: "Not Deer" by Sena Moon](https://mastersreview.com/best-emerging-writers-2025-not-deer-by-sena-moon/) - A scar seared the nape of your neck in welts of buttermilk and apricot. Baby lightning. Pie crust. I gasped how that must have hurt; You're so brave, and like, so pretty. The praises were met with wide-eyed horror, and you didn’t speak to me for months. We were classmates in second grade, again at
- [Best Emerging Writers 2025: "Each Other" by Cristina Chira](https://mastersreview.com/best-emerging-writers-2025-each-other-by-cristina-chira/) - When I called, you said you were in a bar near your office with Julius. You were waiting for him to finish up, then you would either go to another bar and give me the address or you would come home. When I asked how long it would take, you said you didn’t know. “Then
- [Best Emerging Writers 2025: "Reach Out" by Danielle Sherman](https://mastersreview.com/best-emerging-writers-2025-reach-out-by-danielle-sherman/) - Minori’s extraction is tomorrow, and so Sarah has listened to records all day. Even as Sarah moves about the apartment kitchen, leaning so close over the oven its heat should sting her face, the music still reaches her through the walls of the other room. She only steps back into the living room to turn
- [Best Emerging Writers 2025: "Stargazers" by Amy Wilde](https://mastersreview.com/best-emerging-writers-2025-stargazers-by-amy-wilde/) - The year my mother died, I was working two jobs: a nine-to-five in state government—hourly pay, no paid leave, no healthcare—and a local TV crew gig on the side. The day the call came, a production trip loomed. I can’t remember a damn thing about it, except for the smell of the lilies. I have
- [Best Emerging Writers 2025: "Sermons" by Katie Henken Robinson](https://mastersreview.com/best-emerging-writers-2025-sermons-by-katie-henken-robinson/) - Pixie showed up on our doorstep one morning in June, looking more like a carnival sideshow act than our new renter. She was tiny and frail, holding a caged parakeet in one hand and a purse as big as her body in the other. Her hair was dyed purple with grey at the roots, and
- [Best Emerging Writers 2025: "He Said the House Was Haunted" by Amelia Christmas Gramling](https://mastersreview.com/best-emerging-writers-2025-he-said-the-house-was-haunted-by-amelia-christmas-gramling/) - The first time he said the house was haunted, it was October. I laughed because it suited the season. But now it’s March, and the weather has shifted toward superstition, winds high enough to level trees. And the joke, like the house, is no longer sturdy; I catch it bending towards belief. The house is
- [Best Emerging Writers 2025: "Dog Years" by Katerina Ivanov Prado](https://mastersreview.com/best-emerging-writers-2025-dog-years-by-katerina-ivanov-prado/) - He was a little older than the pictures on his profile, but not embarrassingly so. She thought he wasn’t bad looking for his supposed late fifties, having retained a full head of hair and two rows of nice, albeit artificially bright, teeth. But he was blurry in the way all older white men were to
- [Best Emerging Writers 2025: "Maybe Someday" by Liz Rose Shulman](https://mastersreview.com/best-emerging-writers-2025-maybe-someday-by-liz-rose-shulman/) - The black velvet top was sandwiched on a rack in between a bright yellow dress and a pink skirt with white stripes. I bought it at a secondhand shop around the corner from my second-floor studio apartment. It was the only one they had. I wasn’t looking for anything specific when I walked into the
- [Best Emerging Writers 2024: "Fermentation" by Jacqueline Gu](https://mastersreview.com/fermentation-by-jacqueline-gu/) - The first victim fell ill at a Thai restaurant in Taipei, where he had reportedly eaten a set meal of papaya salad and drunken noodles. Within two hours of the meal, he experienced mild nausea, then fatigue, and then another twenty hours later he was dead. He was a healthy man in his thirties
- [Best Emerging Writers 2024: "In Praise of the Collective Noun" by Beth Richards](https://mastersreview.com/in-praise-of-the-collective-noun-by-beth-richards/) - I hear—more than feel—my body hit the wall. The hand that belongs to my mother’s husband grips the back of my neck and propels me into the painted sheetrock. He takes a firmer grip. Face and wall collide. I am thirteen, and a third his size. I want to raise my hands, to put
- [Best Emerging Writers 2024: "Postictal State" by Margaret Adams](https://mastersreview.com/postictal-state-by-margaret-adams/) - Ellen answered her phone on the third ring. “Hi, how is it?” she said. She knew it was Gina without looking at the screen. Ellen would have picked up sooner, but she’d tossed her cell into her bottom desk drawer when she’d first arrived at the clinic at four in the morning, turning off
- [Best Emerging Writers 2024: "Driftwood" by Elizabeth Kleinfeld](https://mastersreview.com/driftwood-by-elizabeth-kleinfeld/) - The possibility of having hot sex was half the reason for our stay at the Art Hotel. With Denver on COVID lockdown, except for hospital stays and doctor’s appointments, we hadn’t left our house in months. In the kind of impulsive decision-making typical of stroke survivors, my husband Tom decided we needed to paint
- [Best Emerging Writers 2024: "SeaWorld" by Aurora Huiza](https://mastersreview.com/seaworld-by-aurora-huiza/) - Michael and I lived in the apartment our dad left us, three bedrooms in South Slope. I worked in a restaurant and won this fellowship to sculpt, an endowment from some millionaire’s wife, a Russian woman named Kitty Kitchen who was passionate about abstract ceramics and had a vague affiliation with Columbia University. She
- [Best Emerging Writers 2024: "Disfigured: An Essay" by Emilie Pascale Beck](https://mastersreview.com/disfigured-an-essay-by-emilie-pascale-beck/) - The dog seemed old from the time we got him, as if he was acting the part of an elderly man. At the shelter, they said probably two. The vet said likely four. This makes him, now, either sixteen or eighteen. He’s nearly blind and mostly deaf. Also, he’s got arthritis in his back
- [Best Emerging Writers 2024: "(Other Mother.)" by River Lucero](https://mastersreview.com/other-mother-by-river-lucero/) - Can I sleep? Rain outside. A smaller heap is already sleeping. Small Child next to me. Me heap and Small heap in the bed in the dark room with the rain outside. The world is dimly contoured. Hideous afternoon light sneaking in. Nap time. I can sleep, but not on time. I can’t stop
- [Best Emerging Writers 2024: "The Real Boys of Summer" by Jillian Weiss](https://mastersreview.com/the-real-boys-of-summer-by-jillian-weiss/) - Summer 2013 An aging truck driver and I wait for rides as the luggage carousel slithers in never-ending rounds. Dallas Fort Worth is the second largest airport in the United States. I wonder if that’s why there aren’t many people around: there’s so much room to spread out. I eat my bag of vending machine
- [Best Emerging Writers 2024: "My Own True Name" by Vicky Grut](https://mastersreview.com/my-own-true-name-by-vicky-grut/) - The old woman’s flat is on the fourth floor of a red-brick block in a good neighborhood, not flashy but I can tell it’s expensive. “I don’t know why you’re here!” she shouts. She is tiny, sitting like a bundle of sticks in the middle of her reclining armchair, but her voice is strong.
- [Best Emerging Writers 2024: "Blades of a Feather" by Laura Price Steele](https://mastersreview.com/blades-of-a-feather-by-laura-price-steele/) - You’re sitting at the kitchen table when the bird hits the window. See yourself there, propped up on your knees so you can reach your bowl. Feel the cereal mashed between your molars, the rough scars of the spoon—caught too many times in the spinning blade of the garbage disposal—drag against the inside of
- [New Voices: "Escaping" by Tom Lakin](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-escaping-by-tom-lakin/) - In one breathless sentence, Tom Lakin's "Escaping" takes us on the road, pedal to the metal, escaping north, through the trees and the years to a destination you can't foresee. With the first clause, Lakin sets the scene: "It was the middle of July and they were fleeing north from the city in a stolen
- [The Masters Review Prize for New Narratives: February 2 - March 31, 2026](https://mastersreview.com/prize-for-new-narratives/) - The Masters Review Prize for New Narratives will make space for narratives that may not find a home in other journals. Whatever your story, we want to see it in its most daring and authentic form. The grand prize winner will receive a $3,000 award along with online publication. Second place and third place finalists will also be published and will receive cash prizes of $300 and $200 respectively.
- [2025 Novel Excerpt Contest Finalists!](https://mastersreview.com/2025-novel-excerpt-contest-finalists/) - It certainly wasn't easy, but Nick Fuller Googins has made his selections: Congratulations to Nick Otte, author of "The Snag," winner of the 2025 Novel Excerpt Contest! Congratulations also to Cecilia Beard, Dakota Collins, and AJ Rodriguez, our 2nd place, 3rd place, and honorable mention selections, respectively. Every year, we get to read so many
- [Best Emerging Writers 2026 Submissions Open Soon: Ramona Ausubel Judging!](https://mastersreview.com/best-emerging-writers-2026-submissions-open-soon-ramona-ausubel-judging/) - Submissions to our fifteenth(!) anthology open in just over one week, and we're thrilled to announce that Ramona Ausubel will be selecting this year's finalists! Best Emerging Writers 2026 will showcase a collection of prose from ten emerging writers who are bold and brave, who tell stories only they can tell, stories that must be told now.
- [April Deadlines: 8 Contests That Are Ending Soon](https://mastersreview.com/april-deadlines-8-contests-that-are-ending-soon/) - It’s the rainy time of year, and hopefully you have a lot of energy after the long winter. We know that the urge to stomp in puddles is nearly irresistible, but make sure to submit to these contests before you head outside! FEATURED 2026 CRAFT Award for Excellence Our sister prose journal wants your
- [Book Review: Your Behavior Will Be Monitored by Justin Feinstein](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-your-behavior-will-be-monitored-by-justin-feinstein/) - But you see, you just can’t differentiate between a robot and the very best of humans. Isaac Asimov, I, Robot Justin Feinstein’s Your Behavior Will Be Monitored depicts a fictional AI company, UniView, rushing to complete a powerful, new advertising bot. In their race to the launch date, they’re so focused on improving the new
- [Interview with the Winner: Hardy Griffin](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-hardy-griffin/) - Hardy Griffin's "Ahmet Usta" was selected by Jennine Capó Crucet as the first place winner in our Summer Short Story Award for New Writers. Read the winning story here and then check out this interview in which Griffin talks about what he learned about place from Jennine Capó Crucet's work, how food is sometimes the
- [Book Review: Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-wandering-stars-by-tommy-orange/) - Your heart, that place you don’t even think of cleaning out. That closet stuffed with savage mementos. -Louise Erdrich, Advice to Myself Tommy Orange’s Wandering Stars is an ambitious family saga that is both a prequel and sequel to his brilliant debut novel, There There. It follows a family for over 150 years, from Jude
- [Book Review: Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-martyr-by-kaveh-akbar/) - Cyrus Shams, Kaveh Akbar’s unlikely protagonist, struggles with addiction, but as a companion piece to his debut collection of poetry, Calling A Wolf A Wolf, Akbar’s new novel Martyr! is about so much more than questions of substance abuse. Although the novel does start with depictions of Cyrus’s struggle with alcohol, it quickly takes a
- [Book Review: Everybody Needs Something by Melanie Pappadis Faranello](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-everybody-needs-something-by-melanie-pappadis-faranello/) - In Everybody Needs Something, Melanie Pappadis Faranello offers a quiet but deeply observant debut collection that highlights how ordinary moments evolve into lasting emotional truths. Across fourteen stories, Faranello explores how people live with loss, carry regret, and keep reaching for connection even when the past seems to influence every choice. Faranello’s prose is direct
- [Book Review: Metallic Realms by Lincoln Michel](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-metallic-realms-by-lincoln-michel/) - Friendship means supporting each other’s endeavors and tolerating each other’s respective quirks—even if those quirks contribute to the destruction of your writing group. In Metallic Realms by Lincoln Michel, friendship becomes fuel for fandom, but it is also weaponized. The narrator, Michael Lincoln (we’ll talk about the name inversion later), calls himself the Senior Lore
- [Summer Short Story Award Honorable Mention: "The Hurt I am Rendering" by Nathan Kimball](https://mastersreview.com/summer-short-story-award-honorable-mention-the-hurt-i-am-rendering-by-nathan-kimball/) - Our first of two Honorable Mentions for the 2025 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers, Nathan Kimball's "The Hurt I am Rendering" will make your breath catch and your heart beat a bit quicker. The narrator is driving both literally and metaphorically, as she and her passenger race to Las Vegas, escaping a painful breakup.
- [Reprint Prize Winner: "Bristol Palin is a Realtor" by Read Cook](https://mastersreview.com/reprint-prize-bristol-palin-is-a-realtor-by-read-cook/) - There's something about a title—I've never been very good at them, so whenever I come across a title like “Bristol Palin is a Realtor,” my posture gets a little better. And let me tell you, this story by Read Cook delivers. Just as my own curiosity is piqued by a title, our protagonist David is,
- [New Voices: "Fossil" by Dave V. Riser](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-fossil-by-dave-v-riser/) - Through his use of an inventive point of view in "Fossil," Dave V. Riser creates an intimate portrayal of a child who knows what they want and what they don't want, even if they don't yet fully understand why. "Fossil" is a painful, yet hopeful, coming-of-age story you won't soon forget. You are ten
- [Summer Short Story Award Honorable Mention: "UNDELIVERANCES" by Charlie M. Case](https://mastersreview.com/summer-short-story-award-honorable-mention-undeliverances-by-charlie-m-case/) - "UNDELIVERANCES" by Charlie M. Case, our second Honorable Mention for the 2025 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers, employs a point of view that both invites and ensnares the reader. Through the mail-carrier protagonist, we are invited into the homes and lives of the suffering and celebrating people in this near-future, slightly dystopian city.
- [From the Archives: "Terraforming Mars" by Emmett Knowlton—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/from-the-archives-terraforming-mars-by-emmett-knowlton-discussed-by-brandon-williams/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [New Voices: "Boundaries" by Thalia Vacha](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-boundaries-by-thalia-vacha/) - "She was a mother who set boundaries." In her unforgettable essay, Thalia Vacha returns (again and again) to a particular memory from her childhood, as a way to explore her relationship with her mother, her sexuality, her identity. This memory, she writes, "was a negotiation," a moment that she—for years—has tried to understand. I
- [Flash Fiction Contest 1st Place: "Agora é Sempre" by Tanya Perkins](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-agora-e-sempre-by-tanya-perkins/) - The prose miniature challenges a writer to conceptualize how a story’s living essence can be conveyed quickly within language’s abstract sense of time and space. This is a feat that "Agore é Sempre" excels at. The story’s effect isn’t one of minimalism, but maximalism. A mere thousand words encompasses oceans complete with their currents, riptides,
- [New Voices: "Pearl (c.1250—1400)" by Kwan Ann Tan](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-pearl-c-1250-1400-by-kwan-ann-tan/) - In Kwan Ann Tan's "Pearl (c. 1250—1400)", this week's New Voices story, a pearl changes hands over time, from the fisherman who found it, to a local jeweler, and more. A hundred and fifty years pass in the blink of an eye, but you don't want to miss this ending. The pearl stares back
- [New Voices: "Bad Habit" by Robert B. Miner](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-bad-habit-by-robert-b-miner/) - The protagonist of "Bad Habit" is a good guy with a gambling problem. Through an increasingly strange set of circumstances, he befriends fellow gambler Sister Catherine Anne O'Hara and discovers how complicated people can be. This story is so rich with voice and a sense of place, you'll almost be able to feel the flap
- [Summer Short Story Award Honorable Mention: "Terraforming Mars" by Emmett Knowlton](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-terraforming-mars-by-emmett-knowlton/) - We are thrilled to share with you the honorable mention from our 2019 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers, and the first New Voices selection for 2020, "Terraforming Mars" by Emmett Knowlton. This heartbreaking story follows seventh grader Sebastian and his trauma in the wake of a national tragedy. Knowlton's prose is tender and
- [Book Review: One Beautiful Year of Normal by Sandra K. Griffith](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-one-beautiful-year-of-normal-sandra-k-griffith/) - When August Caine receives an unexpected call informing her of her Aunt Helen’s recent death, she’s certain it must be a mistake. After all, her Aunt Helen died fifteen years ago. So begins Sandra K. Griffith’s One Beautiful Year of Normal, part murder mystery, part family saga, part love story. Returning to Savannah to learn
- [Book Review: The Book of Love by Kelly Link](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-book-of-love-by-kelly-link/) - A deliciously rebellious take on the classic romance novel form, The Book of Love plunges into adored (and despised) tropes of the genre and guts them, often with humor, sometimes with gore, and always with, well, love—for as much as our protagonists’ future in the mortal world is entangled in the baffling affairs of immortals,
- [2025 Novel Excerpt Contest Shortlist](https://mastersreview.com/2025-novel-excerpt-contest-shortlist/) - Over the last few months, we've been hard at work reading so many terrific excerpts—it's always difficult winnowing down to just a small percentage of the great work we're fortunate to review. Nick Fuller Googins is now in possession of the final fifteen novel excerpts from the 2025 Novel Excerpt Contest! Congratulations to our shortlisted
- [October Deadlines: 8 Contests Ending This Month](https://mastersreview.com/october-deadlines-8-contests-ending-this-month/) - Pay no attention to any surprising or spooky noises you hear outside—all of your focus should be on these amazing contests! Check them out to see if they’re a perfect fit! Jeffrey E. Smith Editors’ Prize In this amazing contest offered by The Missouri Review, contestants can submit entries for fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Not
- [November Deadlines: 11 Contests and Prizes for This Month](https://mastersreview.com/november-deadlines-11-contests-and-prizes-for-this-month/) - If your stories have sugar, pumpkin spice, and everything nice, then these might be the contests for you! Go ahead and check them out, and see if they’re to your taste! FEATURED! The Masters Review Novel Excerpt Contest This is our annual fall contest, and we’re looking to find an excerpt that stands on its
- [March Deadlines: 11 Opportunities For Contests and Prizes](https://mastersreview.com/march-deadlines-11-opportunities-for-contests-and-prizes/) - We’re finally leaving the long nights of winter behind us, and now we can focus on the sunshine of new beginnings! Take a look at these contests, and see if you take a shine to any of them! FEATURED The Masters Review Prize for New Narratives This one is ours, so of course we're excited about
- [February Deadlines: 9 Contests Ending This Month](https://mastersreview.com/february-deadlines-9-contests-ending-this-month/) - This might be the shortest month of the year, but there’s certainly no shortage of contests for you to join! Take a look at our list, and enter as many contests as you want! FEATURED! Winter Short Story Award for New Writers This one is our own contest, and it’s featured for so many good
- [Book Review: The Witch of Prague by J.M. Sidorova](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-witch-of-prague-by-jm-sidorova/) - For reasons that feel more historical than literary, the term “magical realism” is still most often associated with Latin America, even though traditions of magic and realism have also shaped other regions, including Central Europe, even under high socialism. In J.M. Sidorova’s The Witch of Prague, set around the Prague Spring, we follow the magic-saturated
- [Writers on Not Writing: Stephanie Loleng and Rylan Hynes](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-stephanie-loleng-rylan-hynes/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, we hear from two writers—Stephanie Loleng
- [Stories that Teach: "Omakase" by Weike Wang—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-omakase-by-weike-wang-discussed-by-brandon-williams/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [New Voices: "Watch Her Go" by Pauline Holdsworth](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-watch-her-go-by-pauline-holdsworth/) - Pauline Holdsworth's "Watch Her Go" is an unusual and beautiful coming-of-age story. As the protagonist and her teacher develop a troubling romantic relationship, her Illusions—allegorical, metaphorical representations of the things she thought she understood—fall away, leaving her vulnerable and unprotected. When my alarm went off on the last Tuesday of eleventh grade, my two
- [New Voices: "Confession with Erasures" by Shavahn Dorris-Jefferson](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-confession-with-erasures-shavahn-dorris-jefferson/) - In Shavahn Dorris-Jefferson's "Confession with Erasures," the speaker reconstructs one confession into another with blackout text. The confession that results is no less intimate, and invokes a powerful sense of yearning through the juxtaposition of what's revealed and what remains private. It’s not a closet but a house. It’s so pretty, I walk around
- [Flash Fiction Contest 2nd Place: "Play That Again" by John Glowney](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-play-that-again-by-john-glowney/) - The brevity of “Play that Again” seems almost to be that of an anecdote, but the story is more complex and delves far deeper than an anecdote. As the title suggests, an odd set of piano lessons becomes a story that is also about music and emotion, and youth, and the recognition of beauty. The
- [Tiny Vessels by JR Fenn, Winner of the 2024 Chapbook Open, Now Available!](https://mastersreview.com/tiny-vessels-by-jr-fenn-winner-of-the-2024-chapbook-open-now-available/) - Today is release day for Tiny Vessels by JR Fenn, chosen by Rita Bullwinkel as the winner of the 2024 Chapbook Open! “To read these seventeen gem-like dispatches from a dreamlike world,” writes George Saunders, “is to receive a lovely condensed version of what life on earth is like, and to be blessed with a feeling full
- [Introducing The Masters Review Prize for New Narratives, Judged by Charles Yu!](https://mastersreview.com/introducing-the-masters-review-prize-for-new-narratives-judged-by-charles-yu/) - For those writers out there who challenge convention: The Masters Review is excited to make space for unconventional narratives that may not find a home in other journals! The Masters Review Prize for New Narratives will award $3,000, online publication, and a two-year subscription to Duotrope for the best short story or narrative nonfiction that demonstrates
- [New Voices: "Dick Butkus, You're Killing Me" by Tom Sokolowski](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-dick-butkus-youre-killing-me-by-tom-sokolowski/) - In "Dick Butkus, You're Killing Me" by Tom Sokolowski, a chance encounter at a funeral with David, recently home from military deployment, leads the narrator to grapple with his sexuality, his obligation to his ex-pro-football-player father, and what it might mean to really be there for someone suffering from PTSD. When the narrator and David
- [Workshop: Dialogue as Engine, or How Subtext Drives a Story – September 5, 2025 on Zoom](https://mastersreview.com/summer-workshop/) - In this class, we’ll workshop selected submissions, providing students an opportunity to analyze what’s working and what isn’t and why. We hope you’ll come write with us, so we’re offering this class for the low price of $20 per student! All interested are welcome, regardless of experience.
- [Reprint Prize Runner-Up: "Mrs. Pomeroy's Table" by Charlie Watts](https://mastersreview.com/reprint-prize-runner-up-mrs-pomeroys-table-by-charlie-watts/) - In "Mrs. Pomeroy's Table," Charlie Watts perfectly mixes the ordinary with the strange. One day, two sisters see their guardian, Mrs. Pomeroy—an old, austere woman—run down the street, naked. In the aftermath of her death, the sisters make a discovery in her house that reveals just how important the old woman was to this tiny
- [Reprint Prize Runner-Up: "The Doctor Said" by Judith Hannah Weiss](https://mastersreview.com/reprint-prize-runner-up-the-doctor-said-by-judith-hannah-weiss/) - In “The Doctor Said,” Judith Hannah Weiss writes about recovering from a traumatic brain injury. With hauntingly on-point prose, Weiss captures the slippery sensation of losing yourself in your own mind. Terrifying, yes, but Weiss also skillfully imparts both humor and tenderness into this essay. "The Doctor Said" was first published in Intima: A Journal
- [Summer Short Story Award 3rd Place: "All This is Yours to Lose" by Marcus Tan](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-all-this-is-yours-to-lose-by-marcus-tan/) - I was deeply impressed by the way this author chose to use time in this story. Generally I would be wary of taking the reader so far out of linear time in a piece of short fiction, but here, it works perfectly. Every moment between the husband and wife sets us up for what's going
- [Reprint Prize Winner: "You Are the Greatest Lake" by Greg Schutz](https://mastersreview.com/reprint-prize-winner-you-are-the-greatest-lake-by-greg-schutz/) - We find ourselves at "the tip of the thumb in Michigan," in Greg Schutz's "You Are the Greatest Lake," winner of the 2024 Reprint Prize. Our narrator is on a weekend getaway at the tail end of the pandemic with her partner Thom and his daughter Dot, and there seems to be nothing more in
- [Book Review: Krackle’s Last Movie by Chelsea Sutton](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-krackles-last-movie-by-chelsea-sutton/) - Debut author Chelsea Sutton describes her style as “gothic whimsy,” and that comes through in her novella Krackle’s Last Movie, in which controversial documentary filmmaker Minerva Krackle goes missing during an interview with a mummy, leaving her assistant, Harper, to complete her final project. As Harper reluctantly shoulders the responsibility, she wonders what Krackle would
- [New Voices: "Wolf" by Christina Berke](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-wolf-by-christina-berke/) - In a story that comes in under six-hundred words, Christina Berke uses second person to implicate the reader and draw her into the small, beautiful moment of a father and daughter feeding aquarian fish, a moment rendered tragic with a flash forward. Berke then moves the reader seamlessly from the fish-feeding to the narrator’s sister’s
- [New Voices: "Broad Horizons" by Brandon Ingalls](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-broad-horizons-by-brandon-ingalls/) - With his medical school on hold and his damaged and dying mother unable to help him, recovering drug addict Josiah has no choices left when he arrives at Broad Horizons Rehab. When four of the patients and one counselor set off on a wilderness excursion, Josiah's nemesis, Rory, shows signs of withdrawal. Will anyone, including
- [A Conversation with Peter Mountford, Author of Detonator](https://mastersreview.com/a-conversation-with-peter-mountford-author-of-detonator/) - Peter Mountford recently published a new short story collection, Detonator (Four Way Books), a career-spanning volume that showcases his delicate balance of darkness and warmth. As a writer and a teacher, he possesses a wealth of experience, which he lavishes upon readers and students. How did he bring the characters in Detonator so brilliantly to
- [A Conversation with Lydi Conklin, Author of Songs of No Provenance](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-lydi-conklin/) - Lydi Conklin is known for representing queer characters with realistic nuance and detail. In Conklin’s new novel Songs of No Provenance, folk musician Joan Vole is a prime candidate for exploration. The story erupts right away as Joan performs her favorite sexual kink on stage upon an unsuspecting superfan after an uncomfortable conflict. Through this
- [A Conversation with Natasha Williams, Author of The Parts of Him I Kept](https://mastersreview.com/a-conversation-with-natasha-williams-author-of-the-parts-of-him-i-kept/) - Natasha Williams’s debut memoir, The Parts of Him I Kept: The Gifts of My Father’s Madness (Apprentice House Press, 2025), focuses on her coming of age in gritty 1970s New York amidst her father’s schizophrenic unravelling. In this interview, Erin Wood talks with Williams about the writing life, including the unexpected benefits of having a
- [Writers on Not Writing: Shawna Borman and Kristine Snow Millard](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-shawna-borman-and-kristine-snow-millard/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, we hear from two writers—Shawna Borman
- [From the Archives "Flat Earth" by Erin Sherry—Discussed by B.B. Garin](https://mastersreview.com/from-the-archives-flat-earth-by-erin-sherry-discussed-by-b-b-garin/) - How far would you go in the name of friendship? How far would you go to know you were loved? Would you go to the end of the earth? In “Flat Earth” by Erin Sherry, two teenagers set out to reach the world’s rim. What at first might seem like a simple tale of youthful
- [Book Review: Book of Exemplary Women by Diana Xin](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-book-of-exemplary-women-by-diana-xin/) - A pastor’s wife. A dying auntie. A teenage cancer patient. These are some of the women in Diana Xin’s Book of Exemplary Women. They’re not movie stars or CEOs or community leaders. They have not accomplished noteworthy things. They talk to ghosts, hunger after vampires, and are jealous of the dead. They eschew their mothers
- [2025 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers Finalists!](https://mastersreview.com/2025-summer-short-story-award-for-new-writers-finalists/) - Congratulations to Hardy Griffin, author of "Ahmet Usta," winner of the 2025 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers! Guest Judge Jennine Capó Crucet writes that she was "transfixed by how expertly the tension and conflict are sustained throughout the story—all the way until its breathtaking end—in a way that felt effortless, inevitable, and masterful."
- [What We Read in 2025](https://mastersreview.com/what-we-read-in-2025/) - It's time for one of our favorite traditions: rounding up our reading team's personal Best Ofs for the previous year! Curious to know more about our eclectic tastes? Which editor spent the most time reading fantasy this year? Only one way to find out (keep reading). 2025 was a strange year, wasn’t it? Even under
- [Book Review: Terry Dactyl by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-terry-dactyl-mattilda-bernstein-sycamore/) - Some of them say that we’re sick, we’re crazy. And some of them think that we are the most gorgeous, special things on Earth. 'Venus Xtravaganza – Paris is Burning In Terry Dactyl the eponymous protagonist tells her life story beginning with her childhood in the 80s, then moving through the AIDS crisis, to the
- [Book Review: The Kingdom by Yoel Noorali](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-kingdom-by-yoel-noorali/) - Taking its title from Lars von Trier’s underseen horror miniseries, The Kingdom is the debut short story collection from Yoel Noorali. A former hospital data entry administrator, the three stories that open the collection follow a semi-fictionalized version of the author as he guides us through his experience working in the liver ward of an
- [Book Review: Galápagos by Fátima Vélez](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-galapagos-by-fatima-velez/) - Just over ten years ago, the United Nations General Assembly on HIV set the year 2030 as a global target to end AIDS as a public health threat. What seemed a cautiously optimistic goal in 2015 seems even less likely today than it was then—AIDS may be a manageable disease, but diagnosis and early treatment
- [A Conversation with Kelly Link, Short Story Award Guest Judge](https://mastersreview.com/a-conversation-with-kelly-link-short-story-award-guest-judge/) - We're excited to kick off 2024 with this interview with Winter Short Story Award for New Writers guest judge Kelly Link. Link's first novel (!) The Book of Love comes out in early February, and we are eager for its release. In the meantime, be sure to submit your own work to the 2023-2024 Winter
- [A Conversation with Zach Williams, Author of Beautiful Days](https://mastersreview.com/interview-beautiful-days-by-zach-williams/) - Zach Williams's debut short story collection, Beautiful Days, which we reviewed last year, was named a Best Book of 2024 by The New Yorker, was a finalist for the 2025 California Book Award for First Fiction, and was longlisted for the 2025 PEN / Robert W. Bingham Prize. In this interview, Joanna Acevedo talks with Williams
- [Writers on Not Writing: sid sido and Emily Mathis](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-sid-sido-and-emily-mathis/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, we hear from two writers—sid sibo
- [Writers on Not Writing: Nina B. Lichtenstein and Melanie Cole](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-nina-b-lichtenstein-and-melanie-cole/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, we hear from two writers—Nina B.
- [January Deadlines: 13 Contests Going On This Month](https://mastersreview.com/january-deadlines-13-contests-going-on-this-month/) - The start of the new year is an amazing time to step out of your comfort zone, and take a shot at one of these contests for the first time! Take a look, and don’t be afraid to try new things! STILL OPEN! Winter Short Story Award for New Writers The Masters Review is still
- [Stories that Teach: "Inventory" by Carmen Maria Machado—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-inventory-by-carmen-maria-machado/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [Announcing the 2025 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers Shortlist](https://mastersreview.com/announcing-the-2025-summer-short-story-award-for-new-writers-shortlist/) - The final fifteen submissions in this year's Summer Short Story Award for New Writers are now in the hands of our guest judge, Jennine Capó Crucet, who will select our three finalists. Please help us congratulate our shortlisted authors! Thank you so much to each and every one of our wonderful submitters. Every year, you
- [A Conversation with Deena ElGenaidi, Author of Dust Settles North](https://mastersreview.com/a-conversation-with-deena-elgenaidi-author-of-dust-settles-north/) - Though Deena and Juliana went to the same MFA program for fiction, they graduated years apart and didn’t meet until learning by chance that they were both releasing a web series during the 2020 lockdown. So, they decided to host a virtual event together to discuss being in filmmaking as women, where women make up
- [Stories That Teach: "Problems for Self-Study" by Charles Yu—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-problems-for-self-study-by-charles-yu-discussed-by-brandon-williams/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [TMR's 2025 in Review](https://mastersreview.com/tmrs-2025-in-review/) - We always start to look ahead to to the next year a little too early, as we plan our editorial calendar and get psyched for the new opportunities we're preparing for emerging writers, so we want to take a minute to reflect on what a terrific year this year has been (before we get too
- [New Voices: "Visitors" by Jonathan Rose](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-visitors-by-jonathan-rose/) - A baseball team without a home field, a pitch that mistakenly hits the head of a rookie—it’s a curse, right? Years later, the second baseman is interviewed about his time on the team and we’re right there with him—in the field, always away from home. It’s only near the end that we come to understand
- [Call for Readers: Winter 2026](https://mastersreview.com/call-for-readers-winter-2026/) - The Masters Review is looking to add some talented new readers to our team this winter. If you love literary fiction and nonfiction, and three to four hours of reading submissions a week sounds like fun, we encourage you to apply. Our readers work remotely and can set their own schedules. BIPOC, marginalized and underrepresented
- [Jim Shepard to Judge the 2025-2026 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers!](https://mastersreview.com/jim-shepard-to-judge-the-2025-2026-winter-short-story-award-for-new-writers/) - Jim Shepard, author of The Book of Aron and short story extraordinaire, will be selecting the finalists for this year's Winter Short Story Award for New Writers! Our long-running award returns once again to crown a champion of the short story. This year's contest will be open for submissions starting December 1 and closing February 1,
- [A Conversation with Camille U. Adams, Author of How to Be Unmothered](https://mastersreview.com/converation-with-camille-u-adams/) - A few weeks before the launch of How to Be Unmothered, Camille U. Adams sat down in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park to discuss her debut memoir. Trees feature heavily in her novel as a source of restoration and this selected meeting place demonstrated that intimate relationship with nature. In the interview, Camille discussed her memoir writing
- [New Voices: "Valedictorian" by Annesha Mitha](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-valedictorian-by-annesha-mitha/) - In "Valedictorian," Annesha Mitha tells a coming-of-age story in which two "good" Indian girls decide to shed their squeaky-clean images. In doing so, the protagonist discovers that friendships can betrayed, that getting what you want can be crushing, and that happiness isn't always what you expect. The problem, Nandini and I both agreed, was
- [December Deadlines: 12 Contests And Prizes Available This Month](https://mastersreview.com/december-deadlines-12-contests-and-prizes-available-this-month/) - The weather outside may be frightening, but you don’t have to worry about that if you stay indoors working on your writing projects! Take a look at this list, and enter your final contest of 2025! COMING SOON! The Winter Short Story Award for New Writers This one is our own contest, and it’s
- [From the Archives: "The Brothers Wham!" by Megan Giddings—Discussed by Jill Bronfman](https://mastersreview.com/from-the-archives-the-brothers-wham-by-megan-giddings-discussed-by-jill-bronfman/) - In this month's From the Archives, longtime TMR reader Jill Bronfman digs into one of our earliest stories "The Brothers Wham!" by Megan Giddings. First, read Giddings's marvelously imaginative story, and then follow along with Jill below! There’s a reason that we crave fame, and it’s the same reason that people who have it
- [October Fiction: "Double Exposure" by Megan Giddings](https://mastersreview.com/october-fiction-double-exposure-by-megan-giddings/) - Today, we are pleased to present "Double Exposure" by the wonderful Megan Giddings. In this story, two recent college grads move into a new apartment. The landlady is required to disclose one crucial fact: the downstairs neighbors are ghosts. In the world of this story, the lines between the living and the dead are constantly
- [New Voices: Megan Giddings](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-megan-giddings/) - You guys, this story, it will cling to your bones. Megan Giddings does some remarkable work in this playful yet poignant piece, in which she experiments with point of view, stretches the imagination, and mixes whimsy and sadness in perfect amounts. As soon as we read it, our editors pounced to make sure it was
- [New Voices: “Trucker’s Notebook” by Nicole Roché](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-truckers-notebook-by-nicole-roche/) - We are so excited to share Nicole Roché's "Trucker's Notebook," our New Voices nonfiction work for this week. "Trucker's Notebook" takes us on the Big Sky highways, through the Flathead valley, past the big pink pig and into the world of trucking. "Once you start seeing cars as death machines," Nicole writes, "you can’t unsee
- [New Voices: "B.I.W. Boys" by Katherine Cart](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-b-i-w-boys-by-katherine-cart/) - "B.I.W. Boys" by Katherine Cart follows three Bucksport boys—Samual, Quiller and Jacob—who are all hired out of high school to work at the iron works in nearby Bellport. The B.I.W. boys grow into their idea of men throughout the pandemic, as their understanding of themselves and the others shifts. Cart's voice and stream-of-conscious style sweeps
- [Summer Flash Fiction Contest 1st Place: "How to Spot a Whale" by Jacqui Reiko Teruya](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-how-to-spot-a-whale-by-jacqui-reiko-teruya/) - Winner! We are so thrilled to be sharing the first place story from our 2018 Summer Flash Fiction Contest. Today, we publish Jacqui Reiko Teruya's magnificent "How to Spot a Whale." This story, told in second person, explores the delicate balance between who our family is and who we wish they were; and all the
- [Summer Short Story Award 3rd Place "Mutts" by Shane Page](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-mutts-by-shane-page/) - Introducing the third place finalist from our 2019 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers, selected by Tope Folarin: "Mutts" by Shane Page! Page was awarded publication and agency review for this breathtaking story. About the story, Tope Folarin said, "This story does what the best short stories do—it locates an entire universe of emotion
- [New Voices: "Calculus BC: Final Exam" by Abigail Hodge](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-calculus-bc-final-exam-by-abigail-hodge/) - We're so pleased to publish "Calculus BC: Final Exam" by Abigail Hodge as a New Voices story. In this experimental piece, Hodge looks at the insecurities, pressures, and lifestyles of high school students through a calculus test. It's a wonderful way of examining the consciousness of several characters, highlighting the ways in which they are
- [New Voices: "Gideon" by Rowen Jennings](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-gideon-by-rowen-jennings/) - A townful of people begin losing their faces, bit by bit, in this eerie and haunting story by Rowen Jennings. The kids at the center of the story only begin to feel the true impact of the loses when one of them, the eponymous Gideon, falls victim. As the strange ailment moves closer, the focus
- [September Selects: "Behind the Falls" by Dylan Pierce](https://mastersreview.com/september-selects-behind-the-falls-by-dylan-pierce/) - On this Valentine's Day, The Masters Review is celebrating Anti-Love with the second winner of our September Selects series, "Behind the Falls" by Dylan Pierce! Congratulations, Dylan! When Lainey looks at Niagara Falls, all she can think about is Jenni Olson and the Golden Gate Bridge suicides. She remembers the hook of Keller’s leg under
- ['22 September Selects: Winners!](https://mastersreview.com/22-september-selects-winners/) - Happy New Year! We are thrilled to announce the winning selections from our first September Selects special call. We had so much fun reading the submissions to this pop-up weekend series, and we hope to run more of these special calls in the future. Check back in February to read the winning entries and learn
- [Debut Fiction Prize: February 5 - April 6, 2025](https://mastersreview.com/debut-fiction-prize/) - The Debut Fiction Prize will be awarded to the best short story submitted by a writer without publication credits in the fiction genre. The grand prize winner will receive a $3,000 award, a two-year subscription to Duotrope, along with online publication. Second place and third place finalists will also be published and will receive cash prizes of $300 and $200 respectively. All finalists will receive a license for Scrivener and a copy of Best Emerging Writers. This contest is sponsored by Duotrope.
- [A Conversation with Sharon White, Author of If the Owl Calls](https://mastersreview.com/a-conversation-with-sharon-white-author-of-if-the-owl-calls/) - Recently, Sharon White and Janice Deal settled in to talk about White’s new novel, If the Owl Calls. Set in 1979 Norway during a time of environmental resistance and cultural awakening, the book is a mystery steeped in atmosphere and history. When Oslo police detective Hans Sorensen travels north to investigate sabotage at the Alta
- [Debut Fiction Prize 1st Place: "The Peace Bride" by Dilara Y](https://mastersreview.com/debut-fiction-prize-winner-the-peace-bride-by-dilara-y/) - Even though the beautiful bride in the puffy wedding dress who trails Turkish student Leyla is a ghost, the more sinister specter in “The Peace Bride” is the ever-looming threat of gender violence. As she makes her way back to her dorm one night, at every turn, menacing figures track Leyla’s movements, and in a
- [Debut Fiction Prize 3rd Place: "Sightline" by Rachael Riley](https://mastersreview.com/debut-fiction-prize-3rd-place-sightline-by-rachael-riley/) - Rachael Riley's "Sightline" is a beautifully rendered story of grief for the narrator's recently deceased father. Following his funeral, the narrator departs for the cabin their father tended and maintained, where they develop an unexpected friendship with a neighbor. And it is at this cabin where they are forced to confront their complicated feelings for
- [The 2025 Reprint Prize Winner & Shortlist](https://mastersreview.com/the-2025-reprint-prize-winner-shortlist/) - Congratulations are in order for Read Cook, author of "Bristol Palin is a Realtor," winner of the 2025 Reprint Prize! Congratulations also to our runners-up, Judith Hannah Weiss and Charlie Watts. Their three pieces will be published in early 2026. Thank you so much to all of our submitters who made our third Reprint Prize
- [Debut Fiction Prize 2nd Place: "Made in Wonderland" by Abigail Bokaer](https://mastersreview.com/debut-fiction-prize-2nd-place-made-in-wonderland-by-abigail-bokaer/) - In “Made in Wonderland,” the Tunisian father at the center of the story is a force. He’s a man whose dreams take up all the space in a room. He sees the world richly—be it through the immersive scents of his Tunisian cuisine, the verdant landscapes he tends, the five-language jousts with the women in
- [Book Review: Coydog by David Tromblay](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-coydog-by-david-tromblay/) - Moses Kincaid goes by many names and job titles throughout David Tromblay’s noir novel, Coydog, but one thing remains the same: he’s not someone that anyone wants knocking on their door. As a former Military Police officer in the army during Desert Storm and Haiti, Moses feels adrift. He embraces the drift by chasing bail
- [Book Review: Lucky Girl by Allie Tagle-Dokus](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-lucky-girl-by-allie-tagle-dokus/) - To tell you that Lucky Girl, Allie Tagle-Dokus’s debut novel, is about the rise from child stardom to life-ruining fame gives you a sense of the pleasures of this novel, but not the joys. Lucy Gardiner, protagonist, is an eleven-year-old dancer, rising through the ranks of junior competitions. Her mother, the financial and logistical bedrock
- [Book Review: Grape Juice by Eliza Dumais](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-grape-juice-by-eliza-dumais/) - With her debut novel Grape Juice, Eliza Dumais brings her fresh voice—and an even fresher template—to the contemporary romance genre, elevating it with a literary flair. The book has all the elements of a spunky European summer romance novella: a picturesque vineyard, a cast of strangers gathered for the harvest, fleeting encounters that promise intensity.
- [Interview with the Winner: Dilara Y](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-dilara-y/) - Dilara Y's The Peace Bride was selected by Julie Iromuanya as the winner of this year's Debut Fiction Prize. Read the story here and then check out this interview in which she talks about the origins of the story, belonging, and how this story came together. The Peace Bride is such a vivid character.
- [New Voices: "Scapegoat" by Sara McKinney](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-scapegoat-by-sara-mckinney/) - In Sara McKinney's "Scapegoat," the narrator, "so young and so alive," is on the brink of being conscripted into the Israeli army. This story brims with the tension of stay versus go, of duty versus honor, of the past versus the future. It's sharp, timely, and devastating. And in the desert, we raise our
- [Best Emerging Writers 2025 Finalists!](https://mastersreview.com/best-emerging-writers-2025-finalists/) - Andrew Porter's picks are in, and we couldn't be more excited to announce the winners who will be published in Best Emerging Writers 2025! Congratulations to our final ten writers, whose work will be included in our print anthology as well as published right here on our site next April. To all of our submitters,
- [Winter Short Story 2nd Place: "El Gallo de Oro" by Juan Fernando Villagómez](https://mastersreview.com/winter-short-story-2nd-place-el-gallo-de-oro-by-juan-fernando-villagomez/) - This terrific story feels both timely and timeless, laying bare a range of human desires—for connection, for love and purpose, for a future brighter than the past—and what characters will do and sacrifice in an attempt to satisfy them. There’s a powerful confidence in the prose, a conviction that the characters and their plights matter,
- [Winter Short Story Award 3rd Place: "The Lack of Noise" by  L.J. Bowden](https://mastersreview.com/winter-short-story-award-3rd-place-winner-the-lack-of-noise-by-l-j-bowden/) - This is brutal and beautiful fiction, harrowing in ways that are at once original and universal. Scene by scene, page by page, the author raises the stakes for both the narrator and the reader, and the result is an unforgettable story that you read breathlessly. The author does an extraordinary job of rendering the particulars
- [Winter Short Story Award Honorable Mention: "Eat All You Can" by Erin Striff](https://mastersreview.com/winter-short-story-award-honorable-mention-eat-all-you-can-by-erin-striff/) - Erin Striff's "Eat All You Can" is a raw and heartbreaking exploration of a mother's desire to do right by her kids. Told from the point of view of the young daughter, the story takes place mostly at an all-you-can-eat buffet at a country club the mother cleans. Even the child narrator knows this will
- [Novel Excerpt Contest 2nd Place: "The Translated City" by Stephanie Y. Tam](https://mastersreview.com/novel-excerpt-the-translated-city-by-stephanie-y-tam/) - What an enchanting opening chapter, fueled by the propulsive engine of a father’s disappearance and helmed by two sisters whose relationship is portrayed with specificity and nuance. I’m also intrigued by the promise of ghostly elements, and their interplay with Hong Kong's politics and history. — Tania James, Guest Judge I. White Paper New
- [New Voices: "Metamorphoses" by Kathy Chao](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-metamorphoses/) - Part excavation of grief, part magical realism, Kathy Chao's "Metamorphoses" is a story about the power of language. To assimilate, the narrator’s father learns words from the dictionary and makes her do the same. When dementia comes for him, those words become her lifeline. As soon as I heard, on the night of the
- [New Voices: "Every Night I Pretend to Save You" by Alex Dezen](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-every-night-i-pretend-to-save-you-by-alex-dezen/) - In Alex Dezen’s “Every Night I Pretend to Save You," the narrator is trying—and failing—to save his business and, ultimately, his belief in himself. If only he gets his artist-mistress to sign one drawing, he might be able to pull his gallery out of debt, keep his wife from hating him, make his son think
- [Book Review: Analog Days by Damion Searls](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-analog-days-by-damion-searls/) - Damion Searls’s Analog Days, the newest novella in Coffee House Press’s NVLA series, is a 100-page book that explores, among many things, what it means to tell a story against a backdrop of ever-present political and environmental devastation. Set in 2016, the novella tracks events such as the murder of Jo Cox through to the
- [Interview with the Winner: Abigail Bokaer](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-abigail-bokaer/) - Abigail Bokaer's "Made in Wonderland" won second place in our Debut Fiction Contest. Read her story here and then check out this interview in which she talks about the parallels between movies and stories, writing the child narrator, and her writing routine. Movies play a huge role in this story, both as the impetus
- [Stories that Teach: “Conversations with Various Time Warner Cable Technical Support Reps, 8 p.m. to 3 a.m." by Ron Currie, Jr.—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-conversations-with-various-time-warner-cable-technical-support-reps-8-p-m-to-3-a-m-by-ron-currie-jr-discussed-by-brandon-williams/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [Interview with the Winner: Rachael Riley](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-rachael-riley/) - Rachael Riley's "Sightline" won third place in our Debut Fiction Prize. Read the story here, then check out this interview in which Riley talks about the power of nature, the conflicts inherent in small spaces, and what they're working on next. This is a story about isolation—physical, but also emotional, familial. I want to
- [New Voices: "African Milk Plant" by Allison Field Bell](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-african-milk-plant-by-allison-field-bell/) - Allison Field Bell's "African Milk Plant" is a beautifully subtle yet complex story that centers around a single interaction between the narrator and a hospitality worker caring for a hotel's plants. The tension in this story comes from all the two characters don't say about the lives they're living beyond this moment. The bulbs
- [From the Archives: "Skin Hunger" by Melissa Goode—Discussed by Rebecca Parades](https://mastersreview.com/from-the-archives-skin-hunger-by-melissa-goode-discussed-by-rebecca-parades/) - In March 2020, we published “Skin Hunger” by Melissa Goode in our New Voices section. The story focuses on Jacinta, a woman who is grieving not only the loss of her husband, but also her sense of human connection. The story uses music as a motif, packing big emotions into a small amount of space.
- [Book Review: Tell Me Yours, I'll Tell You Mine by Kristina Ten](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-tell-me-yours-ill-tell-you-mine-by-kristina-ten/) - Kristina Ten’s debut speculative short story collection, Tell Me Yours, I’ll Tell You Mine, deals with multiple themes—immigration, oppression, feminism and queerness—but the thread connecting all the stories is the importance of community and our desire, for better or worse, to belong. This affects all Ten’s protagonists from young girls to grown women. Indeed, as
- [Book Review: Driver by Mattia Filice](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-driver-by-mattia-filice/) - In Europe, we depend on the railway. Essential for our daily commute as well as connecting us with families and friends, lines snake across the Old World and tap into aging arteries. Mattia Filice’s debut novel Driver, translated from the French by Jacques Houis, is an open letter to the French railway, a warts-and-all ode
- [A Conversation with Brian Trapp, Author of Range of Motion](https://mastersreview.com/a-conversation-with-brian-trapp-author-of-range-of-motion/) - Brian Trapp’s debut novel, Range of Motion, inspired by his life as twin to a brother with severe cerebral palsy, releases October 15 from Acre Books. In this interview, A.D. Carr talks with Trapp about writing characters from disability, the ethics of life writing, the varying affordances of fiction and memoir, and favorite creators and
- [Winter Short Story Award 1st Place: "Tell Me Who You Walk With" by Gabriella Navas](https://mastersreview.com/winter-short-story-award-1st-place-tell-me-who-you-walk-with-by-gabriella-navas/) - "Tell Me Who You Walk With” is revelatory fiction, a complex story that constellates what we owe each other, our families, ourselves. The author has an uncanny, almost preternatural ability to render a character’s emotional machinations with originality, precision, and the beautiful force of truth. I love how the writer applies pressure to Priscila from
- [Best Emerging Writers 2025 Shortlist!](https://mastersreview.com/best-emerging-writers-2025-shortlist/) - Andrew Porter, we don't envy you. That's right—the shortlist for Best Emerging Writers 2025 is now in the hands of Andrew Porter, our guest judge, who has the extremely difficult task of selecting only ten of these thirty phenomenal stories and essays, all submitted by some of the best emerging writers around the globe. We
- [Interview with the Winner: Gabriella Navas](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-gabriella-navas/) - Tell Me Who You Walk With by Gabriella Navas took first place in our Winter Short Story Contest. Read the winning story here, then read this interview with Navas in which she talks about loneliness, women's friendships, and writing routines—or the lack thereof. Your characters as well as the setting are so well-drawn in
- [Interview with the Winner: Juan Fernando Villagómez](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-juan-fernando-villagomez/) - Juan Fernando Villagómez's "El Gallo de Oro" was selected for second place by our judge of this year's Winter Short Story Award. Read the excerpt and then check out this interview in which Villagómez discusses sonic profiles, counterbalance, and what makes a story timeless. In his introduction to your story, Bret Anthony Johnston writes
- [What Makes a Great Novel Excerpt? by B.B. Garin](https://mastersreview.com/what-makes-a-great-novel-excerpt-by-b-b-garin/) - As we open submissions again for our Novel Excerpt Contest (our fifth!), we're returning to this essay written by B.B. Garin, one of our longtime volunteers. Garin digs into what can make or break a novel excerpt submission, and we hope you find her advice helpful as you consider which section from your novel to
- [2025 Debut Fiction Prize Winners (Updated)!](https://mastersreview.com/2025-debut-fiction-prize-winners/) - Unfortunately, we are no longer able to award the grand prize to our previously announced winner (though be on the lookout for his story in the new year). Congratulations to our new grand prize winner, Dilara Y, whose story, "The Peace Bride," will be published in early November. Congratulations also to Abigail Bokaer and to
- [Interview with the Winner: L.J. Bowden](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-l-j-bowden/) - L.J. Bowden's "The Lack Of Noise" was selected for third place by our judge of this year's Winter Short Story Award. Read the excerpt and then check out this interview in which Bowden discusses the importance of place, the addictive nature of loneliness, and the importance of distracting yourself. One of the things Bret
- [Writers on Not Writing: Joseph R. Goodall and Hector Dominguez](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-joseph-r-goodall-and-hector-dominguez/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, we hear from two writers—Joseph R.
- [2024 Summer Short Story Award Shortlist!](https://mastersreview.com/2024-summer-short-story-award-shortlist/) - This weekend, we're thankful for all of our submitters, but especially for these fifteen who have been selected for this year's Summer Short Story Award shortlist! Guest judge Colin Barrett will chose his winning three, whose stories will be published in 2025. Thank you again to each and every submitter—stay tuned for the winners! And
- [New Voices: "Men Who Become Verbs" by David Lerner Schwartz](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-men-who-become-verbs-by-david-lerner-schwartz/) - David Lerner Schwartz's powerful micro, "Men Who Become Verbs," invokes etymology as a form of self-preservation. "I want to be one of those men who become verbs." Before my PhD, I collected words. Ways to describe plants: cruciferous, alliaceous, avenaceous. Animals: porcine, vespine, asinine. I liked their structure. I too longed to fit alongside
- [Nick Fuller Googins is Judging the 2025 Novel Excerpt Contest!](https://mastersreview.com/nick-fuller-googins-is-judging-the-2025-novel-excerpt-contest/) - Our annual Novel Excerpt Contest is just around the corner, and we're thrilled to announce that former Short Story Award winner Nick Fuller Googins has agreed to select this year's winners! Nick's newest novel,The Frequency of Living Things, was published earlier this month by Atria Books. You can read our review of The Great Transition here, Nick's
- [Book Review: The Perils of Girlhood by Melissa Fraterrigo](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-perils-of-girlhood-melissa-fraterrigo/) - Melissa Fraterrigo’s third book, The Perils of Girlhood could not have been more aptly named. Through twenty short essays, Fraterrigo takes us through the moments in her life that shaped her world view and her experience of her gender. Relatability is not essential, but this seems to be at the heart of her writing—a desire
- [New Voices: "Skin Hunger" by Melissa Goode](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-skin-hunger-by-melissa-goode/) - "My husband is dead in my arms. I carry him and he feels the same, his skin and hair, the shape of him." Melissa Goode doesn't hold back in "Skin Hunger," today's New Voices story. Jacinta is grieving in the parking lot of the hospital when Chris finds her, at the end of her rope,
- [Stories that Teach: "610 North, 610 West" by Bryan Washington—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-610-north-610-west-by-bryan-washington-discussed-by-brandon-williams/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [September Deadlines: 12 Prizes Only Available This Month](https://mastersreview.com/september-deadlines-12-prizes-only-available-this-month/) - The summer heat might not be going anywhere, but these contests are definitely coming to an end! Make sure you don’t miss out on the opportunity before they fade away! FEATURED! Summer Short Story Award for New Writers Our contest is coming to a close, but it’s not too late! The Masters Review is looking
- [Writers on Not Writing: Sean Macgillicuddy and Alex Dezen](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-sean-macgillicuddy-and-alex-dezen/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, we hear from two writers—Sean Macgillicuddy
- [A Conversation with Natasha Lehrer, Translator of Sad Tiger by Neige Sinno](https://mastersreview.com/a-conversation-with-natasha-lehrer-translator-of-sad-tiger-by-neige-sinno/) - McKenzie Watson-Fore first came across Natasha Lehrer’s work when she was reviewing her translation of Cécile Desprairies’s autofictional novel, The Propagandist (released by New Vessel Press in October 2024), about a family who collaborates with fascists. A few months later, she was reviewing another book Lehrer had translated—Neige Sinno’s Sad Tiger (released by Seven Stories
- [New Voices: "Eat Jimmy" by Payne Ratner](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-eat-jimmy-by-payne-ratner/) - Payne Ratner’s “Eat Jimmy” is a strange and mesmerizing story. Like a Brothers Grimm fairy tale, young Jimmy is told by his mother that he’ll soon be eaten in order to save her. An evil stepfather, a talking dog, and an encounter with Jesus add to the world’s strangeness, making the emotional impact all the
- [The Masters Review Novel Workshop: April 1 - May 1, 2025](https://mastersreview.com/novel-workshop/) - The Novel Workshop partners aspiring novelists with experienced small press editors. Writers are invited to submit the first fifty pages of their novels. In their cover letters, writers should also plan to include a brief synopsis of the novel, any challenges they may be facing, and any specific feedback they are seeking.
- [The Masters Review Chapbook Open: September 1 - December 15, 2024](https://mastersreview.com/chapbook-contest/) - The Masters Review publishes one chapbook every year. We’re interested in collections of flash fiction, creative nonfiction essays, short stories, and anything in-between. We encourage you to be bold, to experiment with style and form, as long as you stay under 45 pages. The winner receives a $3,000 cash prize, along with manuscript publication and 75 contributor copies. Our chapbooks are distributed internationally and are available through Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.
- [Novel Excerpt Contest 3rd Place: "I Trust Her Completely" by Christine Henneberg](https://mastersreview.com/novel-excerpt-contest-3rd-place-i-trust-her-completely-by-christine-henneberg/) - Unfolding with perfect pacing and confidence, this chapter plunges us into the intersecting lives of two women—Josie and Radhika—whose lapsed friendship suggests some deeper, mysterious fracture from their past. I flew through these pages, compelled by the spontaneity of their meeting and the sheer desire to know where this reunion would lead. — Guest Judge
- [New Voices: "If on a Summer’s Night, a Blogger, or: How You Learned to Love El Barrio (and Not Exploit It)" by Hector Dominguez](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-if-on-a-summers-night-a-blogger-or-how-you-learned-to-love-el-barrio-and-not-exploit-it-by-hector-dominguez/) - Hector Dominguez's “If on a Summer’s Night, a Blogger, or: How You Learned to Love El Barrio (and Not Exploit It)” is a fast-paced, almost breathless romp through a single night in Chicago. In part a tongue-in-cheek critique of society, in part an excavation of place, this story will keep you riveted. If on
- [New Voices: "Year of the Bimbo" by Maureen Traverse](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-year-of-the-bimbo-by-maureen-traverse/) - Maureen Traverse's "Year of the Bimbo" starts off innocently enough, with the narrator and her best friend playing Barbies and speculating on the love life of Teeny's sister, Nicole. But in true coming-of-age fashion, the closer the narrator observes Nicole and Dom, the darker their relationship is revealed to be. Teeny’s big sister Nicole
- [August Deadlines: 11 Contests Closing This Month](https://mastersreview.com/august-deadlines-11-contests-closing-this-month/) - August may bring to mind summer carnivals, picnics, and water parks, but don’t forget about these contests! Take a break from the whirlwind, and make sure you send your work to the right place. FEATURED CRAFT First Chapters Contest Our sister litmag, CRAFT, is in search of compelling first chapters to publish through their annual First
- [Novel Excerpt Contest 1st Place: "Simmer Dim" by Imogen Osborne](https://mastersreview.com/novel-excerpt-simmer-dim-by-imogen-osborne/) - This chapter held me spellbound from the opening paragraph, so original is the voice, so precise the level of observation. What impressed me most was the emotional honesty of the writing, how deftly it moves between the minds of a father and daughter whose present-day estrangement kindles questions about the past. — Tania James, Guest
- [Book Review: Circular Motion by Alex Foster](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-circular-motion-by-alex-foster/) - Alex Foster’s Circular Motion provides a kind of literary science fiction which harkens to the recent blurring of genres seen by the likes of Ling Ma’s Severance or Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven. Yet, unlike these novels, Circular Motion doesn’t take us all the way into the post-apocalyptic space—possibly it’s more of a cousin
- [Cover Letters Dos and Don'ts](https://mastersreview.com/cover-letters-dos-and-donts/) - We’ve heard your feedback about cover letters. Check out our tips and tricks on submission cover letters below, along with some insight into what purpose they serve for us! What’s in a cover letter? Many writers submitting their work for the first time (or even the hundredth time) come to this box on Submittable
- [A Conversation with Ben Davies, Author of And So I Took Their Eye](https://mastersreview.com/a-conversation-with-ben-davies-author-of-and-so-i-took-their-eye/) - Ben C. Davies’s debut collection, And So I Took Their Eye, is a gripping collection of interlinked stories that explore the complex relationship between revenge and justice and how it plays across different cultures and societies. It examines the abuses of power and fractures of inequality, and how humans learn to confront these brutalities and
- [New Voices: "These Days" by Jennifer Braunfels](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-these-days-by-jennifer-braunfels/) - In her essay, "These Days," Jennifer Braunfels describes waiting for post-surgical cancer results with both pathos and humor. The daily grind of life doesn't stop just because she's physically and emotionally not the same person anymore. The students who don't give "two shits" still need to be taught, her chirpy coworkers have to be smiled
- [A Conversation with Chloé Caldwell, Author of Trying](https://mastersreview.com/in-conversation-with-chloe-caldwell-author-of-trying/) - Chloé Caldwell expands the genre of memoir once again in her newest book, Trying, a candid look at the uncertainty—and messiness and emotions and beliefs—around trying to conceive. It is simultaneously hilarious and vulnerable, offering readers an intimate exploration of the act of trying and how that shapes who we become. In this interview, Justine
- [Interview with the Winner: Imogen Osborne](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-imogen-osborne/) - Imogen Osborne's Simmer Dim was selected by our judge as this year's Novel Excerpt Contest winner. Read the excerpt and then check out this interview in which Osborne discusses voice, point-of-view, and the importance of names. One of the first things I noticed and loved about this story was the voice. Can you talk a
- [A Conversation with Gemini Wahhaj, Author of Katy Family](https://mastersreview.com/a-conversation-with-gemini-wahhaj-author-of-katy-family/) - Gemini Wahhaj is the author of The Children of this Madness (7.13 Books, 2023) and Katy Family (Jackleg Press, 2025). With a sharp wit and a reassured voice, her writing is raw and unflinchingly honest. It was a pleasure to interview her about her writing journey. Nabilah Khan: Your debut novel, The Children of this
- [Summer Workshop: August 1 - August 31](https://mastersreview.com/workshop/) - Participants receive personalized feedback on a story or essay, detailed suggestions for improvement, and resources for submitting—all from an experienced instructor. The asynchronous workshop allows writers to work with instructors remotely and strives to provide a workshop experience that can easily fit into their lives.
- [Writers on Not Writing: Gina Troisi and Crystal Hurdle](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-gina-troisi-and-crystal-hurdle/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, two writers—Gina Troisi and Crystal Hurdle—explore
- [From the Archives: "Sealskin" by Haley Kennedy—Discussed by Valerie Hughes](https://mastersreview.com/from-the-archives-sealskin-by-haley-kennedy-discussed-by-valerie-hughes/) - What makes a story work? In this space, we dive into the craft of stories from our archive and examine the parts that make them whole. This week, Valerie Hughes digs into “Sealskin” by Haley Kennedy. Haley Kennedy’s “Sealskin” explores colonialism, memory, and language through the narrator’s recounting moments of connection and disconnection with
- [Book Review: We're Gonna Get Through This Together by Z. Hanna](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-were-gonna-get-through-this-together-by-z-hanna/) - Z. Hanna’s debut short story collection, We’re Gonna Get Through This Together is a satire-filled collection akin to Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah’s imaginative worlds and the raw desire found in Kimberly King Parsons’s but with a sensibility that is entirely Z. Hanna’s. Hanna’s stories are packed with the cynicism of do-goodery within the intersections of race,
- [Announcing the Debut Fiction Prize Shortlist!](https://mastersreview.com/announcing-the-debut-fiction-prize-shortlist/) - It was tough work, but we've narrowed submissions down to the final twelve! These stories are now in the hands of Julie Iromuanya, who has the unenviable task of declaring a winner. We want to thank all of our brave submitters who took on the challenge—we can't wait to announce who will be making their
- [A Conversation with Michelle Ross and Kim Magowan, Authors of Don't Take This the Wrong Way](https://mastersreview.com/a-conversation-with-michelle-ross-and-kim-magowan-authors-of-dont-take-this-the-wrong-way/) - I have been a fan of Michelle Ross’s and Kim Magowan’s work for years, so when I saw that they had started writing collaboratively, I couldn’t have been more excited. Together, their writing takes on a special magic, their individual styles blending naturally to create something new and sparkling. In their collaborative short story collection,
- [Interview with the Winner: Christine Henneberg](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-christine-henneberg/) - Christine Henneberg's "I Trust Her Completely" won 3rd Place in our Novel Excerpt Contest. Read the winning pages or read the novel, which came out May 6th! Then check out this interview with Henneberg in which she discusses the intersection of writing and her life as a mother and physician, the role of the reflective
- [Novel Excerpt Contest Honorable Mention: "Born of a Million Girls" by Inyene Ekanem](https://mastersreview.com/novel-excerpt-contest-honorable-mention-born-of-a-million-girls-by-inyene-ekanem/) - Inyene Ekanem’s “Born of a Million Girls” was chosen by The Masters Review staff as an Honorable Mention in this year’s Novel Excerpt Contest. Set in Lagos, this coming-of-age story follows as the narrator and her friends observe a young woman’s sudden breast development and the social consequences of her womanhood. As the children who
- [Interview with the Winner: Stephanie Y. Tam](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-stephanie-y-tam/) - Stephanie Y. Tam's "The Translated City" won 2nd Place in our Novel Excerpt Contest. Once you read it, you'll want to read the rest of the novel! In the meantime, check out this interview in which Tam talks about the duality of language, the bending of reality, and the loneliness of writing. A lot
- [Featured Flash Contest Winner: "The Increasingly Unfortunate Circumstances Which Have Led Me To Wave You Off The Highway" by Austin Tucker](https://mastersreview.com/featured-flash-contest-winner-the-increasingly-unfortunate-circumstances-which-have-led-me-to-wave-you-off-the-highway-by-austin-tucker/) - Written in an exhausting series of explanations set off by an accident involving a coyote on the highway, Austin Tucker's "The Increasingly Unfortunate Circumstances Which Have Led Me To Wave You Off The Highway" is one of our two winners for this year's Featured Flash Contest. Tucker's narrator is, he says, "in a sad state,"
- [Novel Excerpt Contest 1st Place: "Back Line" by Raf Richardson-Carillo](https://mastersreview.com/novel-excerpt-contest-1st-place-back-line-by-raf-richardson-carillo/) - "In this lovely, ruminative excerpt, the narrator remembers his conversations with the late, great Diego Maradona. The voice is pitch perfect, and there is a lot of fun in imagining Maradona's life and loneliness. Ultimately, this excerpt left me eager to read more, to go further into the lives of these two soccer players and
- [Novel Excerpt Contest 3rd Place: "A Geology" by Virginia Lee Wood](https://mastersreview.com/novel-excerpt-contest-3rd-place-a-geology-by-virginia-lee-wood/) - "A joy here to follow the meandering path of this novel through the memories of its protagonist, a path that looks a lot like memory itself. All three of the novel excerpt finalists do interesting things with time. This excerpt collapses and expands time like an accordion finding its tune." — Guest Judge Matthew Salesses
- [Summer Short Story Award 1st Place: "Elbow in Zulu" by Dara Kell](https://mastersreview.com/summer-short-story-award-1st-place-elbow-in-zulu-by-dara-kell/) - "'Elbow in Zulu' reveals a nuanced narrative beneath its ostensibly cheerful tone, delving into the complex intersections of South Africa's race and class divides. Told from a plural, jocular, and occasionally elusive perspective, the story explores the fears and obsessions of an affluent group of friends in Johannesburg. Reading this piece, we may question what
- [Summer Short Story Award 3rd Place: "Dog Days" by Catherine Carberry](https://mastersreview.com/summer-short-story-award-3rd-place-dog-days-by-catherine-carberry/) - "How well do we know our neighbors, our ex-husbands, or ourselves for that matter? 'Dog Days' is a closely observed story that asks these questions in an idyllic town in the Cape. Its narrator gifts us an unsentimental view into a neighbor’s troubled marriage even as her own ex-husband mails her accusatory letters chronicling her
- [2022 Chapbook Open Winner Now Available: Coats by Naomi Telushkin, Selected by Kim Fu](https://mastersreview.com/2022-chapbook-open-winner-now-available-coats-by-naomi-telushkin-selected-by-kim-fu/) - We're celebrating the release of Coats by Naomi Telushkin, winner of our 2022 Chapbook Open, with the publication of Kim Fu's introduction to this terrific book. Coats can be purchased at Barnes & Noble and Amazon and will soon be available on Bookshop.org! About the Author NAOMI TELUSHKIN is a writer based in Sydney, and
- [A Conversation with Virginia DeLuca, Author of If You Must Go, I Wish You Triplets](https://mastersreview.com/interview-virginia-deluca/) - Virginia DeLuca’s second book, If You Must Go, I Wish You Triplets, recounts the life upheaval she underwent after her husband told her that he was leaving at age sixty because he wanted a baby. Deluca has grown children from her first marriage at this point and had envisioned retirement and a life of leisure
- [Jennine Capó Crucet Will Judge the 2025 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers!](https://mastersreview.com/jennine-capo-crucet-will-judge-the-2025-summer-short-story-award-for-new-writers/) - The 2025 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers opens for submissions in one week. The Masters Review is pleased to share that Jennine Capó Crucet will serve as this year's guest judge! The winner of this award receives a $3,000 prize, online publication and review by our partnered agents. Submissions are open through September
- [New Voices: "Rain" by Jill Widner](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-rain-by-jill-widner/) - Jill Widner’s “Rain,” steeped in sensory details, is both a snapshot of a stormy wait in a commuter terminal and a love story to Hawai'i. The details of the wait accumulate with force: a zipper tab like a miniature pin cushion, cars that look like they’ve been electrocuted, a lip jutted against a Velcro closure.
- [July Deadlines: 12 Amazing Opportunities This Month](https://mastersreview.com/july-deadlines-12-amazing-opportunities-this-month/) - It only gets more difficult to beat the heat as the summer continues, but luckily these contests are as simple as ever! If you have stories to submit, we’ve got a list of the best places to send them. FEATURED! Summer Short Story Award for New Writers Our summer contest is finally opening on July
- [Writers on Not Writing: Lynn Sikkink and Katherine Cart](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-lynn-sikkink-katherine-cart/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, we hear from two writers— Lynn
- [2024-2025 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers Finalists!](https://mastersreview.com/2024-2025-winter-short-story-award-for-new-writers-finalists/) - Congratulations are in order for Gabriella Navas, whose "Tell Me Who You Walk With" was selected by Bret Anthony Johnston as the grand prize winner of the 2024-2025 Winter Short Story for New Writers! Navas earns a $3,000 prize along with publication and review by our partnered agents. Please extend a congratulations as well to
- [Call for Readers: Summer 2025](https://mastersreview.com/call-for-readers-summer-2025/) - The Masters Review is looking to add some talented new readers to our team this summer. If you love literary fiction and nonfiction, and three to four hours of reading submissions a week sounds like fun, we encourage you to apply. Our readers work remotely and can set their own schedules. BIPOC, marginalized and underrepresented
- [Stories that Teach: “Thoughts and Prayers" by Ken Liu—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-thoughts-prayers-by-ken-liu/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [New Voices: "Buckets" by Michelle Ross](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-buckets-by-michelle-ross/) - With spare prose, Michelle Ross’s flash fiction, “Buckets” creates a picture of a marriage in a single moment. In a scene that is both moving and uncomfortable, the narrator and her husband confront his desire to stay in an ice hotel as well as his use of the term “bucket list.” Such a small moment,
- [Summer Short Story Award 3rd Place: “Iron Boy Kills the Devil” by Sheldon Costa](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-iron-boy-kills-devil-sheldon-costa/) - “Iron Boy Kills the Devil” was the third place winner of our latest Short Story Award for New Writers. This exacting story is told from the point of view of fourteen-year-old Iron Boy. He lives in a depressed, rural town where drones from a large company deliver all the necessary supplies. In this world, teenagers
- [Summer Short Story Award 2nd Place: “The Devil is a Liar” by Nana Nkweti](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-devil-liar-nana-nkweti/) - Today, we are pleased to share with you the second place winner of our Short Story Award for New Writers: “The Devil is a Liar” by Nana Nkweti. This story is told from the alternating perspectives of a mother and her adult daughter. It examines the differences, and similarities, between how each woman experiences her
- [Winter Short Story Award 3rd Place: "Narada's Ears" by Sanjena Sathian](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-naradas-ears-by-sanjena-sathian/) - "This story is suffused with charm, and strangeness, and the author commits to the strangeness full-heartedly so I jump in too. I wouldn’t think ear wax would end up being such a doorway into our internal lives, but here it is, and Narada and the narrator’s shared eccentricities won me over entirely. Here is a
- [Winter Short Story Award 1st Place: "Damico" by Joe Bond](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-damico-by-joe-bond/) - Aimee Bender selected Joe Bond's "Damico" as the winner of our 2018 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers contest. "With swift, fierce sentences, the story covers a lot of ground," she said, "and we meet a group of boys I cared about quickly, and meaningfully. It kept my attention and I found myself invested
- [Best Emerging Writers 2024 Now Available!](https://mastersreview.com/best-emerging-writers-2024-now-available/) - Best Emerging Writers 2024 releases today! This collection features ten short stories and essays from promising writers around the world, selected by guest judge Gina Chung. “These stories ask questions about power, intimacy, control, our imperfect knowledge of one another and the world around us,” Chung writes in her introduction. “There is heartbreak and suffering
- [2024 Chapbook Open Winner!](https://mastersreview.com/2024-chapbook-open-winner/) - Congratulations to JR Fenn, selected by Rita Bullwinkel as the winner of the 2024 Chapbook Open! Fenn's collection Tiny Vessels will be published by The Masters Review through Red Mare Press in February 2026. We want to thank all of our submitters once again for trusting us with their work. This project is one of our favorites,
- [New Voices: "A Mirror for the Dead" by Kathryn Bratt-Pfotenhauer](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-a-mirror-for-the-dead-by-kathryn-bratt-pfotenhauer/) - Happy new year from The Masters Review! Our first story of 2025 is Kathryn Bratt-Pfotenhauer’s “A Mirror for the Dead.” While on her way to Bishkek as a visiting student at Kyrgyz National University, our narrator learns of her father’s heart failure, but rather than turn back for the funeral, she continues on to Kyrgyzstan.
- [New Voices: "Fat Cat" by Nathan Dixon](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-fat-cat-by-nathan-dixon/) - Nathan Dixon’s “Fat Cat” is a novel excerpt that will make you want to read the whole thing. In a place ringing with eeriness, an inmate reveals to a journalist a plot of Indigenous genocide by a corrupt businessman. The closeness of the speakers, the oddness of the interviewer's fidgeting, and the calm, measured telling
- [Writers on Not Writing: Shantell Powell and Sasha Brown](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-shantell-powell-and-sasha-brown/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, we hear from two writers—Shantell Powell
- [Book Review: A Bag Full of Stones by A. Molotkov](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-a-bag-full-of-stones-by-a-molotkov/) - Like all good mysteries, A. Molotkov’s A Bag Full of Stones starts with a body. Only it’s a body that’s not there. Instead, there’s a dry, empty spot of pavement on Portland’s rainy streets where it’s possible a body might have been. It’s up to detectives Brenda Smith and Dmitry Volkov to decide if there
- [June Deadlines: 11 Contests to Enter This Month](https://mastersreview.com/june-deadlines-11-contests-to-enter-this-month/) - We are bursting into summer, and it’s time for your writing to take center-stage as well! Feel free to peruse our collection of contests, and see which one takes your fancy. FEATURED! Best Emerging Writers 2025 The entry period for The Masters Review Anthology is coming to a close, but there’s still a bit of
- [2024 Chapbook Open Shortlist](https://mastersreview.com/2024-chapbook-open-shortlist/) - We're pleased to announce that our final seven chapbooks are in the hands of Rita Bullwinkel, who will be choosing this year's winner and recipient of our $3,000 grand prize. We received hundreds of truly terrific chapbook submissions this year, which made narrowing down to our shortlist quite difficult. Congratulations to our final seven, and
- [From the Archives: "Linger Longer" by Vincent Masterson—Discussed by Rebecca Paredes](https://mastersreview.com/from-the-archives-linger-longer-by-vincent-masterson-discussed-by-rebecca-paredes/) - In February 2016, we selected “Linger Longer” by Vincent Masterson as the winner of the Fall Fiction Contest. The story follows Lori and Michael, a couple visiting a cabin in the woods for a getaway with friends—but as the trip progresses, Lori increasingly loses her grip on reality. Let’s take a closer look at the
- [2024-2025 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers Shortlist](https://mastersreview.com/2024-2025-winter-short-story-award-for-new-writers-shortlist/) - Congratulations to our fifteen shortlisted writers! We've whittled submissions down to these final fifteen, whose fate now rests in the hands of our guest judge Bret Anthony Johnston. Check back next month for our final results! To all of our submitters: Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts. Each year, you make this such
- [Debut Author Spotlight: Michelle Kicherer](https://mastersreview.com/debut-author-spotlight-michelle-kicherer/) - Our Debut Author Spotlight series has returned! Here, past New Voices contributor Michele Kicherer discusses her non-traditional road to publication. Kicherer's debut novella, Sexy Life, Hello, was published on March 6, 2025 by Banana Pitch Press. I did not start out writing Sexy Life, Hello with a clear thought in mind of what it
- [Fall Fiction Contest 1st Place: "Linger Longer" by Vincent Masterson](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-linger-longer-by-vincent-masterson/) - FALL FICTION WINNER! Today, we present the winner of our Fall Fiction Contest judged by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer: “Linger Longer” by Vincent Masterson. In this story, Lori and Michael visit a cabin in the woods for a getaway with friends. Throughout the weekend, Lori struggles to keep a clear head. Michael chalks it up
- [In Conversation: Six Debut Authors Discuss How Their Day Jobs Inform Their Writing](https://mastersreview.com/in-conversation-six-debut-authors-discuss-how-their-day-jobs-inform-their-writing/) - Six fiction authors with new novels met in an online group of debut authors. Recently, they got together to discuss how their day jobs inform their writing. Christine Ma-Kellams is a college professor, Harvard-trained cultural psychologist and author of The Band (Atria, April 2024), which follows a canceled K-pop boy bander who escapes by
- [New Voices: "Leaving Home" by Phoebe Barr](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-leaving-home-by-phoebe-barr/) - In Phoebe Barr's "Leaving Home," the narrator packs up and moves out of her Boston apartment during a bleak February while still grieving the death of her boyfriend. Deeply atmospheric and quietly tender, this story teases out how it might be possible to move on—or at least move through—an impossible loss. I ended up
- [Book Review: It All Felt Impossible by Tom McAllister](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-it-all-felt-impossible-by-tom-mcallister/) - What does it really mean to examine your life—one year at a time? In It All Felt Impossible: 42 Years in 42 Essays, from Rose Metal Press, Tom McAllister takes on a writing challenge with humor, honesty, and a sharp eye for the little details that build a life. By condensing each year into a
- [Book Review: No Names by Greg Hewett](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-no-names-by-greg-hewett/) - Greg Hewett’s new novel No Names is part encomium to punk, part collection of love stories and part exploration of how music creates intimate connections for both listeners and musicians. Alternating between multiple narrators and time periods, the novel jumps back and forth in time through the seventies, nineties and the 2010s. But the brilliance
- [Book Review: Somewhere Past the End by Alexandria Faulkenbury](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-somewhere-past-the-end/) - Alexandria Faulkenbury’s Somewhere Past the End alternates narration between Alice and her mother Teresa, two women struggling with their understanding of identity, family, and community in a closed religious commune. Teresa and her husband, Tom, were among the first members of the “Collective,” a Christian cult that feels midway between Scientology and the Amish, founded
- [Writers on Not Writing: Catherine Kim and Kiran Kaur Saini](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-catherine-kim-and-kiran-kaur-saini/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, we hear from two writers—Catherine Kim
- [Interview with the Winner: Kimberly Blaeser](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-kimberly-blaeser/) - Kimberly Blaeser's "Leaving Paradise" won first prize in our 2024 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers. First, read her terrific story. Then check out this interview below, where she talks about the importance of storytelling and how being a poet influences her prose. This piece feels so voice-driven to me, although it’s also
- [Interview with the Winner: Blaire Baily](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-blaire-baily/) - Blaire Baily's "Coup de Grâce" placed second in our Summer Short Short Story contest. Here, she talks about the object at the center of the drama, the way she handled the heavy emotions of the story, and what's next for her. One of the things I really like about this story is the use
- [Summer Short Story Award 2nd Place: "Coup de Grâce" by Blaire Baily](https://mastersreview.com/summer-short-story-award-2nd-place-coup-de-grace-by-blaire-baily/) - As a way of controlling their disintegrating relationship, Morgan has begun secretly photographing her controlling, volatile older lover, Grace; "Her face would be blurred, given the slow shutter speed, because at the moment the shutter tripped, Grace had made good on her threat to slap herself." This is a story that bristles with coiled violence
- [Summer Short Story Award 1st Place: "Leaving Paradise" by Kimberly Blaeser](https://mastersreview.com/summer-short-story-award-1st-place-leaving-paradise-by-kimberly-blaeser/) - A wonderfully evocative, sharply detailed, and tender, vibrant story about life on the Rez, in the Anishinaabeg village of Polecat Lake, written in sentences prismatic with allusion and mystery, and a story that moves agilely from one tantalizing, half-glimpsed revelation to another. "Kids with a tentative grip on home," the narrator writes, "we didn’t never
- [Best Emerging Writers 2025 Now Open for Submissions!](https://mastersreview.com/best-emerging-writers-2025-now-open-for-submissions/) - Submissions are now open to this year's Best Emerging Writers! Andrew Porter, author of four books, including The Disappeared and the forthcoming This Imagined Life, will serve as our guest judge. All winners receive a $700 prize, along with publication online, in our internationally distributed print anthology, and a contributor's copy. Submissions to this year's contest
- [2024 Novel Excerpt Contest Finalists!](https://mastersreview.com/2024-novel-excerpt-contest-finalists/) - Congratulations to Imogen Osborne, winner of the 2024 Novel Excerpt Contest! Osborne's "Simmer Dim" was chosen by Tania James as the most outstanding excerpt in this year's contest and has earned a $3,000 prize, along with publication and a consultation with Marin Takikawa, our partnered literary agent. Congratulations also to Stephanie Y. Tam and Christine
- [May Deadlines: 9 Literary Contests To Enter This Month](https://mastersreview.com/may-deadlines-9-literary-contests-to-enter-this-month/) - Spring is all around us by now, reminding us that new growth is the key to achieving our full potential! Take a look at these upcoming contests, and see if their challenge might be just what you need. OPEN NOW! Best Emerging Writers 2025 It’s finally that time of year again, when The Masters Review
- [New Voices: "Will You Listen to Me, Please?" by Emily Collins](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-will-you-listen-to-me-please-by-emily-collins/) - "Will You Listen to Me, Please?" by Emily Collins explores an intergenerational, unlikely friendship between the narrator—a college student reeling from the loss of her brother—and an eccentric artist still grieving the death of her husband. In a coastal Maine town, the narrator cares for the artist's plants while saving money to see a corpse
- [Stories that Teach: “The Wolf" by Carter Sickels—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-the-wolf-by-carter-sickels-discussed-by-brandon-williams/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [A Most Natural Thing: An Elemental Memoir by Lisbeth White, Winner of the 2023 Chapbook Open Now Available!](https://mastersreview.com/a-most-natural-thing-an-elemental-memoir-by-lisbeth-white-winner-of-the-2023-chapbook-open-now-available/) - Lisbeth White's lyrical and formally inventive chapbook, selected by Michael Martone as the winner of our 2023 Chapbook Open, is now available for purchase through Red Mare Press! Part travel-writing, part ecopoetical mythology, part memoir of healing, A Most Natural Thing: An Elemental Memoir is alive with longing as it explores our connection with, and
- [Andrew Porter to Judge Best Emerging Writers 2025!](https://mastersreview.com/andrew-porter-to-judge-best-emerging-writers-2025/) - We are thrilled to announce Andrew Porter as this year's judge for Best Emerging Writers! Porter is author of four books, including The Disappeared and the forthcoming This Imagined Life. Porter will select ten stories and essays from a shortlist of thirty provided by The Masters Review's editorial staff. All winners receive a $700 prize, along
- [Book Review: Show Me Where The Hurt Is by Hayden Casey](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-show-me-where-the-hurt-is-by-hayden-casey/) - The wounds exposed in Hayden Casey’s debut collection, Show Me Where the Hurt Is, don’t often come with straight forward prognoses. Sometimes these afflictions take the form of strained relationships and the words used to try to suture them back together, or they present with more dire symptoms—starvation, a missing mouth, surreal exchanges of organs.
- [Book Review: Concerning the Future of Souls by Joy Williams](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-concerning-the-future-of-souls-by-joy-williams/) - The angel Azrael has a problem. After millennia of shepherding souls, something is changing. He can’t seem to find destinations for all the souls he gathers anymore. The world is shrinking. His many eyes are growing heavy. Some are closing altogether. And his friend the Devil is too bored to care. In Concerning the Future
- [The Masters Review Novel Workshop: Now Open](https://mastersreview.com/the-masters-review-novel-workshop-now-open/) - Returning for the fourth year, The Masters Review’s Novel Workshop is here to help writers looking for direct, actionable feedback on the opening of their novel in progress. Whether you’re just getting started on your manuscript or are polishing up the fifteenth draft, this program is the perfect opportunity to get your novel on the
- [Book Review: Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-under-the-eye-of-the-big-bird-by-hiromi-kawakami/) - In a world on the verge of extinction, small groups of human beings across the planet exist under the careful watch of “Mothers” and “watchers,” evolving unique societies, ways of living, and methods of reproducing. Some have developed the ability to nourish themselves through photosynthesis, gradually becoming more plant-like than human. Others produce children in
- [Book Review: Thanks for This Riot by Janelle Bassett](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-thanks-for-this-riot-by-janelle-bassett/) - Janelle Bassett’s debut short story collection, winner of the Raz/Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction, is populated by lonely observers, not vibrating throngs as the title would suggest. However, a secondary meaning of riot is an extravaganza or elaborate display, which is a fitting description of Bassett’s sincere humor and playful imagination in these
- [Book Review: Hum by Helen Phillips](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-hum-by-helen-phillips/) - “The needle inched closer to her eye, and she tried not to flinch.” This first line of Helen Phillips’s sci-fi family drama, Hum, certainly made me flinch. It’s a great example of how to start a story with something, well, eye-catching. However, sometimes novels that start strong will struggle to improve upon, or even maintain,
- [Book Review: Pages of Mourning by Diego Gerard Morrison](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-pages-of-mourning-by-diego-gerard-morrison/) - Against the backdrop of Diego Gerard Morrison’s sophomore novel Pages of Mourning is a real-life mass kidnapping that has become emblematic of the torturous years of drug war violence in Mexico. In 2014, forty-three students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College were abducted and disappeared. The case is unsolved to this day and remains a
- [Book Review: The Darkest Night: A Terrifying Anthology of Winter Horror Stories, ed. by Lindy Ryan](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-darkest-night-a-terrifying-anthology-of-winter-horror-stories-ed-by-lindy-ryan/) - It seems counterintuitive that we become more receptive to scary stories as the days get shorter and the temperature drops—a time when we need security more than ever. We can argue that horror stories serve basic needs. They help us confront our fears while acting as vehicles for criticism and introspection. But the most important
- [Book Review:  A Natural History of Empty Lots: Field Notes from Urban Edgelands, Back Alleys, and Other Wild Places by Christopher Brown](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-a-natural-history-of-empty-lots-field-notes-from-urban-edgelands-back-alleys-and-other-wild-places-by-christopher-brown/) - Are there moments when your life in glass towers and on crowded highways is so creepy and confining that you feel a rising panic, a sense of desperation? Christopher Brown, author of A Natural History of Empty Lots: Field Notes from Urban Edgelands, Back Alleys, and Other Wild Places has your number. In this, his
- [Book Review: City of Night Birds by Juhea Kim](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-city-of-night-birds-by-juhea-kim/) - There is an uncanniness to returning home after a long absence. Memories walk the streets. The past crowds out the present. It is what you have been longing for and the realization that what you’ve longed for is gone all at once. On a blazing White Night two years after a devastating accident has shattered
- [Book Review: Softie by Megan Howell](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-softie-by-megan-howell/) - Megan Howell’s debut short story collection, Softie, addresses several themes: motherhood, fetishized violence, casual racism, political timidity and the physicality of fear and loneliness. But across all of these stories, the control of bodies and minds is present in one form or another. There are stories about the dark feelings of helplessness that accompany teenage
- [Book Review: We're Alone by Edwidge Danticat](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-were-alone-by-edwidge-danticat/) - There are small experiences of hope that can happen while living in a divisive culture, and a new essay collection by Edwidge Danticat appearing on bookstore shelves is one of them. Danticat’s fiction and nonfiction often brings to light moral issues that are either ignored or overlooked by the populace—commentary such as the immigrant artist
- [Book Review: Anoxia by Miguel Ángel Hernàndez](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-anoxia-by-miguel-angel-hernandez/) - Adrian Nathan West brings Miguel Ángel Hernàndez’s latest dark, strange, and touching novel to its first release in English. Anoxia was originally published in Spanish in 2023 and received excellent reviews from the European market. Books about death, dying, and grief seem to keep finding me. If I wasn’t such a skeptic, I’d say it
- [A Conversation with Kyle Seibel, Author of Hey You Assholes](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-kyle-seibel-author-of-hey-you-assholes/) - The stories in Kyle Seibel's wonderful debut collection, Hey You Assholes (out now from CLASH), detail the lives of society's misfits and weirdos as they navigate life in an increasingly uncertain world. The Masters Review had the privilege of publishing “Master Guns," which closes the collection, and Kyle was kind enough to discuss the collection and
- [A Conversation with Youssef Rakha, Author of The Dissenters](https://mastersreview.com/a-conversation-with-youssef-rakha-author-of-the-dissenters/) - Youssef Rakha's novel, The Dissenters, out now from Graywolf Press is a stunning, bewildering, and hypnotic exploration of one woman's life lived against a tumultuous era in Egyptian history, one that artfully reckons with ideas of freedom, faith, family, gender, and trauma. In this interview, Justine Payton converses with Youssef Rakha about the inspiration behind The Dissenters;
- [Craft Essay: "Casting the Sentence" by Greg Schutz](https://mastersreview.com/craft-essay-casting-the-sentence-by-greg-schutz/) - How do writers decide what goes in a story and what (because this is also an essay about fishing) gets cast away? Here, Greg Schutz—recent winner of TMR's 2024 Reprint Prize—offers some insight on the use of edges for making meaning. 1. This is an essay about fishing. It’s also about how a short
- [Writers on Not Writing: Marcia Peck and Sheree Winslow](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-marcia-peck-and-sheree-winslow/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, we hear from two writers—Marcia Peck
- [Book Review: "One Level Down" by Mary G. Thompson](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-one-level-down-by-mary-g-thompson/) - Mary G. Thompson’s new book, One Level Down, follows Ella, a child constructed as part of a simulated universe on the planet Bella Inizio, where people can upload themselves, leaving their bodies behind in the real world. The simulation is controlled by Phil Harkin, Ella’s creator-coder, whom she refers to as “Daddy.” Harkin, or Daddy,
- [April Deadlines: 9 Literary Contests Ending This Month](https://mastersreview.com/april-deadlines-9-literary-contests-ending-this-month/) - You’ve spent all winter thinking, writing, and editing, but showtime has finally arrived. Just as the cherry trees enter into full bloom, now is your time to show the world your beautiful writing masterpieces! FEATURED! Debut Fiction Prize This is a brand-new contest offered by The Masters Review, specifically for new authors who could
- [From the Archives: "Gone Already" by Kendra Y. Mims-Applewhite—Discussed by Valerie Hughes](https://mastersreview.com/from-the-archives-gone-already-by-kendra-y-mims-applewhite-discussed-by-valerie-hughes/) - What makes a story work? In this space, we dive into the craft of stories from our archive and examine the parts that make them whole. This week, Valerie Hughes digs into “Gone Already” by Kendra Y. Mims-Applewhite. Setting the stage The introductory paragraph in Kendra Y. Mims-Applewhite's "Gone Already" makes a promise to the
- [Book Review: Joyriders by Greg Schutz](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-joyriders-by-greg-schutz/) - Joyriders: Stories, a short story collection by Greg Schutz, begins with a quote from “The Vanishing World” by poet Sandra Lim:"When I come to the right place, I believe I’ll paint a door on it and walk right through.” This epigraph highlights Schultz’s belief of the artist’s power to create opportunities or pathways to new
- [2024 Novel Excerpt Contest Shortlist](https://mastersreview.com/2024-novel-excerpt-contest-shortlist/) - We are pleased to share the ten selections for the 2024 Novel Excerpt Contest shortlist. These ten terrific excerpts are now in the hands of guest judge Tania James, who will select her top three winners. Congratulations to all of our shortlisters, and a heartfelt thank you to every one of our wonderful submitters. You
- [New Voices: "If I, He, They, She Had, Hadn’t, Had" by Allison Snyder](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-if-i-he-they-she-had-hadnt-had-by-allison-snyder/) - Set in a small mountain town, Allison Snyder's "If I, He, They, She Had, Hadn't, Had," explores the ways grief takes hold of its inhabitants. A ski accident kills the narrator's neighbor, and while he waits for the incident report, tension builds around what might have gone differently. This is the kind of story readers
- [Summer Short Story Award Honorable Mention: "Remembering Forget" by Sean Macgillicuddy](https://mastersreview.com/summer-short-story-award-honorable-mention-remembering-forget-by-sean-macgillicuddy/) - “Remembering Forget” by Sean Macgillicuddy is a coming-of-age story at once heartbreaking and tender, direct and subtle. The afternoon the narrator meets Forget, the new girl in his best friend Michael's life, he also begins to understand Michael's mercurial cruelty. The toilet block was a red-brick bunker tucked into an overgrown shoulder of bush
- [Craft Essay: "On Writing About My Children" by Julia McKenzie Munemo](https://mastersreview.com/craft-essay-on-writing-about-my-children-by-julia-mckenzie-munemo/) - Where's the line between telling the truth and violating the privacy of your loved ones? It's a question non-fiction (and to some degree, fiction) writers struggle with and one Julia McKenzie Munemo explores in this craft essay. Early in my MFA program, a fellow student advised me not to discuss my children with the
- [New Voices: "Never Rome" by  S.G. Ondercin](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-never-rome-by-s-g-ondercin/) - In S.G. Ondercin's "Never Rome," the reader inhabits Sergey’s POV and ultimately feels as displaced as he does. He’s fled Russia to land in Turkey, waiting tables while imagining a different reality. What does it mean to belong? What is home when home isn’t the place it used to be? Picture this: A man
- [Book Review: Proper Imposters: Four Novellas](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-proper-imposters-by-chaya-bhuvaneswar/) - Not too long ago, Esquire knighted 2023 as “the year of the slim novel.” Now, in 2025, the world looks (and is increasingly looking) a whole lot different. With everything feeling so volatile, so uncertain, so…improper, so…imposturous, one thing has remained constant: the slim volume is thriving. Proper Imposters from Panhandler Books features four contemporary authors
- [New Voices: "A Mother's Face is an Atlas that Leads You Home" by Howard Meh-Buh](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-a-mothers-face-is-an-atlas-that-leads-you-home-by-howard-meh-buh/) - By understating the grief, fear, and desire the narrator feels, Howard Meh-Buh lulls the reader into believing that, against all odd, everything will work out for the narrator and his friend, two boys looking for a better life in America. “A Mother’s Face is an Atlas that Leads You Home” delivers the highest hopes and
- [Now Open: 2025 Debut Fiction Prize, judged by Julie Iromuanya!](https://mastersreview.com/now-open-2025-debut-fiction-prize-judged-by-julie-iromuanya/) - Our first Debut Fiction Prize is now open for submissions! The first-place winner will receive a $3,000 grand prize and a two-year subscription to Duotrope, a copy of Best Emerging Writers, and online publication. Our winners will be chosen by Julie Iromuanya from a shortlist provided by The Masters Review's editors. Submissions are open through
- [March Deadlines: 10 Contests Ending This Month](https://mastersreview.com/march-deadlines-ten-contests-ending-this-month/) - It can be a slog to get through this time of year, but that’s why you have the ability to provide your own enrichment. Why not take a crack at one of these contests, and give yourself that motivation? We know you can do it! Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize Here’s an opportunity
- [Writers on Not Writing: Jodi Paloni](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-jodi-paloni/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, writer Jodi Paloni ruminates on gathering
- [Stories that Teach: “Ogres of East Africa" by Sofia Samatar—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-ogres-of-east-africa-by-sofia-samatar-discussed-by-brandon-williams/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [New Voices: "Gnats" by Mark Bryk](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-gnats-by-mark-bryk/) - In Mark Bryk's “Gnats,” an extended metaphor reveals the speaker's upsetting inability to make space for her family. Because this story is told in direct address to a unseen rabbi, the reader is plunged into the narrator’s voice and must see the world as she sees it. A powerful—and unsettling—experience. A quick question, Rabbi.
- [New Voices: "The Wound" by Josephine Wu](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-wound-by-josephine-wu/) - In Josephine Wu's "The Wound," Second Aunt's wound is both emblematic of all the trouble in her life and a source of strange connection and comfort. The wound thrives on sad stories, but can Second Aunt? Wu's new story perfectly straddles the strange and the profound. The night that Second Aunt developed the wound,
- [Reprint Prize Runner-Up: "Here We Are" by Robyn Allers](https://mastersreview.com/reprint-prize-runner-up-here-we-are-by-robyn-allers/) - "Here We Are" by Robyn Allers, one of our two runners-up in the 2024 Reprint Prize, packs a lot of tension into a small space. A couple is on vacation after a near-death experience—a situation that could be bleak and is instead, here, full of humor and wry observations and, wonderfully, hope. "Here We Are"
- [Reprint Prize Runner-Up: "Catch & Release" by Larry Flynn](https://mastersreview.com/reprint-prize-runner-up-catch-release-by-larry-flynn/) - Larry Flynn's “Catch & Release,” a runner-up in the 2024 Reprint Prize, takes its time, moving the reader between past and present, memory and action. This is both a love letter and a farewell to the narrator’s mother, but also a signal to his future. This story never takes us physically far from the hospital
- [New Voices: "Black Walnut" by Danielle Claro](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-black-walnut-by-danielle-claro/) - “Black Walnut” is the tree at the center of this story, both as the object on which the story turns and as a symbol of the problems rooted in this family. In spare, elegant prose, Danielle Claro brings us a family on the brink of disaster—a troubled daughter, a moldy house, an unhappy marriage—and a
- [New Voices: "CHRISTMAS MARKETS, STRASBOURG, FRANCE" by Sheree Winslow](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-christmas-markets-strasbourg-france-by-sheree-winslow/) - Sheree Winslow's postcard micro, "CHRISTMAS MARKETS, STRASBOURG, FRANCE," infused with precise details that invoke every sense, is a meditation on how memories persist and surface in the most unexpected moments. Visiting Christmas Markets in eastern France was part of a final effort to save your relationship with your Parisian fiancé—a trip scheduled to ensure
- [New Voices: "The Pick" by Emma Pacchiana](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-pick-by-emma-pacchiana/) - With one rising basketball star and one player flaming out, Emma Pacchiana captures both the triumph and grief of the game. What would you do if you could see the end of being able to do the thing you loved? In every detail, “The Pick” drops the reader right into the world of the characters,
- [February Deadlines Post: 9 Prizes and Awards This Month](https://mastersreview.com/february-deadlines-post-9-prizes-and-awards-this-month/) - Many plants and animals are still in hibernation mode, but here are some great opportunities for you to shake off those winter doldrums! They cover a wide range of literary types, so make sure to check them all out! FEATURED! Winter Short Story Award for New Writers Last call for The Masters Review's Winter Short
- [Introducing the Debut Fiction Prize, judged by Julie Iromuanya!](https://mastersreview.com/introducing-the-debut-fiction-prize-judged-by-julie-iromuanya/) - Since day one, our mission has been to support new and emerging writers by providing a platform that celebrates their work. This year, we are excited to announce a new contest devoted specifically to brand new fiction writers. The Debut Fiction Prize will honor the work of writers who display tremendous promise in their craft.
- [January Deadlines: 13 Contest and Prizes This Month](https://mastersreview.com/january-deadlines-13-contest-and-prizes-this-month/) - We may still be in the depths of winter, but there are always opportunities to find good cheer! Take a look at one of these contests, and you just might find that they are the perfect way to start off 2025! FEATURED! Winter Short Story Award for New Writers The Masters Review has just opened
- [What We Read in 2024](https://mastersreview.com/what-we-read-in-2024/) - Happy new year from all of us at The Masters Review! 2024 was a wonderful year for us in many ways and 2025 is already shaping up to be another stellar year. Our 2024-2025 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers, judged by Bret Anthony Johnston, is open for submissions through February 2. And for
- [From the Archives: "The Dowsing of Linus Spalding" by Craig M. Foster—Discussed by Melissa Bean](https://mastersreview.com/from-the-archives-the-dowsing-of-linus-spalding-by-craig-m-foster-discussed-by-melissa-bean/) - I’m spoiler agnostic. By that I mean, I don’t generally care if the twist or ending of a story is told to me before I experience it. [This is most likely because my mother, deeply protective over her free time, delights in spoilers. She insists on hearing the plot summary of nearly every movie we
- [Featured Flash Contest: February 1 - March 31, 2024](https://mastersreview.com/featured-flash-contest/) - The Featured Flash Contest will honor two grand-prize winners chosen by our editorial staff—one in Flash and one in Sudden—by awarding $1,500 and online publication. Two runners-up will also be honored with a $300 prize and online publication. All longlisted authors will receive an archived copy of The Masters Review anthology, as will twenty randomly selected entrants not included on the longlist.
- [Writers on Not Writing: Kate Kaminski and Karen DeBonis](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-kate-kaminski-and-karen-debonis/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, Kate Kaminski and Karen DeBonis contemplate
- [New Voices: "The Analyst" by Jennifer Marquardt](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-analyst-by-jennifer-marquardt/) - In Jennifer Marquardt's "The Analyst," this week's entry to our New Voices catalog, the narrator is a defense analyst for the Chinese government, tasked with probing into the lives of those with the potential to harbor the "mind-virus." The horrifying implications of such a career are playing out in real time as Uyghurs in China
- [New Voices: "Hungry Souls" by Andrea Gregory](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-hungry-souls-by-andrea-gregory/) - As Jess's multiple sclerosis progresses, she feels her lover Slim slipping away from her in this week's New Voices story, but an MRI tech with a passion for standup encourages her to stay focused, to stay positive. Andrea Gregory explores the subtleties in life in this week's "Hungry Souls". My lover parks the car
- [New Voices: "Sing Me a Happy Song" by Tara Isabel Zambrano](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-sing-me-a-happy-song-by-tara-isabel-zambrano/) - This week we are excited to share this brand new flash fiction story from Tara Isabel Zambrano, author of the fantastic Death, Desire and Other Destinations from Okay Donkey Press. We were fortunate enough to review Zambrano's debut collection in September, which you can read here. The skinny boy meets the Devil in the
- [New Voices: "On the Verge" by Andrea Malin](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-on-the-verge-by-andrea-malin/) - Happy February, everyone! Today, we are so thrilled to share with you this new story from Andrea Malin, "On the Verge." Malin's story takes us into Syria, following the photographer Miranda, whose main news outlet, RAW Media, is focused on "covering 'under-reported conflicts”' in remote regions." Miranda is on the verge in her photography career,
- [New Voices: "Love is Such a Morphing Thing" by Ugochukwu Damian Okpara](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-love-is-such-a-morphing-thing-by-ugochukwu-damian-okpara/) - This week, we are proud to bring you "Love is Such a Morphing Thing" by Ugochukwu Damian Okpara, our newest entry into our New Voices catalog. In this story, Okpara's narrator returns home for his father's funeral, to a family that's long disapproved of his sexuality. "Grief drags a body through life like a tired
- [New Voices: "An Ordinary Ache" by Bikram Sharma](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-an-ordinary-ache-by-bikram-sharma/) - In Bikram Sharma's newest work, this week's New Voices entry, Asif notices a pain in his testicle during a conversation with his wife about her job. Tension and dread lurk beneath this expertly crafted narrative about masculinity. Uzma was talking about her upcoming review when Asif noticed the pain. It was the dull kind
- [New Voices: "Master Guns" by Kyle Seibel](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-master-guns-by-kyle-seibel/) - Happy new year! We are so thrilled to begin publishing in 2021, and we can't wait to share all the excellent stories we have lined up for the beginning of this year already. Today, we're proud to share Kyle Seibel's magnificent "Master Guns," the story of a lonely sailor on his first naval deployment, our
- [New Voices: "47" by Shereen Akhtar](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-47-by-shereen-akhtar/) - On October 2nd, 2020, in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, journalist Irina Slavina died by self-immolation in protest over the Russian government attempting to silence her. In her final post on Facebook, she wrote, "I ask you to blame the Russian Federation for my death." In this week's New Voices, we are proud to present Shereen Akhtar's
- [New Voices: "Gone Already" by Kendra Y. Mims-Applewhite](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-gone-already-by-kendra-y-mims-applewhite/) - Family secrets surface in Kendra Y. Mims-Applewhite's "Gone Already," this week's New Voices story. Claude returns home to Louie and his ailing mother to find that the things he's known to be true may not be so. A compelling tale of kinship that asks, What makes a family? Dive in below. I ain’t never
- [Small Fiction Awards Flash Winner: "Whale Song" by Jeff Martin](https://mastersreview.com/small-fiction-awards-flash-winner-whale-song-by-jeff-martin/) - "Whale Song" is utterly gorgeous, melancholic, and tender. The use of the collective voice is resonant and so effective, and this story had endless emotional depth; it reminds us that stories, above all else, can make us feel. This is the kind of flash story that accomplishes what novels try to do, demonstrating all the
- [Small Fiction Awards Flash Runner-Up: "Hatching Moths" by Emily Pegg](https://mastersreview.com/small-fiction-awards-flash-runner-up-hatching-moths-by-emily-pegg/) - "Hatching Moths" is a striking and poetic story that builds and accrues meaning with an incredible use of repetition, unfurling language, and a brilliant weaving of memory and the present. It feels very intimate and also cosmic, and every sentence carries more than its weight in meaning and depth. From beginning to transformative end, this
- [Book Review: The Girl Who Cried Diamonds & Other Stories by Rebecca Hirsch Garcia](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-girl-who-cried-diamonds-other-stories-by-rebecca-hirsch-garcia/) - “I think we are only afraid of ourselves,” the doctor said slowly. “No,” Luke said. “Of seeing ourselves clearly and without disguise.” —Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House A Rebecca Hirsch Garcia story revises the formula: Get your character up a tree; throw stones at them; get them down gracefully. While the scenarios
- [Book Review: The Great Transition by Nick Fuller Googins](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-great-transition-by-nick-fuller-googins/) - In The Great Transition, Nick Fuller Googins’s thrilling debut novel, the question is not how to solve the climate crisis—it’s how to stay vigilant. Sixteen years have passed since Day Zero—that’s the day Earth’s net carbon emissions reached zero—and to some, society now looks like a utopia built on a philosophy of mutual aid: Private
- [Book Review: People Collide by Isle McElroy](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-people-collide-by-isle-mcelroy/) - Why does anyone get married? Love and commitment probably come to mind for most but for Eli and Elizabeth Harding, two Americans living in Bulgaria, the answer is harder to decipher. People Collide, Isle McElroy’s follow-up to The Atmospherians, is a richly layered inquiry into intimacy and alienation that, as literature should, offers more questions
- [Book Review: The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-vaster-wilds-by-lauren-groff/) - In Lauren Groff’s latest novel, The Vaster Wilds, the author gives us the American myth in its truest form: not the victor, not the conqueror, not the pillager or the plunderer, but a woman, a girl really, brought to this new world against her will. This is mythology as only a woman can tell it—one
- [Book Review: The Great Divide by Cristina Henríquez](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-great-divide-by-cristina-henriquez/) - On the steamy isthmus of Panama, the world is about to change. Land will disappear, the backs of mountains will be broken, and two oceans will collide, forever altering world navigation. Against this grand backdrop, Cristina Henríquez has set a tale that feels both lusciously expansive and searingly intimate. With sharp, spare prose the hive
- [Book Review: What the Living Do by Susan E Wadds](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-what-the-living-do-by-susan-e-wadds/) - Thirty-seven-year-old Brett Catlin is perhaps more comfortable with animals than people, and even though she handles a fair amount of roadkill, she and her driving partner, Mel, at the road maintenance job where she works, make sure to treat every deceased creature with dignity. But when she is suddenly diagnosed with cancer, she is unable
- [Book Review: Things I Want Back From You by Elizabeth Stix](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-things-i-want-back-from-you-by-elizabeth-stix/) - The characters in Elizabeth Stix’s debut collection, Things I Want Back From You, oscillate between two poles: distance and connection, hope and turmoil, people who are “waiting for the right time to tell them all about it, but the right time never came.” Across 20 linked stories set in the fictional Bay-area city of San
- [Book Review: Cecilia by K-Ming Chang](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-cecilia-by-k-ming-chang/) - Reading Cecilia is a surreal experience. Not only because the story feels like it’s being narrated by a Salvador Dalí painting come to life, but also because of the stylistic weird of K-Ming Chang’s prose. Vindictive crows, fish swimming out of people’s mouths and directionless, time-bending buses are only the beginning of this story about
- [Book Review: Your Presence is Mandatory by Sasha Vasilyuk](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-your-presence-is-mandatory-by-sasha-vasilyuk/) - In Sasha Vasilyuk’s debut novel, Your Presence is Mandatory, the Soviet Jew Yefim Shulman fought in WWII only briefly before being captured by the Germans. This POW experience became a stigma he endeavored to hide after the war ended, because the regime he lived under deemed survivors like him Nazi collaborators and thus politically suspect. These two phases
- [2024: A Year in Review](https://mastersreview.com/2024-a-year-in-review/) - As 2024 comes to a close, we'll celebrate as we always do: by looking back at the terrific work we've had the opportunity to publish this year. 2024 was a big year for the journal. We were fortunate to put out Naomi Telushkin's terrific Coats, winner of the 2022 Chapbook Open, selected by Kim Fu.
- [New Voices: "Fuck Me in a Whale" by Sasha Brown](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-fuck-me-in-a-whale-by-sasha-brown/) - On a hookup one night, Cecile is led to a house on a beach that ends up being a hollowed-out, beached whale. Sasha Brown's "Fuck Me in a Whale" is a surreal tale of viral fads and hustle culture, with meaning that will yawn wide and swallow you whole. The guy seemed fine, but
- [A Conversation With Megan Staffel, Author of The Causative Factor](https://mastersreview.com/a-conversation-with-megan-staffel-author-of-the-causative-factor/) - Megan Staffel’s new novel, The Causative Factor, won the Petrichor Prize at Regal House Publishing and was published by Regal House on October 22nd, 2024. Staffel is the author of two recent collections of short fiction, The Exit Coach and Lessons in Another Language in addition to the novels The Notebook of Lost Things and
- [New Voices: "Stability" by Jennifer Hildebrandt](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-stability-by-jennifer-hildebrandt/) - "Stability" by Jennifer Hildebrandt is our first essay of 2024! Hildebrandt, a writer and movement coach, uses this essay to explore grief and the body in the aftermath of her husband's passing. "When I’m not moving, or teaching movement classes," Hildebrandt writes, "I spend hours hunched over my laptop, immersed in anatomy books, poring over
- [Stories that Teach: "Cat World" by Elle Nash—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-cat-world-by-elle-nash-discussed-by-brandon-williams/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [Writers on Not Writing: Elisha Emerson and Emma Bouthillette](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-elisha-emerson-and-emma-bouthillette/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, I posed my questions to two
- [Reprint: "Bridge Work" by Susan Straight](https://mastersreview.com/reprint-bridgework-by-susan-straight/) - In celebration of our 2024 Reprint Prize—open now through June 23—we are proud to share this reprint from the inimitable Susan Straight! "Bridge Work" first appeared in Zoetrope, was honored as a Distinguished Story of 2004 in Best American Short Stories 2005 and was later included in Straight's novel-in-stories, Between Heaven and Here. Later this
- [Writers on Not Writing: Brandon Dudley](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-brandon-dudley/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, Brandon Dudley ruminates on how puzzles
- [Call for Readers: Winter 2025](https://mastersreview.com/call-for-readers-winter-2025/) - The Masters Review is looking to add some talented new readers to our team this winter. If you love literary fiction and nonfiction, and three to four hours of reading submissions a week sounds like fun, we encourage you to apply. Our readers work remotely and can set their own schedules. BIPOC, marginalized and underrepresented
- [Featured Flash Contest Winner: "Hurmë" by Melanie Simonich](https://mastersreview.com/featured-flash-contest-winner-hurme-by-melanie-simonich/) - We're proud to share our final winner in this year's Featured Flash Contest: "Hurmë" by Melanie Simonich! "There is a fine balance between ripe and rot with persimmons," our narrator explains. There's a fine balance, too, in the situation she navigates through this short piece, visiting her father in a foreign country. Congratulations to Melanie
- [New Voices: "At Mr. Ed's Grave, Outside Tahlequah, Oklahoma" by Christopher Chilton](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-at-mr-eds-grave-outside-tahlequah-oklahoma-by-christopher-chilton/) - In Christopher Chilton's "At Mr. Ed's Grave, Outside Tahlequah, Oklahoma," our final publication of 2024, visitors frequently appear outside the protagonist's house, on a pilgrimage to pay respects at the grave of Mr. Ed, the famous talking horse from TV. Except, as it turns out, our protagonist is keeping a few secrets to himself—some unwanted,
- [Submissions Open: 2024-2025 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers, Judged by Bret Anthony Johnston](https://mastersreview.com/submissions-open-2024-2025-winter-short-story-award-for-new-writers-judged-by-bret-anthony-johnston/) - Submissions are now open for this year's Winter Short Story Award for New Writers. Finalists will be chosen by Bret Anthony Johnston, author of We Burn Daylight and more. We're looking for your best unpublished short fiction and creative nonfiction, up to 6,000 words. The grand prize winner will be awarded $3,000, along with online
- [New Voices: "Quantifying the Dent of Bob" by Andrea Bishop](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-quantifying-the-dent-of-bob-by-andrea-bishop/) - A project manager immerses herself in her work in Andrea Bishop's touching "Quantifying the Dent of Bob," the newest entry to our New Voices catalog. Beth was Mr. Carter's first hire, and it was through work that she met her husband, Bob. Now that Bob is gone, Beth uses her work not to distract herself
- [December Deadlines: 12 Contests Available This Month Only](https://mastersreview.com/december-deadlines-12-contests-available-this-month-only/) - Just as the year is ending, so too are all these contests coming to an end. We don’t know what 2025 will hold, so make sure to appreciate the last contests of 2024 while they’re still here! FEATURED! The Masters Review Chapbook Open for Emerging Writers If you have a prose chapbook that you’ve been
- [Bret Anthony Johnston to Judge the 2024-2025 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers!](https://mastersreview.com/bret-anthony-johnston-to-judge-the-2024-2025-winter-short-story-award-for-new-writers/) - That's right, folks! The 2024-2025 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers is right around the corner, and this year's winners will be chosen by none other than Bret Anthony Johnston! The contest is open from December 1, 2024, to February 2, 2025. We accept submissions of fiction or creative nonfiction up to 6,000 words
- [Winter Short Story Award 1st Place:  “Operation” by Scott Gloden](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-operation-by-scott-gloden/) - Today, it is our pleasure to present to you the first-place winner of our Winter Short Story Award for New Writers: “Operation” by Scott Gloden. This pithy story is told from the point-of-view of a sixteen-year-old girl whose sister suffers from chronic kidney disease. The narrator struggles with her own guilt over his sister’s illness,
- [Winter Short Story Award 2nd Place: "A History That Brings Me to You" by Katie M. Flynn](https://mastersreview.com/12231-2/) - Today, we are thrilled to publish “A History That Brings Me to You” by Katie M. Flynn, the second-place winner of our Winter Short Story Award for New Writers. This story astounded us. It toggles between the point-of-view of a twelve-year-old girl whose parents are in the midst of a divorce and a neighbor across
- [Winter Short Story Award 1st Place: “Drop Zone Summer” by Nick Fuller Googins](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-drop-zone-summer-nick-fuller-googins/) - Today, we are thrilled to share the winner of our Winter Short Story Award for New Writers: “Drop Zone Summer” by Nick Fuller Googins. This arresting, surprising, and perfectly pitched story is told from the point-of-view of Osman, a Somali refugee who grew up in Maine. He’s spending his summer break from college working at
- [Summer Short Story Award 1st Place: "Confirmation" by Alina Grabowski](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-confirmation-by-alina-grabowski/) - We are thrilled to publish the winner of our Summer Short Story Award for New Writers, "Confirmation" by Alina Grabowski. This coming-of-age story will captivate you from start to finish as the girls from confirmation class wonder what happened to their missing classmate. Grabowski deploys the first-person-plural voice to masterful effect in this award-winning story.
- [2024 Reprint Prize Winner and Shortlist](https://mastersreview.com/2024-reprint-prize-winner-and-shortlist/) - The results are in! Since this contest closed in June, we've been hard at work reading through the hundreds of wonderful reprints you all submitted. After tough deliberations, we're pleased to announce Greg Schutz as this year's winner, with "You Are the Greatest Lake," first published in Sycamore Review in 2011. Congratulations also to Robyn
- [From the Archives:  “Katie Flew Again Tonight” by Trent England—Discussed by Rebecca Paredes](https://mastersreview.com/from-the-archives-katie-flew-again-tonight-by-trent-england-discussed-by-rebecca-paredes/) - In October 2017, we published “Katie Flew Again Tonight” by Trent England. The story is written from the perspective of Paul, a man whose wife, Katie, can inexplicably fly. As her abilities grow, it becomes clear that Katie will one day leave—and Paul will be left behind to navigate the mundanities of life without her.
- [New Voices:  “Katie Flew Again Tonight” by Trent England](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-katie-flew-tonight-trent-england/) - Each October, we showcase otherworldly stories that send chills up our spines. Trent England’s “Katie Flew Again Tonight” is one such tale. It is written from the perspective of a man whose wife, Katie, can fly. As Katie’s flights grow longer, they both know that one day, she will fly out of their apartment window
- [New Voices: "The T-Bone" by Shantell Powell](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-t-bone-by-shantell-powell/) - Lose yourself in Shantell Powell's rhythmic "The T-Bone," the newest entry to our New Voices catalog. After the narrator and her friend are in an accident on a winter night, her mind reels in shock. "Apparently trauma makes me flirt, fight, flight, freeze, fawn," she observes. Powell's poetic prose is a gift we all need
- [New Voices: "The Nightwatchman" by Franz Jørgen Neumann](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-nightwatchman-by-franz-jorgen-neumann/) - Jakub is the eponymous nightwatchman at a conference center far from home in Franz Jørgen Neumann's new story. After his first evening patrol, Jakub finds a woman in his cottage and becomes entangled in a routine that had been established by the previous nightwatchman, Casmir. Like that, it seems his life is cleaved in two:
- [A Conversation with Maggie Cooper, Author of The Theme Park of Women's Bodies](https://mastersreview.com/a-conversation-with-maggie-cooper-author-of-the-theme-park-of-womens-bodies/) - We were honored to publish Maggie Cooper's "The Theme Park of Women's Bodies" back in 2022, and we're just as excited to share this interview with Cooper conducted by Dana Diehl upon the publication of her collection. You can purchase The Theme Park of Women's Bodies from Bull City Press. The Theme Park of
- [Featured Flash Contest Runner Up: "Define: Business as Usual" by Kim Ravold](https://mastersreview.com/featured-flash-contest-runner-up-define-business-as-usual-by-kim-ravold/) - Our second Runner Up in this year's Featured Flash Contest is Kim Ravold with "Define: Business as Usual." In this piece of sudden CNF, our narrator—a college professor—is forced to manage a situation that has become sadly all too common. Ravold's prose is carefully crafted to let anxieties come to the surface and get bottled
- [Featured Flash Contest Runner Up: "The Beak" by Robbie Herbst](https://mastersreview.com/featured-flash-contest-runner-up-the-beak-by-robbie-herbst/) - The Masters Review is excited to share the first runner up from our Featured Flash Contest: "The Beak" by Robbie Herbst! In "The Beak," our thirteen-year-old protagonist finds herself experiencing, as all teens do, a few changes to her body. It all starts in spring, at the kitchen table, with a tooth. Be sure to
- [Winter Short Story Award 1st Place: "The Sisters" by Angie Ellis](https://mastersreview.com/winter-short-story-award-1st-place-the-sisters-by-angie-ellis/) - “The Sisters” won me over in its very first sentence. Language, imagery, rhythm, all of these are tools for spell casting, just as much as the everyday household magic which these characters seem to have access to. Though the arc of the story is never particularly surprising, it is nevertheless extremely satisfying—and the pace at
- [Winter Short Story Award 2nd Place: "Feu Follet" by Rebecca Meredith](https://mastersreview.com/winter-short-story-award-2nd-place-feu-follet-by-rebecca-meredith/) - “Feu Follet” uses an excellent admixture of the real and the fantastic and the historical. I never knew quite what to expect from this story even as it met many of the beats of a classic fairytale, and the ending made me sit up straight in my chair. What, exactly, has happened? Something marvelous, something
- [November Deadlines: 11 Contests and Prizes This Month](https://mastersreview.com/november-deadlines-11-contests-and-prizes-this-month/) - There is always a lot to be thankful for, and now these contests have added to the list! Take the opportunity to check them out, and find the perfect one for your work. FEATURED: The Masters Review Novel Excerpt Contest Technically we're cheating with this one since the deadline is in October, but it's our
- [2023 Chapbook Open Results!](https://mastersreview.com/2023-chapbook-open-results/) - Our Chapbook Open proves year in and year out to be one of our most fiercely competitive contests, and this year's submissions proved no different. Michael Martone had a difficult decision to make, but he has chosen Lisbeth White's A Most Natural Thing as the winner of the 2023 Chapbook Open! White's chapbook—part travel-writing, part
- [Best Emerging Writers Finalists!](https://mastersreview.com/best-emerging-writers-finalists/) - The picks are in and The Masters Review is pleased to announce Gina Chung's ten finalists for our thirteenth anthology, Best Emerging Writers 2024! Congratulations to each of our winners, whose work will appear both in our print anthology in May 2025 as well as right here on our website. We want to thank all
- [2024 Featured Flash Contest Finalists and Shortlist](https://mastersreview.com/2024-featured-flash-contest-finalists-and-shortlist/) - We are proud to finally announce the winners and runners-up to the 2024 Featured Flash Contest! Congratulations to Melanie Simonich, whose story, "Hurmë," won in the Sudden Prose category, and to Austin Tucker, winner in the Flash Prose category, with his story, "The Increasingly Unfortunate Circumstances Which Have Led Me to Wave You Off the
- [Writers on Not Writing: Mary Morton Cowan and Sarah Parke](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-mary-morton-cowan-and-sarah-parke/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, we hear from two writers—Mary Morton
- [Writers on Not Writing: Nancy Crochiere and Nick Fuller Googins](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-nancy-crochiere-and-nick-fuller-googins/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, we hear about acting and gaming
- [Interview with the Winner: Melanie Simonich](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-melanie-simonich/) - Melanie Simonich's "Hurmë" was chosen by The Masters Review's editorial staff as one of two winners for our 2024 Featured Flash Contest. Make sure you read this meticulously crafted sudden fiction piece, and then continue on below for our interview with the winner! What sparked this story or led you to write this piece?
- [Interview with the Winner: Austin Tucker](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-austin-tucker/) - If you haven't yet read Austin Tucker's prize-winning piece, "The Increasingly Unfortunate Circumstances Which Have Led Me To Wave You Off The Highway," stop what you're doing and read it now. And once you've finished, continue on below for our interview with the winner! How did you land on the current title? Did you
- [Interview with the Winner: Kim Ravold](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-kim-ravold/) - Monday saw the publication of Kim Ravold's "Define: Business as Usual," a runner up in our Featured Flash Contest this year. Today, we're thrilled to share our interview with the winner! Be sure to read Ravold's sudden CNF first and then see what she has to say about the experience and her writing and submission process
- [A Conversation with Patricia Q. Bidar, Author of Wild Plums](https://mastersreview.com/a-conversation-with-patricia-q-bidar-author-of-wild-plums/) - Patricia Q. Bidar’s Wild Plums was published earlier this year through ELJ Editions. In this interview, Joanna Theiss talks with Bidar about writing imperfect characters, the motivating power of deadlines, and Bidar’s coming of age as a writer. Given Patricia Q. Bidar’s talent for writing flash fiction, it is no wonder that her novelette
- [Submit Now: 2024 Chapbook Open Runs through December 15, 2024](https://mastersreview.com/submit-now-2024-chapbook-open-runs-through-december-15-2024/) - Submissions for the 2024 Chapbook Open are open from September 1 through December 15, 2024, and we hope to read your work. Rita Bullwinkel, author of the collection Belly Up and the new novel Headshot, will serve as guest judge and will crown this year's winner for The Masters Review! The winner receives a $3,000
- [Interview with the Winner: Angie Ellis](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-angie-ellis/) - Kelly Link chose "The Sisters" by Angie Ellis as the grand prize winner of the 2023-2024 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers! Ellis's story was published earlier this week, so be sure to read the magnificent, prize-winning "The Sisters," and then check out our interview with the winner of all winners below! Congratulations
- [Interview with the Winner: Robbie Herbst](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-robbie-herbst/) - On Monday, we published Robbie Herbst's "The Beak," one of our two runners-up in this year's Featured Flash Contest. Make sure you read this weird flash of transformation, and then check out our interview with the winner below! What sparked this story, or led you to write this piece? I’ve always been drawn to
- [October Deadlines: 11 Prizes Available This Month](https://mastersreview.com/october-deadlines-11-prizes-available-this-month/) - The first cold snap is such a surprise, but it’s a good reminder that we’re heading deeper into fall. This monthly post shouldn’t be a surprise, but it’s still a reminder to submit to these contests before they’re gone! FEATURED! The Masters Review Novel Excerpt Contest This is our annual fall contest, and we’re looking
- [New Voices: "Treatment-Resistant" by William Hawkins](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-treatment-resistant-by-william-hawkins/) - "I keep the exits in mind as we raise our glasses." Throughout "Treatment-Resistant" by William Hawkins, this kind of competing mood lingers. There's tension. There's celebration. There's isolation and company, shared history and new relationships. As our narrator waits for his chance to leave this birthday celebration in The Court of Two Sisters, conversation ebbs
- [Submissions Open: 2024 Novel Excerpt Contest, Guest Judged by Tania James](https://mastersreview.com/submissions-open-2024-novel-excerpt-contest-guest-judged-by-tania-james/) - Submissions are now open for this year's Novel Excerpt Contest, guest judged by Tania James! The contest will run through October 27, 2024, and the winner will receive a $3,000 prize, along with online publication and an hour-long consultation with Marin Takikawa, a literary agent with The Friedrich Agency. Submissions are capped at 6,000 words,
- [Winter Short Story Award 3rd Place: "Linoleum People" by Eliza Gilbert](https://mastersreview.com/winter-short-story-award-3rd-place-linoleum-people-by-eliza-gilbert/) - “Linoleum People” is generous toward its characters, and faithful to the strangeness, the boredom, the safety of routines set out for one by other people. The sentences are energetic, colorful, rich in the kind of specificity of detail that, stripped down, feels exactly right. I’m intrigued by the shifts in POV, and I’m interested in
- [New Voices: "Flat Earth" by Erin Sherry](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-flat-earth-by-erin-sherry/) - In "Flat Earth" by Erin Sherry, two girls, Joey and Haley, become obsessed with an internet forum, where they learn the truth about the world: it's flat. This discovery leads them to a kind of teenage nihilism and self-destruction, a mask for something else, much deeper than Haley's willing to admit. Joey would jump
- [New Voices: "Work, First" by Catherine Kim](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-work-first-by-catherine-kim/) - In "Work, First" Catherine Kim imagines the life of Tu Youyou, a Chinese scientist who discovered a cure for malaria through her research during the Cultural Revolution, and Youyou's relationships with her husband and her children. Youyou was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2015 for her research and was the first
- [Winter Short Story Award Honorable Mention: "The Two Things Blassie Knows" by Clayton Bradshaw-Mittal](https://mastersreview.com/winter-short-story-award-honorable-mention-the-two-things-blassie-knows-by-clayton-bradshaw-mittal/) - The Masters Review editors selected Clayton Bradshaw-Mittal's "The Two Things Blassie Knows" as the honorable mention for the 2023-2024 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers. In this off-kilter story, our narrator is on a bar trivia team with Blassie, a man of indiscriminate age who seems to know something of the future: one day,
- [From the Archives: "The Boomslang Coup" by Joel Hans—Discussed by Benjamin Van Voorhis](https://mastersreview.com/from-the-archives-the-boomslang-coup-by-joel-hans-discussed-by-benjamin-van-voorhis/) - Published in October 2016, Joel Hans’s “The Boomslang Coup” stitches together not only its central creatures, but a setting, a sense of pace, and a small cast of characters that seem to lead the reader by the hand through a dream—or a nightmare. But like anything else, this atmosphere is a product of intentional craft
- [Interview with the Winner: Eliza Gilbert](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-eliza-gilbert/) - Monday saw the publication of the 2023-2024 Winter Short Story Award for New Writer's third place finalist, selected by Kelly Link: "Linoleum People" by Eliza Gilbert. Make sure to read this terrific story and then check out our interview with the winner below. One of the things that strikes me in particular about this
- [New Voices: "The Boomslang Coup" by Joel Hans](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-boomslang-coup-by-joel-hans/) - A poisonous donkey, an anaconda with the head of a dog, and a girl responsible for keeping her father's strange hybrids—her siblings—intact. In "The Boomslang Coup," Joel Hans explores love and understanding in a tale that will haunt your dreams and melt your heart. My brothers and sisters are always falling apart. They peel at
- [2024 Best Emerging Writers Shortlist—Winners Selected by Gina Chung](https://mastersreview.com/2024-best-emerging-writers-shortlist-winners-selected-by-gina-chung/) - The Masters Review is proud to announce the thirty stories and essays that have been shortlisted for our thirteenth anthology, Best Emerging Writers. Ten winners from this shortlist will be selected by Gina Chung for inclusion. Our winners will receive a $700 prize, along with publication both in print and, for the first time, online.
- [Interview with the Winner: Rebecca Meredith](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-rebecca-meredith/) - Rebecca Meredith's "Feu Follet" was selected by Kelly Link as the second place finalist in our 2023-2024 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers. Be sure to read Meredith's bayou-infused twist on Red Riding Hood first, and then check out our interview with the winner! What sparked this story, or led you to write
- [Writers on Not Writing: Yi Shun Lai and Tamra Wight](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-yi-shun-lai-and-tamra-wight/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, we hear from two writers—Yi Shun
- [Novel Excerpt Contest 2nd Place: "Curious Monster" by S. P. Donohue](https://mastersreview.com/novel-excerpt-contest-2nd-place-curious-monster-by-s-p-donohue/) - "The narrator here tells us what will happen straight away—her mother will leave her behind for a man who is not her father—so it's the journey that demands and rewards attention. Something is going on with the narrator, who has lost a lot of weight and is home on break from university, and she wants
- [Book Review: From These Dark Abodes by Lyndsie Manusos](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-from-these-dark-abodes-by-lyndsie-manusos/) - When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see, For all the day they view things unrespected, But when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee, And darkly bright, are bright in dark directed. Shakespeare, “Sonnet 43” In Lyndsie Manusos’s From These Dark Abodes, Lethe and Petunia are trapped in St. Edah’s, a
- [September Deadlines: 11 Prizes Available This Month](https://mastersreview.com/september-deadlines-11-prizes-available-this-month/) - Fashion rules might strictly kick in after Labor Day, but these contests have a much more spread out schedule! Add them to your calendar, and you’re sure to always be on time! FEATURED! Frontier Poetry Debut Chapbook Prize Open to new and emerging poets, Frontier Poetry is hosting a contest to find a new chapbook—they
- [New Voices: "Dog's Death" by Clara Kiat](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-dogs-death-by-clara-kiat/) - In Clara Kiat's "Dog's Death," Delfina, a laundrywoman at the Hotel Oriental, and her daughter Sinta assist a French botanist in the collection of plant specimens from the forest in 19th century Manila. Tensions are high from the outset in Kiat's story, as Delfina realizes exactly where the botanist's gaze lies. Manila, October 1820
- [Announcing: Rita Bullwinkel to Judge the 2024 Chapbook Open!](https://mastersreview.com/announcing-rita-bullwinkel-to-judge-the-2024-chapbook-open/) - Rita Bullwinkel, author of the collection Belly Up and the new novel Headshot, will choose this year's winner of the Chapbook Open for The Masters Review! Submissions for this contest will be open from September 1 through December 15, 2024, and we hope to read your work. The winner receives a $3,000 prize, along with
- [Tania James Will Judge the 2024 Novel Excerpt Contest!](https://mastersreview.com/tania-james-will-judge-the-2024-novel-excerpt-contest/) - Submissions to the 2024 Novel Excerpt Contest open on August 28, and we are excited to announce that Tania James, author of Loot, will select this year's winning excerpts! So dig through those manuscripts and find your best, representative excerpt—under 6,000 words—and get it submitted to this contest before it closes on October 25. The
- [Featured Fiction: “A Rogue Planet” by Thomas Pierce](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction-a-rogue-planet-by-thomas-pierce/) - We can think of no better way to end our week on strange stories than with a contribution from the incomparable Thomas Pierce. In his debut collection, Hall of Small Mammals, woolly mammoths are cloned, and a woman has a husband who resides only in her dreams. In this story, “A Rogue Planet,” a planet
- [Stories That Teach: "Taylor Swift" by Hugh Behm-Steinberg—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-taylor-swift-by-hugh-behm-steinberg-discussed-by-brandon-williams/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [Craft: The Volta in Flash Fiction](https://mastersreview.com/craft-the-volta-in-flash-fiction/) - With our Flash Fiction Contest wrapping up at the end of this month, we thought we should return to this craft essay on flash fiction, first published last November: In poetry, the volta is a common technique: found often in sonnets, the turn can be found now in a multitude of poetic forms. Unsurprisingly, the
- [Flash Fiction Contest 3rd Place: "How to Develop (Film)" by Candice May](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-how-to-develop-film-by-candice-may/) - Second person point of view, a how-to format, subtitles, fragmented narrative, open ending… There are a lot of modernist techniques at play in this story, but technique never overwhelms the underlying rawness of a young voice that is aware of the transgressive nature of her story. The point of view does what 2nd person usually
- [Spring Flash Fiction Contest 3rd Place: "The Wheelchair" by Mahreen Sohail](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-wheelchair-by-mahreen-sohail/) - Today we present the third place story in our Flash Fiction Contest, "The Wheelchair," by Mahreen Sohail. In this somber piece, a young woman deals with her father's sickness by placing herself in his wheelchair for a few minutes in a grocery store. The result is a touching examination of perspective and pity, and how
- [Stories that Teach: “Somebody Is Going To Have To Pay For This" Benjamin Percy—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-somebody-is-going-to-have-to-pay-for-this-benjamin-percy-discussed-by-brandon-williams/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [New Voices: "Rest Stop 99" by Michelle Kicherer](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-rest-stop-99-by-michelle-kicherer/) - Stopping at Rest Stop 99 with Harrison Ford, her truck, on her way out of town, away from the wildfires—away from her abusive ex—Emily meets another family fleeing the fires. Anxiety mounts as Emily comes to find that Harrison Ford won't start back up. Michelle Kicherer's "Rest Stop 99" expertly balances these external and internal
- [New Voices: "Flying Over the Wine-Dark Sea" by Logan Furlonge](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-flying-over-the-wine-dark-sea-by-logan-furlonge/) - "The day my mother dies, I get my eyebrows done." Like that, we're dropped into the world of Logan Furlonge's "Flying Over the Wine-Dark Sea," where a trip to the salon, where no one knows the narrator's mother, becomes an afternoon of cathartic reflection. "Flying Over the Wine-Dark Sea" explores the complicated grief that follows
- [New Voices: "Early Roman Kings" by Rocco DeBonis](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-early-roman-kings-by-rocco-debonis/) - In "Early Roman Kings", today's New Voices story from Rocco DeBonis, we meet Marco, the professor, and Clemenzo, his father, full of life. What first captured us was the marvelous relationship these two share. Follow along as they race recklessly toward their fates. My father and I followed his nurse—a plump woman with rosy
- [New Voices: "Smith" by Rob Franklin](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-smith-by-rob-franklin/) - In Rob Franklin's "Smith," this week's New Voices story, the narrator, Smith, discovers his grandfather, not Jackie Robinson, broke the color barrier in professional baseball, becoming the first Black man to play in the major leagues as the right fielder for the Chicago White Sox in 1921. "Smith" is a story about the legacy of
- [New Voices: "Rip Your Throat Out" by Will Ejzak](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-rip-your-throat-out-by-will-ejzak/) - When the zombies came, humans adapted. They erected fences. They stationed snipers on the roofs of schools. They believed Ground Zero was safe during the daylight. In Will Ejzak's "Rip Your Throat Out," our narrator Rip wants you to know, in a voice all his own, this isn't true. Today's New Voices story is full
- [New Voices: "Inheritance" by Mary Mandeville](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-inheritance-by-mary-mandeville/) - "The word breath comes from Old English, bræth, meaning scent or smell," Mary Mandeville tells us in "Inheritance." We are proud to share Mandeville's meditations on breathing and the precious gift of life it implies in this week's entry to our New Voices catalog. Read on. I crave breath. Not just the ordinary in
- [New Voices: "Paper Fan" by Dinah Cox](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-paper-fan-by-dinah-cox/) - The early summer heat can be oppressive already, so why not cool off with Dinah Cox's "Paper Fan," this week's New Voices story. Lauren's roommate Angelique—overbearing, over-caring, perhaps over the line—has an idea for a fan made from 3D-printed parts. Read on, as long as you promise not to steal her idea! Not the
- [Winter Short Story Award Honorable Mention: "Rapture" by Chloe Chun Seim](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-rapture-by-chloe-chun-seim/) - Today, we are pleased to share the honorable mention from our 2019-2020 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers! "Rapture" by Chloe Chun Seim, selected by Kimberly King Parsons, follows Jordan as she grapples with her father's alcoholism and his attempts to reconnect with her and her brother and mother. But the farm in Kansas,
- [Winter Short Story Award 3rd Place: "The Easiest Thing in the World" by Taylor Grieshober](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-easiest-thing-in-the-world-by-taylor-grieshober/) - "I was immediately hooked into the funny, irreverent, voice-driven prose that dominates 'The Easiest Thing in the World.' Narrator Nadine wants “to be a famous biographer, to…awaken with a clear purpose each day—to unravel someone’s life question by question, to create an in-depth record of every dalliance and heartbreak, every death, figurative or literal.” Yet,
- [Winter Short Story Award 2nd Place: "Joe Blake" by Raeden Richardson](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-joe-blake-by-raeden-richardson/) - "From the very first lines, 'Joe Blake' fully plunges the reader into new territory. Now that her grown son has left for the United States, Australian empty-nester Vrinda is unmoored and lonely, a 'woman stuck like a wasp in wax.' But things get very interesting with the gift of a strange new creature/roommate. This story
- [Winter Short Story Award 1st Place: "The Driver" by Samantha Xiao Cody](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-driver-by-samantha-xiao-cody/) - "'The Driver' opens with the image of expensive, imported lemon trees being painstakingly transplanted into non-native soil; we know from the outset that this will be a story of contrasts. In nuanced, exquisite detail, we learn about a family steeped in both Eastern and Western thought, old and new money, wisdom and innocence, violence and
- [Flash Fiction Contest Honorable Mention: "Fire Season" by Vincent Chavez](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-fire-season-by-vincent-chavez/) - In today's New Voices, we are excited to present "Fire Season" by Vincent Chavez, an honorable mention for our 2020 Flash Fiction Contest. Written in the second person, "Fire Season" comes to us as "California is on fire again." Dive into Vincent Chavez's magnificent flash below: The scorch is the first thing you look
- [Flash Fiction Contest 3rd Place: "Heirlooms" by Amanda Jean Akers](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-heirlooms-by-amanda-jean-akers/) - "I love the unrealistic/realistic nature of this story. The rooting is a little gross, but also reassuring as our narrator stands solidly in the train station at the end. The whole atmosphere is one of wet, organic decay—but from that there’s regrowth. A weird, wonderful story." — Guest Judge Sherrie Flick She squeezes a tomato
- [Flash Fiction Contest 2nd Place: "Consider the Shape of Your Fist" by Leah Dawdy](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-consider-the-shape-of-your-fist-by-leah-dawdy/) - "I love the sweet niece/uncle relationship in this story and the way language unfurls on multiple levels—through hands and hearts and words. There’s a good sense of setting, and compassion and empathy rise up so eloquently from the scene." — Guest judge Sherrie Flick Curl your nailbeds into the meat of your palm, thumb
- [Flash Fiction Contest 1st Place: "Crocodile" by Ashleigh Bell Pedersen](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-crocodile-by-ashleigh-bell-pedersen/) - "This story accomplishes what I think all flash fiction strives for: creating the momentum and scope of a bigger story within a smaller one. This story ripples out like the river Sunshine swims through. Great tension, great detail. Everything is on the verge of change—language, Sunshine herself, the water, and what lurks within." — Guest
- [Summer Short Story Award Honorable Mention: "Petrified" by Clare Howdle](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-petrified-by-clare-howdle/) - We are so excited to share with you today the honorable mention from our Summer Short Story Award for New Writers! Clare Howdle's "Petrified" explores puberty and youthful masculinity through magical realism. Our Boy discovers he is able to slip inside walls, a discovery which leads to further self-examination. Slip inside Howdle's magnificent fiction below:
- [Summer Short Story Award 3rd Place: "Como La Flor" by Dayna Cobarrubias](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-como-la-flor-by-dayna-cobarrubias/) - "'Como La Flor' is a fascinating story that explores the bonds between two women, Mari and Delia, their connection to one another and the ways we come together and apart. I was impressed and intrigued by the subtle attention to these strong women characters, their psychology, their passions, cultural and class differences, and their longing
- [Summer Short Story Award 2nd Place: "Matchbox" by Nancy Ludmerer](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-matchbox-by-nancy-ludmerer/) - "I was first pulled into 'Matchbox' by the strength of the writer’s voice. The prose is conversational and natural yet filled with striking moments of wisdom, an attention to language that amplifies and reflects human nature. Through stark realism 'Matchbox' presents a story rife with thematic questions, the weight of our crimes, nature versus nurture,
- [Summer Short Story Award 1st Place: "Burning" by Adeline Lovell](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-burning-by-adeline-lovell/) - "This story had me from the first sentence—the promise of dramatic potential, the ultimate question, the end of the world. I was moved to tears by Henry and Leo, and I gasped with delight in these richly cinematic scenes (what euphoria in a Target). 'Burning' is a particular kind of American story, a road trip
- [New Voices: "Queen of Hearts" by L. Soviero](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-queen-of-hearts-by-l-soviero/) - A magician pulls off the ultimate disappearing act in "Queen of Hearts" by L. Soviero. Soviero pulls off a magic trick of her own throughout this flash story, combining humor and desire and melancholy, in just under 600 words. Nicole tells the magician, I will fuck you. And, poof, they’re on the landing of
- [2024 Summer Workshop Now Open for Registration!](https://mastersreview.com/2024-summer-workshop-now-open-for-registration/) - The Masters Review Summer Workshop returns for its tenth year! Participants will receive personalized feedback on a story or essay of up to 7,000 words, with detailed suggestions for improvement, and resources for submitting—all from an experienced editor. Our asynchronous workshop allows writers to work with editors remotely and is an excellent way to improve
- [Novel Excerpt Contest Honorable Mention: "The Natural World" by Amy Stuber](https://mastersreview.com/novel-excerpt-contest-honorable-mention-the-natural-world-by-amy-stuber/) - In this chapter from Amy Stuber's The Natural World, readers find Neena at two different moments in her life: 18-year-old Neena, cutting class to spend her morning in a hotel room with a 37-year-old man named Brian, a friend of her parents; and then, months later, there's freshman-in-college Neena spending Thanksgiving not with her family
- [Interview with the Winner: Raf Richardson-Carillo](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-raf-richardson-carillo/) - "Back Line" by Raf Richardson-Carillo won our 2023 Novel Excerpt Contest, selected by Matthew Salesses, and was published on our site on Monday. Today, we're excited to feature this interview with the winner! In many ways, this feels like a tribute to football (soccer as we call it in the US). What’s your connection to
- [Interview with the Winner: S. P. Donohue](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-s-p-donohue/) - Matthew Salesses selected S. P. Donohue's "Curious Monster" as the 2nd place finalist in the 2023 Novel Excerpt Contest. Donohue's terrific excerpt was published earlier this week; be sure to read it if you haven't yet, and then check out our interview with the winner below. There are plenty of important technical decisions in
- [Interview with the Winner: Virginia Lee Wood](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-virginia-lee-wood/) - Virginia Lee Wood's terrific excerpt, "A Geology" was published on Monday as the 3rd place finalist in the 2023 Novel Excerpt Contest, chosen by Matthew Salesses. The excerpt "collapses and expands time like an accordion finding its tune,” Salesses writes in his introduction. Be sure to read Wood's excerpt and then check out our interview
- [Writers on Not Writing: Gibson Fay-LeBlanc and Taryn Bowe](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-gibson-fay-leblanc-and-taryn-bowe/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, we hear from two writers—Gibson Fay-LeBlanc
- [Novel Excerpt Contest Honorable Mention: "California Natives" by Kelly Anne Bonner](https://mastersreview.com/novel-excerpt-contest-honorable-mention-california-natives-by-kelly-anne-bonner/) - "California Natives" by Kelly Anne Bonner was selected by The Masters Review staff as one of two honorable mentions in the 2023 Novel Excerpt Contest. In this excerpt, Connor finds himself attending the city college instead of Stanford, as he'd been expecting. There, he befriends Adam and Trevor, two boys from his high school he'd
- [August Deadlines: 12 Contests Ending This Month](https://mastersreview.com/august-deadlines-12-contests-ending-this-month/) - It doesn’t seem like the heat wave will end any time soon, but these contests are definitely about to end. Make sure you check them out before they evaporate into thin air! FEATURED! Summer Short Story Award for New Writers Our contest is coming to a close, but it’s not too late! The Masters Review
- [From the Archives: "1961" by Laura Demers—Discussed by Rebecca Paredes](https://mastersreview.com/from-the-archives-1961-by-laura-demers-discussed-by-rebecca-paredes/) - Writing about bad people is different from writing about people who do bad things. The former focuses on individuals who commit heinous acts, ruin lives, break laws. The latter shows us the person behind the insidiousness—the person who is, or once was, capable of good and guilt. There isn’t an excuse for their actions, but
- [Book Review: Beautiful Days by Zach Williams](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-beautiful-days-by-zach-williams/) - I read Beautiful Days during the first major heat wave of what the zeitgeist has taken to calling the coolest summer of the rest of our lives. The fit was good. To beat the heat as New York City fulminated into an early summer, air conditioners rumbled out cool air from every window and ice
- [Book Review: Please Let Me Destroy You by Rupert Taylor](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-please-let-me-destroy-you-by-rupert-taylor/) - Published by No Frills Buffalo Publishing, Please Let Me Destroy You by Rupert Taylor[1] opens with a litmus test for the reader. Our narrator, Apollo Jones, is sitting on the toilet when he is interrupted mid-way through proceedings. While not outright scatological, the writing sets the general tone for the rest of the book. “I
- [New Voices: "1961" by Laura Demers](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-1961-by-laura-demers/) - We feel so lucky to have the opportunity to share another brilliant story from Laura Demers, whose "Rogue Particles" was included in Anthology VII. The truth is hazy in "1961," to match its grimy setting. Demers' prose is unforgiving and honest, as she explores how willingly and easily these men perpetrate their sexual violence.
- [2023-2024 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers Finalists!](https://mastersreview.com/2023-2024-winter-short-story-award-for-new-writers-finalists/) - The results are in! Kelly Link has chosen "The Sisters" by Angie Ellis as the grand prize winner of the 2023-2024 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers. Ellis's story will be published on our site later this year alongside our other finalists. You won't want to miss this terrific story. Submissions are currently open
- [Now Open: 2024 Summer Short Story Award Judged by Colin Barrett](https://mastersreview.com/now-open-2024-summer-short-story-award-judged-by-colin-barrett/) - Submissions to this summer's Short Story Award for New Writers, judged by Colin Barrett, are now open. We're looking for your best prose under 6,000 words. The winner will receive a $3,000 prize along with online publication and agency review. Second and third place will also receive cash prizes, online publication and agency review. You
- [September Selects: "You     Body" by Rosalind Goldsmith](https://mastersreview.com/september-selects-you-body-by-rosalind-goldsmith/) - We're excited to share the fourth and final winner from our September Selects series: "You Body" by Rosalind Goldsmith, in the category of Second Person Stories! Thank you to all of our September Selects participants, and congratulations Rosalind! You wake up. Yawn. A long, drawn-out yawn from deep inside. Sleepy eyes, tousled hair. You
- [Introducing Colin Barrett as 2024's Summer Short Story Award for New Writers Guest Judge!](https://mastersreview.com/introducing-colin-barrett-as-2024s-summer-short-story-award-for-new-writers-guest-judge/) - Breaking: Colin Barrett will serve as guest judge for The Masters Review's 2024 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers! Barrett will be tasked with selecting his top three pieces from a shortlist of fifteen provided by TMR staff. Get your manuscripts of prose under 6,000 words polished up before this year's deadline. The contest
- [Writers on Not Writing: Clif Travers and Dave Patterson](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-clif-travers-and-dave-patterson/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, we hear from writer and visual
- [July Deadlines: 12 Contests and Prizes This Month](https://mastersreview.com/july-deadlines-12-contests-and-prizes-this-month/) - As the heat spikes this summer, writing indoors is always an attractive option… Take a look at your work, and find the best contest for it in our carefully collected list! FEATURED! Summer Short Story Award for New Writers Our contest has finally arrived, and we couldn’t be more excited! The Masters Review is looking
- [The 2024 Reprint Prize: Final Days](https://mastersreview.com/the-2024-reprint-prize-now-open/) - Submissions closed. Thank you! Back by popular demand: The Masters Review Reprint Prize! For ten days in June, the 2024 Reprint Prize will be open for submissions of previously published prose, under 6,000 words. Any fiction or creative nonfiction published prior to June 1, 2023, is eligible. We want to offer a new home
- [Stories that Teach: "Bridge Work" by Susan Straight—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-bridge-work-by-susan-straight-discussed-by-brandon-williams/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [Call for Readers: Summer 2024](https://mastersreview.com/call-for-readers-summer-2024/) - The Masters Review is looking to add a few new talented readers to our team this summer. If you love literary fiction and nonfiction, and three to four hours of reading submissions a week sounds like fun, we encourage you to apply. Our readers work remotely and can set their own schedules. BIPOC, marginalized and
- [New Voices: "Husband, Lover, He" by Shastri Akella](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-husband-lover-he-by-shastri-akella/) - In a rite of passage, Sita is warned by a priest to avoid mirrors. He's told, "Mirrors steal your manhood." But there are secrets he is keeping from his family, secrets about his true identity. "Husband, Lover, He" by Shastri Akella is a story about love and tradition set against the backdrop of colonial India.
- [Writers on Not Writing: Andrea Lani](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-andrea-lani/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, writer and Master Naturalist Andrea Lani
- [New Voices: "The Unattended Moment" by Marcia Peck](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-unattended-moment-by-marcia-peck/) - "Lies come in many forms, some very easy to detect," begins this excerpt from Marcia Peck's novel-in-progress, The Unattended Moment. In this chapter, Ellie, a cellist in the Minneapolis Orchestra, is in the midst of a tumultuous summer. Her daughter is preparing to leave for college; she is keeping secrets from her husband, who may
- [New Voices: "Don't Smile" by Aaron Rabinowitz](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-dont-smile-by-aaron-rabinowitz/) - In the early 2000s, Aaron Rabinowitz joins the New York City Teaching Fellows program and finds himself in the classroom, learning to teach on the job. "Don't Smile" is a trip through Rabinowitz's experience in that first year in a New York City public school. "Your first year isn’t about the students," he's advised. "It's
- [Book Review: Fire Exit by Morgan Talty](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-fire-exit-by-morgan-talty/) - colonialism. definition: turning bodies into cages that no one has the keys for. Billy-Ray Belcourt, Colonialism: A Love Story After the publication of Morgan Talty’s short story collection, Night of the Living Rez, the author already had his next book ready. In an interview with Brad Listi on the Otherppl podcast, he said his next
- [2023-2024 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers Shortlist](https://mastersreview.com/2023-2024-winter-short-story-award-for-new-writers-shortlist/) - Every year, we anxiously await our Winter Short Story Award for New Writers because, without fail, the submissions blow us away. Well let's just say this year our submitters didn't make it easy for us decide. These fifteen stories are now in the hands of Kelly Link, who will choose this year's three finalists. The
- [June Deadlines: 11 Prizes Available This Month](https://mastersreview.com/june-deadlines-11-prizes-available-this-month/) - Unlike the temperature slowly creeping up, don’t forget that the time left for these contests is slowly counting down! Make sure you find your favorite contest, and send in that submission on time. FEATURED! The Masters Review Anthology Prize The entry period for The Masters Review Anthology is coming to a close, but there’s still
- [A Conversation with Grace Loh Prasad, Author of The Translator's Daughter](https://mastersreview.com/a-conversation-with-grace-loh-prasad-author-of-the-translators-daughter/) - Grace Loh Prasad's The Translator's Daughter, hailed as a "a poignant memoir about the joy, sadness, struggle, and complexities of being an immigrant" and a "soulful and profound meditation on family, diaspora, and grief," was published earlier this year through Mad Creek Books, an imprint of The Ohio State University Press. Today, we are proud
- [From the Archives: "How to Develop (Film)" by Candice May—Discussed by Melissa Bean](https://mastersreview.com/from-the-archives-how-to-develop-film-by-candice-may-discussed-by-melissa-bean/) - Stories, like photographs, are a matter of composition. What is in focus and what is not? How can we use framing elements to draw the audience’s attention to a specific element of the piece? When can we effectively use negative space to our advantage? Despite the many technical and technological differences between photography and short
- [A Conversation with Gina Chung, Best Emerging Writers Guest Judge](https://mastersreview.com/a-conversation-with-gina-chung-best-emerging-writers-guest-judge/) - Submissions to the Best Emerging Writers anthology contest will close on June 2. Ten winners will be chosen for a $700 prize, along with publication both online as well as in our printed book. Choosing this year's winners is Gina Chung, author of the recent collection Green Frog as well as the novel Sea Change.
- [2023 Novel Excerpt Contest Finalists!](https://mastersreview.com/2023-novel-excerpt-contest-finalists/) - Matthew Salesses has chosen Raf Richardson-Carillo's "Backline" as the grand prize winner of the 2023 Novel Excerpt Contest! Richardson-Carillo will be awarded a $3,000 prize, along with an hour-long consultation with our partnered agent, Halley Dunne Parry at The Hamilburg Agency. Congratulations to our 2nd and 3rd place finalists, S. P. Donohue and Virginia Lee
- ["The Power of Recognizing Your Own Creative Process" by Katey Schultz](https://mastersreview.com/the-power-of-recognizing-your-own-creative-process-by-katey-schultz/) - "More often than not, writers turn to workshops" to discover what's next for their work-in-progress Katey Schultz writes in this new craft essay, "The Power of Recognizing Your Own Creative Process." Schultz leans on her years of experience in mentoring writers to argue that it's not always necessary to look outward to find those next
- [New Voices: "Tennis Court" by Devanshi Khetarpal](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-tennis-court-by-devanshi-khetarpal/) - When her father dies, the narrator of Devanshi Khetarpal's "Tennis Court" returns home to Bhopal to help her mother mourn a man neither cared much for. As she and her mother watch the uncles play their Sunday tennis tournaments at her father's revered social club, traumatic and uncomfortable memories surface. "Until I found myself staring
- [Book Review: Skunks by Fiona Warnick](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-skunks-by-fiona-warnick/) - In Fiona Warnick’s debut novel, The Skunks, Isabel spends a summer in the gray, biding time between college and the next stage of her life. She’s back in her hometown after graduation but remains on the periphery of her childhood experience of home: She spends the summer housesitting for one family while babysitting for another
- [Summer Short Story Award Honorable Mention: "Level of Emergency" by Tanya Nikiforova](https://mastersreview.com/summer-short-story-award-honorable-mention-level-of-emergency-by-tanya-nikiforova/) - "Level of Emergency" by Tanya Nikiforova was chosen by The Masters Review editors as one of two honorable mentions in our 2023 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers. In this story, Paula, a recovering alcoholic, makes a surprise visit to her estranged daughter Amy and young grandson Charlie, whom she hasn't seen in years,
- [2023 Novel Excerpt Contest Shortlist!](https://mastersreview.com/2023-novel-excerpt-contest-shortlist/) - At long last, we are thrilled to share the fifteen writers who have been selected for this year's Novel Excerpt Contest shortlist. Matthew Salesses will be selecting his three finalists from this pool of remarkable excerpts. As we always are, we were blown away by the quality and promise of all the submissions we received
- [May Deadlines: 8 Contests and Prizes This Month](https://mastersreview.com/may-deadlines-8-contests-and-prizes-this-month/) - There is spring in the air, and new growth on all the trees. Show us what you can create yourself, and submit to one of these contests! OPEN NOW! The Masters Review Anthology Prize It’s finally that time of year again, when The Masters Review is accepting entries for our anthology! For the thirteenth volume,
- [Stories that Teach: “A Love Story” by Samantha Hunt—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-a-love-story-by-samantha-hunt-discussed-by-brandon-williams/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [Writers on Not Writing: Aaron Hamburger and Monica Wood](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-monica-wood-and-aaron-hamburger/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, we hear from two writers—Aaron Hamburger
- [2023 Chapbook Open Shortlist!](https://mastersreview.com/2023-chapbook-open-shortlist/) - Since December, we've been hard at work reading through hundreds of excellent chapbook submissions, and we are pleased to share the selections for this year's Chapbook Open shortlist. Congratulations to the eight honored writers, as well as our two notables, and a heartfelt thank you to everyone who submitted this year. Check back in a
- [Book Review: Negative Space by Gillian Linden](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-negative-space-by-gillian-linden/) - The post-9/11 world has instilled If you see something, say something in all of us, and living post-COVID means trying to interpret what we see and describe it while wearing a mask. In Negative Space, debut author Gillian Linden explores the repercussions of a part-time teacher at a private school witnessing possible inappropriate contact between
- [New Voices: "A Portrait of the Lobotomist as a Young Man" by S. B. Kleinman](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-a-portrait-of-the-lobotomist-as-a-young-man-by-s-b-kleinman/) - "But inevitably, someone realized that people already have holes in their skulls; they keep their eyes in them." S. B. Kleinman's "A Portrait of the Lobotomist as a Young Man" begins with a photograph, the narrator's parents on their wedding day. What follows is as unsettling as it is measured. Explore the origins of Kleinman's
- [Summer Short Story Award 2nd Place: "Broken Animals" by Aurora Stone Mehlman](https://mastersreview.com/summer-short-story-award-2nd-place-broken-animals-by-aurora-stone-mehlman/) - "'Broken Animals' begins with a scene of stampeding wild mustangs that is so vividly described I felt my pulse quicken with the rhythm of its phrases—“a roan, a painted, a dun headwind.” This story might be between Caroline and her troubled son, Hector, or it might be between Caroline and a wounded warrior with prosthetic
- [Interview with the Winner: Dara Kell](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-dara-kell/) - On Monday, we published the winner of our 2023 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers: "Elbow in Zulu" by Dara Kell. First, read this magnificent story, selected by Jai Chakrabarti, then check out our interview with the winner below. First, congratulations on winning the 2023 Summer Short Story Award! We’re thrilled to feature
- [The Masters Review Anthology Vol. XII Available Now!](https://mastersreview.com/the-masters-review-anthology-vol-xii-available-now/) - Volume XII of our annual anthology is now available for purchase at Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon! Be sure to order your copy of this new anthology, with stories and essays selected by Toni Jensen, and then submit your own work to our Best Emerging Writers anthology—volume XIII of our favorite project. You can
- [2024 Novel Workshop Open for Registrations](https://mastersreview.com/2024-novel-workshop-open-for-registrations/) - Working on a novel? Let us help! Registrations for the 2024 Novel Workshop are open now through May 2. Find all the details below or on our registration page. The Masters Review’s Novel Workshop is the perfect opportunity for any writer to get direct, actionable feedback on the opening of their novel in progress.
- [Submissions to the Best Emerging Writers Anthology Now Open!](https://mastersreview.com/submissions-to-the-best-emerging-writers-anthology-now-open/) - Submissions to the Best Emerging Writers anthology, our thirteenth volume, are now open through June 2nd! Ten winners, selected by guest judge Gina Chung, will earn a $700 prize, publication online and in our print anthology, a contributor's copy and exposure to over fifty literary agencies as part of our exclusive mailing distribution. Submit your
- [Small Fiction Awards Sudden Fiction Runner-Up: "Nectar" by Kerry Anderson](https://mastersreview.com/small-fiction-awards-sudden-runner-up-nectar-by-kerry-anderson/) - “Nectar” is a stunningly original story that preserves its sense of mystery while also inviting the reader to bring themselves wholly to the page. This story is a gift, an act of generosity and limitless imagination. It's thematically rich, beautifully written and well-paced, and captivating from beginning to end. A marvel of worldbuilding that bursts
- [Small Fiction Awards Sudden Fiction Winner: "Immaculate" by Susanna Cupido](https://mastersreview.com/small-fiction-awards-sudden-fiction-winner-immaculate-by-susanna-cupido/) - "Immaculate" is the kind of story that will crawl inside your body and live there for a long, long time. I read it again and again with breathless fervor, totally devoted to its beautifully rendered characters. It's a striking exploration and excavation of queerness, shame, desire, intimacy, the im/possibilities of merging/touching, and the lessons we
- [Judge Announcement: Gina Chung Will Be Selecting This Year's Best Emerging Writers](https://mastersreview.com/judge-announcement-gina-chung-will-be-selecting-this-years-best-emerging-writers/) - That's right, folks—for our thirteenth year, our anthology will be published under the title Best Emerging Writers! As always, we're committed to providing a platform to new and emerging writers, which is why we're expanding this project we hold so dear. This year's ten finalists will receive a $700 prize along with publication in our
- [April Deadlines: 10 Deadlines and Prizes This Month](https://mastersreview.com/april-deadlines-10-deadlines-and-prizes-this-month/) - The world is emerging from the deep thaw, and it’s time for you to start moving as well! Get back into the swing of things by entering one of these great contests. Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting If you think you have that movie magic, now’s your chance! This contest awards up to five $35,000
- [Writers on Not Writing: Mimi Manyin and Melanie Brooks](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-mimi-manyin-and-melanie-brooks/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at how two writers—Mimi Manyin and Melanie Brooks—turn to music and cookies when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page.
- [Interview with the Winner: Catherine Carberry](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-catherine-carberry/) - Jai Chakrabarti selected "Dog Days" by Catherine Carberry as the 3rd place finalist in our 2023 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers. Be sure to check out the story if you haven't, and then read our interview with the winner below! As Jai Chakrabarti suggests in his introduction to “Dog Days,” this is
- [Interview with the Winner: Aurora Stone Mehlman](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-aurora-stone-mehlman/) - Aurora Stone Mehlman's "Broken Animals" was chosen by Jai Chakrabarti as the 2nd place finalist in our 2023 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers. Be sure to read this terrific story, and then check out our interview with the winner below! Can you talk a little about the origin or inspiration for the
- [From the Archives: "Clean Hunters" by Lena Valencia—Discussed by Kathryn Ordiway](https://mastersreview.com/from-the-archives-clean-hunters-by-lena-valencia/) - Lena Valencia’s "Clean Hunters" was one of several ghost stories published by The Masters Review leading up to Halloween in 2015. I’m a sucker for a good ghost story of almost any kind, and there are so many kinds to choose from. What struck me with this one was Valencia’s atmosphere, the dread I felt
- [Book Review: Half-Lives by Lynn Schmeidler](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-half-lives-by-lynn-schmeidler/) - Half-Lives, a collection of stories by Lynn Schmeidler, is a stunning debut by an author who is unafraid to write evocatively, experimentally, and with a raw vulnerability that will inevitably stir contemplation and conversation. Challenging stigmas and the silence which surround issues of women’s autonomy, as well as their mental and physical health, Schmeidler has
- [Summer Short Story Award Honorable Mention: "That Chookaloski Mare" by Ashley Thorup](https://mastersreview.com/summer-short-story-award-honorable-mention-that-chookaloski-mare-by-ashley-thorup/) - "It was the summer of breaking," begins Ashley Thorup's "That Chookaloski Mare," chosen by The Masters Review editors as one of two honorable mentions in our 2023 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers. Thorup's story was an early favorite for our readers, immaculately crafted, with a devastating but well-earned ending. Stay tuned for the
- [Writers on Not Writing: The Masters Review Readers](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-the-masters-review-readers/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. This month, we hear from three TMR readers—Joanna
- [2024 Featured Flash Contest Now Open!](https://mastersreview.com/2024-featured-flash-contest-now-open/) - Submissions Open Through March 31 Add to Calendar The Masters Review has long been a home for excellence in flash prose, and we’re especially proud to have published many Best Small Fictions selections over the past few years. In 2024, we want to continue to feature your remarkable flash in our magazine! The Featured
- [March Deadlines: 12 Contests and Prizes Available This Month](https://mastersreview.com/march-deadlines-12-contests-and-prizes-available-this-month-2024/) - The world is getting a little brighter, and every day is now longer than the last! Put that extra time to good use, and get your submissions ready to send out to one of these contests. FEATURED The Masters Review Featured Flash Contest In 2024, we want to continue to feature your remarkable flash prose
- [New Voices: "Haole Boys" by Parker Blaney](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-haole-boys-by-parker-blaney/) - Winner of the 2023 Maine Literary Award for Short Fiction, "Haole Boys" by Parker Blaney firmly roots readers in the O'ahu of his youth, with a story of friendship, identity and belonging. Blaney's voice and his sharply-rendered setting will carry you all through to this triumphant, bittersweet conclusion. A siren woke me. It started
- [Stories that Teach: "Dance Dance Revolution" by Ben Jahn—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-dance-dance-revolution-by-ben-jahn-discussed-by-brandon-williams/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [New Voices: "Treasure" by Aharon Levy](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-treasure-by-aharon-levy/) - "In the Armana village on the Green Inlet lived a chief's daughter who had always been famous for her strong will." Aharon Levy's "Treasure," invokes oral storytelling traditions and uses the narrative of one mother's grief to foretell a communal tragedy, as the colonizers—the "Sick Men"—approach. We are so proud to feature Levy's story in
- [Reprint Prize Runner-Up: "Numbers" by Éanlaí P. Cronin](https://mastersreview.com/reprint-prize-runner-up-numbers-by-eanlai-p-cronin/) - In "Numbers," Éanlaí P. Cronin attempts to quantify the unquantifiable when she is asked by a detective how many times she was abused in her childhood by her neighbor. Poignant and powerful and original in its framing, "Numbers" was chosen by The Masters Review's editorial team as a runner-up in the first Reprint Prize. This
- [Reprint Prize Runner-Up: "Don't Stop Now" by Seth Fischer](https://mastersreview.com/reprint-prize-runner-up-dont-stop-now-by-seth-fischer/) - "Don't Stop Now" by Seth Fischer was chosen by The Masters Review's editorial team as a runner-up in the first Reprint Prize. Fischer's essay unpacks all the messiness and the complicated emotions that emerge with aging parents, facing the uncomfortable uncertainties head on. "Don't Stop Now" was first published in COG. I’m sitting on
- [Writers on Not Writing: The Masters Review Editors](https://mastersreview.com/writers-on-not-writing-the-masters-review-editors/) - Writers pour so much energy into their craft that sometimes we forget that creative pursuits other than writing can fill us up in other important ways. Here, we’ll look at what writers do when they aren’t writing, and how those pursuits affect the return to the page. Writing is one of those things that
- [Book Review: Here in the Night by Rebecca Turkewitz](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-here-in-the-night-by-rebecca-turkewitz/) - In the final pages of Here in the Night, Rebecca Turkewitz’s debut collection, out now from Black Lawrence Press, a character remarks: “The world is a weird place.” It’s a comment that seems to speak to every story in this haunting collection. Over thirteen stories (a number picked not accidentally, I’m sure), Turkewitz explores the
- [Book Review: Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind by Molly McGhee](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-jonathan-abernathy-you-are-kind-by-molly-mcghee/) - Jonathan Abernathy You Are Kind, out today from Astra House from debut author Molly McGhee, gets off to a slow start, but don’t let that betray its brilliance. Full of magic, mystery, and an eerie mysticism, this novel twists and turns in unexpected directions as its protagonist, the titular Jonathan Abernathy, navigates the Archive of
- [Novel Excerpt Contest 1st Place: "Calling Out" by Robyn Jefferson](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-calling-out-by-robyn-jefferson/) - Exploring contemporary tensions between identity and nonconformity, connection and isolation, and performance and authenticity, this darkly funny excerpt is steeped, at once, in the realities of our world—virtual and concrete—and the protagonist Beth’s experience of consciousness. Beth is a character who is obedient to and at odds with the pressure to imitate and self-chronicle, and
- [New Voices: "Ahorita" by Gabriella Navas](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-ahorita-by-gabriella-navas/) - Two sisters working to mend and maintain their relationship share breakfast in Gabriella Navas's "Ahorita." Sonia, a new mother, has begun insisting the two need to reconnect, and it is Leticia who suggests their weekly breakfasts. Leticia and Sonia "believe in big breakfasts," something they inherited from their parents and grandparents. But will breakfast be
- [February Deadlines: 9 Prizes Available This Month](https://mastersreview.com/february-deadlines-9-prizes-available-this-month/) - We’ve reached the border between winter and spring, and all of the unpredictable weather that entails. As far as your writing, though, YOU are in control of where you submit your work! American Short(er) Fiction Prize American Short Fiction and judge Dantiel W. Moniz are looking for writers who know their way around flash fiction—could
- [Book Review: Sugar, Baby by Celine Saintclare](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-sugar-baby-by-celine-saintclare/) - Celine Saintclare’s sultry and humorous debut novel, Sugar, Baby, is a journey through the superficially glamorous and inwardly twisted transformation of Agnes Green from ingenue to icon. Saintclare writes from Agnes’s point of view in present tense providing a very intimate view of what most of us think of as private moments. How private is
- [New Voices: "Salim's House" by Vishal Markandey](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-salims-house-by-vishal-markandey/) - "Summer had not begun yet but already the days were dry and hot, and the overhead sun like fire on the skin. The villagers were predicting a long, merciless summer. " Vishal Markandey's "Salim's House" is a coming-of-age story set in India, 1947, the year of Partition. The young protagonist bears witness to what this
- [From the Archives: "The Drownings" by Brenda Peynado—Discussed by Benjamin Van Voorhis](https://mastersreview.com/from-the-archives-the-drownings-by-brenda-peynado-discussed-by-benjamin-van-voorhis/) - One of the New Voices pieces that kicked off 2017 was Brenda Peynado’s “The Drownings,” a story about growing up, death, the attainment of knowledge, and swimming pools. It’s also a delicate balancing act between a unique point of view and a strong central metaphor. Let’s take a peek under the hood and see how
- [New Voices: "The Drownings" by Brenda Peynado](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-drownings-by-brenda-peynado/) - Brenda Peynado’s mesmerizing story follows the seventh-grade class of an unusual town; each year, the community loses some of its youth to a mysterious string of drownings. “The Drownings” is a fantastical story grounded in the real struggles of coming of age and coming to terms with the limitations of life. We are proud to
- [New Voices: "Shelter: A Photo Gallery" by Jen Burke Anderson](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-shelter-a-photo-gallery-by-jen-burke-anderson/) - Set in the early days of the COVID-19 lockdowns in Europe, Jen Burke Anderson's "Shelter: A Photo Gallery" captures a particular—unique—feeling of isolation and confusion. The second-person narration and narrative structure—a series of time-stamped snapshots—are perfectly paired to encapsulate the sense of displacement of the moment. __ Port of Barcelona, 18 February 2020, 10:44pm
- [What We Read in 2023](https://mastersreview.com/what-we-read-in-2023/) - With 2023 in the rearview, it's time for one of my favorite traditions at The Masters Review! Let's look back together at all the great writing our readers enjoyed over the past year. And if you haven't heard it from us yet: Happy new year! This was a transitional year for me in a
- [Novel Excerpt Contest Honorable Mention: "The Blood Hustle" by Alice Hatcher](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-blood-hustle-by-alice-hatcher/) - "The Blood Hustle" introduces us to April, a woman stretched to her limits accepting gig after gig on JackRabbit, donating blood and participating in research studies. But still, it's not enough. Hatcher's excerpt represents the first chapter of her in-progress novel, which tackles gig culture head on. Most people would agree that, if a
- [Submissions Open for the 2023-2024 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers, Judged by Kelly Link!](https://mastersreview.com/submissions-open-for-the-2023-2024-winter-short-story-award-for-new-writers-judged-by-kelly-link/) - Submissions Open Through January 28, 2024 Add to Calendar Get a head start on your new year’s resolution by submitting to The Masters Review’s Winter Short Story Award for New Writers! This award, which has been offered twice a year since 2016, pairs emerging writers with some of the industry’s top literary agents. Past
- [Book Review: Bird Life by Anna Smaill](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-bird-life-by-anna-smaill/) - Bird Life, the second novel by Booker Prize longlisted author Anna Smaill, bends beautifully into the genre of speculative fiction with stunning prose and captivating characters. Alternating between the perspectives of two protagonists, Dinah and Yasuko, Smaill invites her readers to intimately explore the experience of grief and loss, as well as the resilient power
- [New Voices: "Snail Season" by Emily Suzanne Lever](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-snail-season-by-emily-suzanne-lever/) - We're kicking off 2024 with Emily Suzanne Lever's "Snail Season"! The process for making Tyrian purple was expensive, difficult and, for a time, lost to history. But in "Snail Season," Emily Suzanne Lever's debut fiction publication, its potential rediscovery comes with unexpected consequences in the life of the narrator. "Snail Season" is a story about
- [What We Read in 2022](https://mastersreview.com/what-we-read-in-2022/) - As we enter 2023, The Masters Review would like to celebrate the terrific year of reading behind us and wish everyone an even better year ahead. Here's to 2023! In 2022, I finished my MFA, which meant finishing my story collection, which meant hours and weeks and months of reading, and writing, and editing.
- [January Deadlines: 13 Prizes and Contests Ending This Month](https://mastersreview.com/january-deadlines-13-prizes-and-contests-ending-this-month/) - It gets dark so early now, but don’t worry about how to avoid falling asleep before dinner… Take a look at these contests, and you’ll surely be inspired to stay up late! FEATURED! Winter Short Story Award for New Writers This one is our own contest, and it’s featured for so many good reasons! The
- [One Week Remaining: Submissions Close December 17 for The 2023 Chapbook Open!](https://mastersreview.com/one-week-remaining-submissions-close-december-17-for-the-2023-chapbook-open/) - One Week Left! Submissions Close December 17! Add to Calendar Guest Judge Michael Martone says: “I have always loved chapbooks. The first two books I published were chapbooks. What excites me is when a chapbook takes itself seriously as a literary form–up to something unique and different from other “packaging,” other narrative or lyrical delivery
- [Last Chance! The 2023 Chapbook Open Submissions Close Tonight, 12/17!](https://mastersreview.com/last-chance-the-2023-chapbook-open-submissions-close-tonight-12-17/) - Submissions Close Tonight at 11:59pm PT! Add to Calendar Guest Judge Michael Martone says: “I have always loved chapbooks. The first two books I published were chapbooks. What excites me is when a chapbook takes itself seriously as a literary form–up to something unique and different from other “packaging,” other narrative or lyrical delivery devices—the
- [The Masters Review's 2023 in Review](https://mastersreview.com/the-masters-reviews-2023-in-review/) - 2023 was an exciting year for us in many ways. We experimented with new contests and submission opportunities, released a fabulous chapbook from Lindy Biller and another stellar edition of our annual anthology, launched a new website, and brought back one of our favorite writers of all time to judge our Short Story Award (submissions
- [2023 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers Finalists!](https://mastersreview.com/2023-summer-short-story-award-for-new-writers-finalists/) - Just in time for the holidays, Jai Chakrabarti sent us a gift: his picks for our 2023 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers are in! Congratulations to our three finalists and two honorable mentions, especially Dara Kell, whose "Elbow in Zulu" was chosen as the grand prize winner. These five stories will be published
- [New Voices: "Lost in Smoke" by Parul Kaushik](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-lost-in-smoke-by-parul-kaushik/) - Not long after Aakash drowns in the Netravati River, Vibha's younger son Rahul begins to see him everywhere around their house. Vibha and her husband Sanjay cannot explain what their son sees, but still they are desperate for a solution, desperate to keep their living son with them. Parul Kaushik's "Lost in Smoke" is a
- [Litmag Roadmap: Washington, DC](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-washington-dc/) - Where better to end this series than our nation’s capital, and our editor’s new home? Let’s dive into the journals that lay claim to the DC area. Once more around the block. This series began with our previous assistant editor, Melissa Hinshaw, who wanted to catalog literary magazines based on their geographical homes. We’ve
- [Stories that Teach: “Uncle Rock” by Dagoberto Gilb—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-uncle-rock-by-dagoberto-gilb-discussed-by-brandon-williams/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [The Masters Review's 2023 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers Shortlist!](https://mastersreview.com/the-masters-reviews-2023-summer-short-story-award-for-new-writers-shortlist/) - The Masters Review is pleased to finally share the fifteen stories selected for this year's Summer Short Story Award for New Writers! One of these pieces will be chosen by Jai Chakrabarti as the grand prize winner and receive a $3,000 cash prize, along with publication and agency review! Thank you to all of our
- [Interview with the Winner: Susanna Cupido](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-susanna-cupido/) - Earlier this week, we featured the winner of the Sudden Fiction category in our Spring Small Fiction Awards, Susanna Cupido's "Immaculate," a story which K-Ming Chang described as "an unforgettable full-body experience." Check out Cupido's winning work, and then read our interview with the author below! I love how this story begins with the
- [New Voices: "The Rounds at Blanding" by Tom Sokolowski](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-rounds-at-blanding-by-tom-sokolowski/) - We are excited to include "The Rounds at Blanding" by Tom Sokolowski in our New Voices catalog. "The Rounds at Blanding" follows Selena, an MP at a military training facility in Florida, a protective single mother to PJ, not interested in anything more serious to come out of her fling with her fellow MP Julian.
- [New Voices: “Maria Makiling Off the Mountain” by Anna Cabe](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-maria-makiling-off-the-mountain-by-anna-cabe/) - What happens when a goddess of Philippine mythology, tired of being worshiped, descends from her mountain and leaves her homeland? What happens when she winds up in the United States, living as a human, finding ways to occupy her time? “Maria Makiling Off the Mountain” by Anna Cabe sets out to answer those questions. A
- [New Voices: "The Men" by Hayley Boyd](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-men-by-hayley-boyd/) - We are excited to share with you Hayley Boyd's magnificently unsettling "The Men." Undiagnosable illness, a doctor not-so-subtly harassing her patient, a deep and unending longing for another's touch. It's all here in the incomparable "The Men." The doctor told me I needed to lose weight, but not too much weight, just a few
- [New Voices: "Fight, Bag, Option, Run" by Jiaming Tang](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-fight-bag-option-run-by-jiaming-tang/) - Styled after old JRPGs, Jiaming Tang's "Fight, Bag, Option, Run" is an essay following the author's father's immigration to the United States from China. Follow along, guided by the Snakeheads through the woods, carrying only your knapsnack. Fight, Bag, Option, Run You pack with your mama while your father pretends to sleep. He’s nervous—just
- [Getting Unstuck: Writing About Place](https://mastersreview.com/getting-unstuck-writing-about-place/) - Our last Getting Unstuck of the year is focused on place. Jen Dupree has rounded up more resources for you on how to write what you know best, or what you may not know as well as you think. Let's get unstuck one last time this year! I live in Maine, where there was
- [New Voices: “What Made You This Way” by Enyinna Nnabuihe](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-what-made-you-this-way-by-enyinna-nnabuihe/) - Adedeji explores his sexuality in "What Made You This Way" by Enyinna Nnabuihe, this entry to our New Voices catalog. Spurred by memories of his friend Sochima, Adedeji must navigate around his family's traditional values to reach a full understanding of his true identity. When your home is built near a highway, you see
- [New Voices: "A Taste of the Silence" by Ajay Kumar Nair](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-a-taste-of-the-silence-by-ajay-kumar-nair/) - On the eve of Dussehra, Karthika witnesses, clearly for the first time, her grandmother silencing her mother with The Spray. In a story of tradition versus liberation, "A Taste of the Silence" by Ajay Kumar Nair challenges the old guard and argues for giving a voice to those who have been historically silenced. What
- [New Voices: "Psalms of a Charred Summer" by Monica Brashears](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-psalms-of-a-charred-summer-by-monica-brashears/) - In a trailer park in an East Tennessee Valley, Scooter Brown and Dewy Cash prepare to dig a hole to hell so they can fight the devil. In a coming-of-age tale punctuated by prayer and country music, Monica Brashears explores ideas of identity, masculinity and race. The Better Tomorrow Trailer Park sprouts deep in
- [Winter Short Story Award Honorable Mention: "Celestial Navigation" by Heather Marshall](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-celestial-navigation-by-heather-marshall/) - Heather Marshall's "Celestial Navigation" earned an honorable mention in our 2020-2021 Winter Short Story Award for New Voices. "Celestial Navigation" is a masterclass in meditative prose. Isobel, yearning for adventure, now three years separated from her husband, returns to the Scottish island where she grew up. Read along as she rediscovers herself in this story
- [Winter Short Story Award 3rd Place: "You're Not the Only One" by William Hawkins](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-youre-not-the-only-one-by-william-hawkins/) - What jumped out to us immediately in William Hawkins's "You're Not the Only One," selected as the third place finalist in our 2020-2021 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers, was suffocation. The every day patterns and routines that Elise falls into raising her two boys while Benjamin completes his doctorate become like a tomb.
- [Winter Short Story Award 2nd Place: "Collection of the Artist" by Corey Flintoff](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-collection-of-the-artist-by-corey-flintoff/) - "Collection Of The Artist" is absorbing in its intricacy of approach. I found characterization to be an outstanding technique in this story that picks every lock its protagonists place on their lives. I was also deliciously disturbed by the poise with which that lock-picking is done. — Guest Judge Helen Oyeyemi The painting was
- [Winter Short Story Award 1st Place: "Straight to My Heart" by Dean Jamieson](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-straight-to-my-heart-by-dean-jamieson/) - "Straight To My Heart" strikes like a fleet of live arrows. Its pulse is jagged and it leaves an unerringly lucid imprint; not a word is out of place. From the first sentence to the last, the narrative voice combines subtle craft and raw sensation in proportions that shimmer and pierce. — Guest Judge Helen
- [New Voices: "Trick" by Vanessa Chan](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-trick-by-vanessa-chan/) - The Masters Review is proud to include "Trick" by Vanessa Chan in our New Voices series. This elegiac flash reflects on childhood memories, like the sound of a piano or the rain upon the house. Listen closely. An untuned brown piano sat in the living room where I grew up. You loved that piano
- [Chapbook Contest Excerpt: "Masterplans" by Nick Almeida](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-masterplans-by-nick-almeida/) - We are thrilled to introduce you to Nick Almeida, the winner of our inaugural Chapbook Contest, with his titular story "Masterplans," included in his forthcoming chapbook Masterplans, out later this fall. Immediately evident in this story is what Steve Almond says he's looking for in writing: "the danger of self-revelation, of what Freud called Das
- [New Voices: "Lucky Elephant" by Lynn Mundell](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-lucky-elephant-by-lynn-mundell/) - "It’s so much easier to sleep than to live." Lynn Mundell's "Lucky Elephant" follows the the only white elephant born in a thousand years, celebrated, worshiped, as her birth coincides with the coming of the rains. It is a story of grief, a story of motherhood. It is a story that will linger with you,
- [Call for Readers: Winter 2023](https://mastersreview.com/call-for-readers-winter-2023/) - The Masters Review is looking to add some talented new readers to our team this winter. If you love literary fiction and nonfiction, and three to four hours of reading submissions a week sounds like fun, we encourage you to apply. Our readers work remotely and can set their own schedules. BIPOC, marginalized and underrepresented
- [Small Fiction Awards Micro Winner: "Sandbox" by Colin Bonini](https://mastersreview.com/small-fiction-awards-micro-winner-sandbox-by-colin-bonini/) - "Sandbox" is a beautifully observed and heartrending story that displays such attention to language, voice, and the transformative nature of witness and grief. It is at once meditative and urgent, and the ending is resonant and lingering and complex. There is a sense of unrelenting wonder amidst devastating details, and it is gorgeously crafted from
- [Fall Fiction Contest 1st Place: "Night Beast" by Ruth Joffre](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-night-beast-by-ruth-joffre/) - We are thrilled to present the winner of our Fall Fiction Contest, “Night Beast” by Ruth Joffre. In this story, our narrator attends her brother's wedding. His fiance is a girl who has been intimate with his sister while sleepwalking. The author says about the story: "Sleep sex has always fascinated me because of the
- [New Voices: "Jackpot" by Mike Nees](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-jackpot-by-mike-nees/) - In this energetic story, take on two roles: The first, an addict, working the casino floor for a score and a fix; the other, a security guard who plays his job like a video game to be attempted over and over until it's mastered. "Jackpot" by Mike Nees offers a unique insight on casino life,
- [New Voices: "My Life Partner" by Jack Cubria](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-my-life-partner-by-jack-cubria/) - "My Life Partner" by Jack Cubria follows Paul—narrator Roy's best friend—and his relationship with Ada. In "My Life Partner," Cubria has constructed an honest, conflicted narrator who loves Paul despite everything, through prose that recalls Hemingway: true, and direct, and with depth beyond measure. On their first evening out they went to the symphony,
- [New Voices: "Imagine This, Thaddeus" by Brad Aaron Modlin](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-imagine-this-thaddeus-by-brad-aaron-modlin/) - "Imagine This, Thaddeus" by Brad Aaron Modlin depicts the titular character, Thaddeus, a monk in fourth century Egypt, in the midst of temptation. The voices are literally set against one another, as they battle, the Tempter poking at the very things he knows will sway Thaddeus the most: his loneliness, his comfort. Thaddeus, One
- [New Voices: "Peer Melvin" by Lily Meyer](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-peer-melvin-by-lily-meyer/) - In Lily Meyer's "Peer Melvin," we find ourselves with a narrator in Sophia with an exacting honesty about her own shortcomings, her failings, she says, as "mother, wife and general person." Sophia sees herself in her grandfather Melvin, a conman who dresses "like a minor gangster." Meyer's "Peer Melvin" follows Sophia in her senior year,
- [Flash Fiction Contest Honorable Mention: "Everywhere, All at Once" by Emily Roth](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-everywhere-all-at-once-by-emily-roth/) - We are proud to share Emily Roth's "Everywhere, All at Once," the honorable mention in 2021's Flash Fiction Contest. In "Everywhere, All at Once," the narrator's brother has gone missing at college, and now she sees him everywhere. But always, she is wrong. Always, who she sees is someone else's brother. Roth deftly plays with
- [Interview with the Winner: Kerry Anderson](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-kerry-anderson/) - Kerry Anderson's "Nectar" was chosen by K-Ming Chang as the runner-up in the Sudden Fiction category of our 2023 Spring Small Fiction Awards. Be sure to read the story that Chang called a "stunningly original story... a gift," and then check out our interview with the writer below! I’ll start with the obvious question—where
- [Novel Excerpt Contest 2nd Place: "Crybaby" by Mariah Adcox](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-crybaby-by-mariah-adcox/) - "That fall I had stopped believing I was a person” begins an early paragraph in this nihilistic, yet wryly buoyant excerpt about a thirty-year-old aspiring artist caught between her ambition and the lure of procrastination and despair. In line after line, the influence of mind-numbing groupthink is on evidence, as is the singular humor of
- [Interview with the Winner: Jeff Martin](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-jeff-martin/) - Earlier this week, we published Jeff Martin's prize-winning "Whale Song," chosen by K-Ming Chang in the Flash Fiction category of our 2023 Spring Small Fiction Awards! Be sure to read this magnificent story first, then check out our interview with the winner below. What sparked this story, or led you to write this piece?
- [December Deadlines: 12 Contests and Prizes This Month](https://mastersreview.com/december-deadlines-12-contests-and-prizes-this-month/) - If you’ve been saving up your writing all year long, now is the time to present your work to the world! Pick one of these contests, and send them your favorite piece! FEATURED! The Masters Review Chapbook Open for Emerging Writers If you have a prose chapbook that you’ve been wanting to share, this
- [Small Fiction Awards Micro Runner-Up: "Naz 8 Cinemas" by Aliza Ali Khan](https://mastersreview.com/small-fiction-awards-micro-runner-up-naz-8-cinemas-by-aliza-ali-khan/) - "Naz 8 Cinemas" is filled to the brim with incredible sentences; the kind of lines that you have to read again and again, transfixed by each syllable. Like the lyrics to a song, every word and sound is carefully and beautifully placed, weaving an intricate portrait, a landscape of love where violence and tenderness coexist.
- ["On Grammar and Plot" by Nicole Nelson](https://mastersreview.com/on-grammar-and-plot-by-nicole-nelson/) - In "On Grammar and Plot," Nicole Nelson applies her training as a linguist to show how creative verb choices can help shape the plot of a story, through the power of "coercion." Nelson digs into three specific examples: Hamlet, Alice in Wonderland, and Amy Hempel's "Tonight is a Favor to Holly." Nelson writes, "A background
- [The 2023 Novel Excerpt Contest, Judged by Matthew Salesses, is Now Open for Submissions!](https://mastersreview.com/the-2023-novel-excerpt-contest-judged-by-matthew-salesses-is-now-open-for-submissions/) - Submissions for our 2023 Novel Excerpt Contest will be open from September 1 (that's today) through November 12. Unpublished excerpts up to 6,000 words are eligible for this prize. The grand-prize finalist will receive a $3,000 cash prize, along with online publication and an hour-long consultation with a literary agent. Matthew Salesses will select three
- [Interview with the Winner: Robyn Jefferson](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-robyn-jefferson/) - Earlier this week, we published Robyn Jefferson's excerpt from Calling Out, which won our 2022 Novel Excerpt Contest, as chosen by Charmaine Craig. Make sure to check out the excerpt, or read through it again, before digging into our interview with the winner! First, congratulations again on winning the 2022 Novel Excerpt Contest. I was
- [Now Open: 2023 Chapbook Open!](https://mastersreview.com/now-open-2023-chapbook-open/) - We are accepting manuscript submissions to our 2023 Chapbook Open until December 17! Got a flash collection in your drawer? Send it our way. Novellette? We're interested. A really long short story that doesn't seem to fit anywhere else? You bet. For this prize, we are considering any submission of prose between 25 and 45
- [2023 Spring Small Fiction Awards Shortlist!](https://mastersreview.com/2023-spring-small-fiction-awards-shortlist/) - For the first time, this year, our contest devoted to the short short was split into three specific categories: micro, flash, and sudden fiction. You all sent in your best and without further delay, we are ready to announce the final ten small fictions in each of our three categories! K-Ming Chang will be selecting
- [The Reprint Prize Winner!](https://mastersreview.com/the-reprint-prize-winner/) - And then there was one: Congratulations to Craig M. Foster, whose story, "The Dowsing of Linus Spalding" (first published in Jabberwock Review) was chosen by our editorial staff as the winner of our first Reprint Prize! Congratulations, also, to Éanlaí P. Cronin and Seth Fischer, whose essays were chosen as runners-up. It was a truly
- [Announcing Kelly Link as Guest Judge for the 2023-2024 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers!](https://mastersreview.com/announcing-kelly-link-as-guest-judge-for-the-2023-2024-winter-short-story-award-for-new-writers/) - Kelly Link returns to The Masters Review to judge our upcoming Winter Short Story Award for New Writers! This bi-annual contest celebrates the best fiction and creative nonfiction from today’s emerging writers. The winner receives a $3,000 prize along with agency review from our partnered agencies. The contest is open from December 1, 2023 through
- [New Voices: "Humboldt Park Blues" by Randy William Santiago](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-humboldt-park-blues-by-randy-william-santiago/) - Randy William Santiago's "Humboldt Park Blues" is a coming-of-age story set in the inner city of Chicago. The narrator of Santiago's story discovers a world in which he can no longer rely on his brother's protection, after Rubén meets Vanessa. "Humboldt Park Blues" explores family and masculinity in a voice that is fresh, earnest and
- [New Voices: "Aprovecha" by Mason Boyles](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-aprovecha-by-mason-boyles/) - This New Voices story comes to us from Mason Boyles. In "Aprovecha," Rena's brother, Walt, makes an unexpected appearance, early, for once, for her birthday. Walt's career has caused friction in their family, and now Rena doesn't know what to expect of Walt. Will this time be any different? Boyles's prose, relying on sharp, precise
- [Interview with the Winner: Emily Pegg](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-emily-pegg/) - Emily Pegg's "Hatching Moths" was chosen by K-Ming Chang as the runner-up in the Flash category of our Spring Small Fiction Awards. Please read this terrific, haunting short flash, and then check out our interview with the winner here! What sparked this story, or led you to write this piece? This piece was intended
- [New Voices: "A Banana" by Taylor Craven](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-a-banana-by-taylor-craven/) - Our final New Voices entry of 2021 is here! "A Banana" by Taylor Craven is an absurd, crushing flash about a Banana Horse. The earnestness of the narrator in asserting her banana is a horse compels you to believe her, and to look past the loneliness and crushing lack of self-confidence that live between the
- [New Voices: “The Tomb of Monsieur de Saint Colombe” by A. Mauricio Ruiz](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-tomb-of-monsieur-de-saint-colombe-by-a-mauricio-ruiz/) - We are proud to present the first New Voices story of 2022: “The Tomb of Monsieur de Saint Colombe” by A. Mauricio Ruiz. Ruiz's protagonist, Tlacuache, is a boy on the threshold of manhood. Recently graduated, about to head off to college, he joins a family friend in search of a woman to sleep with
- [New Voices: "Move Along, You” by Snigdha Roy](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-move-along-you-by-snigdha-roy/) - At the Abu Dhabi International Airport, Ganga and her parents are escorted to a Customs and Border Patrol waiting room, and it is immediately obvious that something isn't right, here. In "Move Along, You," Snigdha Roy explores the callous nature of the CBP officers who rely on profiling. Roy expertly builds tension in "Move Along,
- [New Voices: "The Getaway" by Natalie Storey](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-getaway-by-natalie-storey/) - Told in three acts, "The Getaway" is the story of a young writer's toxic relationship with The Author, a famous older male writer whose confidence and narcissism draws in our narrator, eighteen, still unsure of herself. Natalie Storey inverts the tropes of a familiar narrative to great effect in her story. Act 1 I
- [New Voices: "If I Plant You" by Brian Franklin](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-if-i-plant-you-by-brian-franklin/) - "If I Plant You" by Brian Franklin is our first flash fiction story of 2022! In a short space, utilizing a second-person POV, Franklin expertly crafts the fear and sudden responsibility that befalls the narrator as he must lead his younger brother Malik safely to the park when their village becomes a warzone. Get rooted
- [New Voices: "I Walked the Dogs" by Ai Jiang](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-i-walked-the-dogs-by-ai-jiang/) - In Ai Jiang's "I Walked the Dogs," find the telling signs of a strained marriage: "Visiting parents" eight times in a year, which wouldn't be strange—if Gunen didn't hate his parents. Or the clipped, sharp conversations that Jiang employs between our narrator and her husband Jine. "I Walked the Dogs" is stripped only to the
- [New Voices: "SAGA" by Joshua Nagle](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-saga-by-joshua-nagle/) - In a place where nothing grows, Doctor Valentine and the kid find bones, in Joshua Nagle's "SAGA." In prose as unforgiving as the landscape, Nagle uncovers the consequences of Doctor Valentine's discovery. On the second day, they found the bones. Sun-bleached half-moons rising out of the dust. The canyon sat low against the horizon.
- [New Voices: "Don't Move" by C.M. Lindley](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-dont-move-by-c-m-lindley/) - Lisa and Aly are on the run in a stolen RV when Lisa comes across Wolfe, a young boy with a head wound who's lost his parents in "Don't Move" by C.M. Lindley. Lindley crafts a compelling travel narrative as the three trek across the desert in search of something new, bound by their trauma.
- [New Voices: "Houses Acting Like Cars" by Sarp Sozdinler](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-houses-acting-like-cars-by-sarp-sozdinler/) - We are excited to share Sarp Sozdinler's "Houses Acting Like Cars" in New Voices This story follows Blue, a young girl in Tampa, on her search for her father. But could she ever be ready for what she finds in Drew Park? Tag along with Blue, Pistol and Elwood below. There are two years
- [Summer Short Story Award Honorable Mention: "Degenerate Matter" by Jennifer Galvão](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-degenerate-matter-by-jennifer-galvao/) - We are proud to share "Degenerate Matter" by Jennifer Galvão in New Voices. "Degenerate Matter" was chosen by our editorial team as the honorable mention in this 2021 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers competition. "Degenerate Matter" follows Daphne in her tumultuous time at Danver, an all girls' school where she meets Mr. Littler,
- [Summer Short Story Award 2nd Place: "Wish You Were Here" by Carlee Jensen](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-wish-you-were-here-by-carlee-jensen/) - The way this author chose plant life to shroud the passing of a dearly missed friend was remarkably well done. The structure of the story became like the scraggly yard that needed tending: overgrown, barren in places, scored with thorns and weeds. Different varieties of loss sit neatly inside of each other in this work,
- [Summer Short Story Award 1st Place: "Night Stencils" by Sherine Elbanhawy](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-night-stencils-by-sherine-elbanhawy/) - The careful weaving of this narrative—and the subsequent unraveling of it—took my breath away. I was deeply invested in the relationships between the characters in this beautiful story. Wife and husband, mother and child, the living and the dead. The author did an amazing job of tugging the threads of the past and present, twisting
- [New Voices: "An Essential Service" by Joy Guo](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-an-essential-service-by-joy-guo/) - In today's New Voices, Joy Guo explores the beginning days of the national lockdown in "An Essential Service." Accompanying her mother on her house-call nail service appointments, the narrator of "An Essential Service" experiences first hand all her mother does and deals with to support the family. Guo's voice is sharp and earnest, with a
- [New Voices: "a work of art" by aureleo sans](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-a-work-of-art-by-aureleo-sans/) - We're thrilled to share "a work of art" by aureleo sans in New Voices! In "a work of art," a story told in the second person, the protagonist grapples with their sexuality and what masculinity means in their mostly Latinx high school. The voice of sans's protagonist is heartfelt and honest, and vulnerable in the
- [New Voices: "The Rains" by Rona S. Fernandez](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-rains-by-rona-s-fernandez/) - Life in the Delta Marsh in 2051 is carrying on, thanks to a community's philosophy of Sharing, which functions as a way to keep population numbers afloat; monogamy is (mostly) a way of the past. In Rona S. Fernadez's "The Rains," however, Sharing doesn't come without its frictions. Tess, our protagonist, is "one of the
- [New Voices: "Snow Angels" by Noah Codega](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-snow-angels-by-noah-codega/) - In "Snow Angels," Noah Codega explores the delicate nature of family and the balance between love and addiction. Codega's story follows Em as she tries to unpack her complicated relationship with her father, the morning after he dies in snowbank on the streets of Portland. The call that Dad had frozen to death in a
- [Book Review: Critical Hits: Writers Playing Video Games, edited by J. Robert Lennon and Carmen Maria Machado](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-critical-hits-writers-playing-video-games-edited-by-j-robert-lennon-and-carmen-maria-machado/) - Here are some things straight off the bat: I am a thirty-something, English-speaking millennial. I am male and cis and growing up the only thing I really wanted to do with my spare time was play computer games. They are—for a lot of people in my generation, and those on either side of it—as important
- [Stories That Teach: "Boys Town" by Jim Shepard—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-boys-town-by-jim-shepard-discussed-by-brandon-williams/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [From the Archives: “A Particular Woman” by Molly Jean Bennett—Discussed by Kathryn Ordiway](https://mastersreview.com/from-the-archives-a-particular-woman-by-molly-jean-bennett-discussed-by-kathryn-ordiway/) - If you’ve been online anytime over the past year, maybe you, too, have come across a particular sentiment, this idea that media (stories, novels, film, etc.) must get to the point and do very little else. If you haven't been chronically online, then here is a taste: “What did this scene do to move the
- [New Voices: “A Particular Woman” by Molly Jean Bennett](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-a-particular-woman-by-molly-jean-bennett/) - In Molly Jean Bennett's "A Particular Woman," the parts of a woman's body become vibrant, unforgettable characters in themselves. The bladder is a wallflower at parties. The right knee is an outdoorsman who loves classic rock. We are proud to feature this short and stunning story as part of our New Voices series. A
- [New Voices: "Hey, Stop Blaming Your Dead Father's Fists" by Vincent Anioke](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-hey-stop-blaming-your-dead-fathers-fists-by-vincent-anioke/) - "Hey, Stop Blaming Your Dead Father's Fists" by Vincent Anioke, written in the second-person, employs short sentences designed to create a staccato rhythm that reflects the narrator's unease with themselves. The story holds a mirror to its narrator while still distancing them from the emotional heft. "Your friends are a relic of the past," Anioke
- [New Voices: "The Same Country" by Carole Burns](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-same-country-by-carole-burns/) - Cassandra Trent returns home to small town Connecticut after a breakup to work for the local newspaper in Carole Burns’s excerpt from The Same Country. Cassie’s return is fraught with difficulty; Newfield is where her childhood friend Joe was killed, where his memory comes to life, accompanying Cassie in her car on her drive into
- [Novel Excerpt Contest 2nd Place: "Hakuri" by Jessica Cavero](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-hakuri-by-jessica-cavero/) - This excerpt drew me in with its darkly poetic sensibility, each sentence a glimmering, ominous jewel. We are plunged into the life of a Peruvian sex worker in Japan, told in brief, vivid snapshots that are both beautifully rendered and heartbreaking, disturbing. The narration is carefully wrought, evoking a palpable sense of the numbness and
- [New Voices: "Hyenas Behind the Tombstones" by Sam Berman](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-hyenas-behind-the-tombstones-by-sam-berman/) - "Real quick," the narrator of "Hyenas Behind the Tombstones" by Sam Berman begins: "this kid Alan had gotten tall and fat and grown small boobs, so we called him A-Cup." It's all the introduction you need to Berman's style and the boys who populate this story. "Hyenas Behind the Tombstones" offers a surprisingly emotional perspective
- [New Voices: "In The New Year" by Nicole VanderLinden](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-in-the-new-year-by-nicole-vanderlinden/) - In the opening section of Nicole VanderLinden's "In The New Year," an excerpt from her novel-in-progress, Elle and her nearly-twelve-year-old Tuck are involved in a minor traffic accident, a "terrifically slow crash," skidding over an icy patch in the road. In many ways, Elle's life seems to mirror this crash, an unavoidable collision in slow
- [New Voices: "The Virgins of San Nicolás" by Nicole Simonsen](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-virgins-of-san-nicolas-by-nicole-simonsen/) - When Elena's cousin Perla is sent to spend the summer in San Nicolás de Ibarra with their tias, Elena tags along to keep Perla company. In this coming-of-age story, excerpted from Simonsen's novel-in-progress, Elena discovers the differences for girls between life here and life back home, and learns along the way some of the history
- [New Voices: "Picture This" by Alicia Marshall](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-picture-this-by-alicia-marshall/) - In "Picture This" by Alicia Marshall, readers are introduced to an Old Order Mennonite family with Wegner blood through a family photo taken in 1965. An ekphrastic story, "Picture This" sprawls forward and back through time, examining the familial and cultural tug-of-war beneath the surface, behind the frame. Father The father stood off to the
- [New Voices: "Carve" by Kaushika Suresh](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-carve-by-kaushika-suresh/) - "Carve" by Kaushika Suresh is a coming-of-age story following a group of eighth grade girls preparing for the Sadie Hawkins homecoming dance. From older girls, they learn the secret: "Water then soap then sugar then butter then rinse." It will hurt, and it will work. Mallavika tells Kavitha who tells Rani who tells Brinda who
- [New Voices: "Land of the Midday Sun" by Jeff Ewing](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-land-of-the-midday-sun-by-jeff-ewing/) - Reality seems hard to grasp in Jeff Ewing's "Land of the Midday Sun." Death itself may be out of reach. In this slightly off-kilter world, even the mundane takes on an unsettling quality. Disappear into Ewing's "Land of the Midday Sun" below. Jens could feel the snow accumulating, the wet flakes clumping on his shoulders—one
- [New Voices: "The Picnic" by Nathan Alling Long](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-picnic-by-nathan-alling-long/) - Nathan Alling Long's "The Picnic" is written as one long sentence, clauses cascading over clauses as Alling Long's characters embrace during an evening picnic, memories and feelings washing over. Alling Long's omniscient narrator illuminates the lives of both of these characters, their picnic accessories functioning as windows into their shared histories. "The Picnic" will stay
- [Featured Fiction: "The Fight" by Chaya Bhuvaneswar](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction-the-fight-by-chaya-bhuvaneswar/) - Featured Fiction returns with "The Fight" by Chaya Bhuvaneswar, author of the collection White Elephants Dancing! "The Fight" is an examination of race, sexuality and power, et in the aftermath of the 1992 LA riots, muddied by Chip's warped view of his own privilege, a white, legacy admit to Yale, whose grandparents owned a building
- [New Voices: "The Theme Park of Women's Bodies" by Maggie Cooper](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-theme-park-of-womens-bodies-by-maggie-cooper/) - "Welcome to the Theme Park of Women's Bodies," says Tina, our tour guide through the amusement park, with attractions like the River of Menses, the Land of Sex and Sexuality and the Palace of Female Empowerment. But despite Tina's best efforts to hide the truth, this theme park is not the bastion of feminism and
- [New Voices: "The Writer" by Lyndsey Smith](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-writer-by-lyndsey-smith/) - The titular writer in Lyndsey Smith's "The Writer" lives near Liv and the narrator and hosts frequent parties which, the narrator tells us, " anyone with any kind of literary pretensions went to." Though the writer is well known for a novel he'd published, it seems, as the narrator uncovers, that no one really knows
- [New Voices: "Knitting Verse" by Elizabeth Brinsfield](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-knitting-verse-by-elizabeth-brinsfield/) - In the aftermath of her mother's early death, the narrator of Elizabeth Brinsfield's "Knitting Verse" is desperate for community, and so she turns to a farm school for her young son, where she meets a group of parents who embrace non-mainstream approaches to life, including Annette, who tells her, soon after they've met, that she
- [New Voices: "The Blue Raincoat" by Judith Cooper](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-blue-raincoat-by-judith-cooper/) - In "The Blue Raincoat" by Judith Cooper, the writer carries us along on a trip through Germany as she reflects on her father's life and his experiences, a Jewish WWII vet. With Cooper's sharp eye and reminiscing voice, you'll be holding your breath from the very first word: "Listen," she instructs. Let's listen. 1
- [New Voices: "Shelly had pencils covered in teethmarks" by Lindy Biller](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-shelly-had-pencils-covered-in-teethmarks-by-lindy-biller/) - The Masters Review is excited to share a new flash story from the winner of our 2022 Chapbook Open, Lindy Biller! Biller shows off her mastery of the flash form in "Shelly had pencils covered in teethmarks." A coming-of-age story, "Shelly had pencils covered in teethmarks" explores the narrator's relationship with her childhood best friend
- [New Voices: "Unmuted" by Daniel Condict Moore](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-unmuted-by-daniel-condict-moore/) - "Unmuted" by Daniel Condict Moore is a masterclass in the second person. Moore's story follows Jane Boucher Brown, Vice President and Assistant General Counsel of FuckTheEarth Corporation, the "original Karen," on a chaotic race to the airport while on a conference call preparing for an upcoming trial. Moore expertly balances the banal against Jane's frenzied
- [Novel Excerpt Contest Honorable Mention: "Red State" by Allie Torgan](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-red-state-by-allie-torgan/) - In "Red State," by Allie Torgan, Honorable Mention in our first Novel Excerpt Contest, find Jill and Kat on a Friday night in Fall, 1989, deep in Texas. High school football. What could be more important? The historical present that drives Torgan's prose in "Red State" grabs hold of you immediately and won't let go.
- [Novel Excerpt Contest 3rd Place: "The Slapjack" by Alan Sincic](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-slapjack-by-alan-sincic/) - This excerpt is something of a wild card since it starts at chapter 5, and as a reader I felt somewhat unsettled, dropped into the middle of things. And yet the voice won me over—the unique and surprising vernacular, the grinning energy of the prose, the enthusiastic sense of scene and detail. I don’t know
- [Novel Excerpt Contest 1st Place: "Take Warning: The Ballad of Sammy Slug" by Glenn Lester](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-take-warning-the-ballad-of-sammy-slug-by-glenn-lester/) - "Take Warning: The Ballad of Sammy Slug grabbed me from the beginning with its disarming and charmingly manic exordium, which introduces us to the rollicking voice of the eponymous narrator. The author does an excellent job of drawing me into Sammy/Andrew’s world, creating a vivid sense of the stakes and themes of the book in
- [Interview with the Winner: Aliza Ali Khan](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-aliza-ali-khan/) - Earlier this week, we published the first of six finalists in our Spring Small Fiction Awards: Aliza Ali Khan's moving "Naz 8 Cinemas"! Make sure you check out her magnificent micro before getting to know the writer herself, in our Interview with the Winner below. Congratulations on placing in our first dedicated micro submission
- [Litmag Roadmap: Kentucky](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-kentucky/) - Our penultimate stop on the Litmag Roadmap trip finds us in Kentucky! Let's dive into what literary institutions Rebecca Paredes has added as destinations in the Bluegrass State. From the incisive works of bell hooks to the narratives of Wendell Berry and Hunter S. Thompson, Kentucky is steeped in literary history. The state's literary
- [Last Call: Submissions for the 2023 Novel Excerpt Contest Close Tonight](https://mastersreview.com/last-call-submissions-for-the-2023-novel-excerpt-contest-close-tonight/) - Today is your last chance to submit your favorite excerpt from your in-progress or unpublished novel. This year's finalists will be chosen by Matthew Salesses, who is looking for an excerpt that will make him wait in anticipation for the release of the full novel. Submit up to 6,000 words for the chance to win
- [Interview with the Winner: Colin Bonini](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-colin-bonini/) - Colin Bonini's "Sandbox" was chosen by K-Ming Chang as the winner in the Micro category of our 2023 Spring Small Fiction Awards! First, be sure to check out the micro that Chang called "heartrending," "devastating" and "gorgeously crafted," then check out our interview with the winner below! Congratulations on winning our micro category for
- [The Reprint Prize Shortlist](https://mastersreview.com/the-reprint-prize-shortlist/) - In June, we announced our first call for Reprints and for ten days we were open for any and all prose submissions up to 6,000 words which had been published before and were looking for a new (or second) home. The response was, simply put, overwhelmingly positive. Thank you all for sharing your work and
- [Final Week: The 2023 Novel Excerpt Contest Closes Sunday Nov. 12!](https://mastersreview.com/final-week-the-2023-novel-excerpt-contest-closes-sunday-nov-12/) - Only one week remains to submit to this year's Novel Excerpt Contest, judged by Matthew Salesses. We're looking for your best 6,000 words from your unpublished or in-progress novel. Send us what you're working on for NaNoWriMo! The winner receives a $3,000 prize, online publication and consultation with a literary agent! Add to Calendar
- [Winter Short Story Award 1st Place: "Advanced Reader" by Donovan Swift](https://mastersreview.com/winter-short-story-award-1st-place-advanced-reader-by-donovan-swift/) - "Advanced Reader" isn’t just for the advanced reader. This story—this glimpse—into the awkward and lonely world of separation and the dating-app world has no wrong words. Driving this story is its sparse language, but it is that exact minimalism that affords this story so much emotion. The story certainly draws its power from what’s there
- [Winter Short Story Award Honorable Mention: "The Crown Prince of Koi" by Daniel Abiva Hunt](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-crown-prince-of-koi-by-daniel-abiva-hunt/) - We are excited to share the honorable mention of our 2021-2022 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers! "The Crown Prince of Koi" by Daniel Abiva Hunt follows a head sushi chef in his push for a James Beard Award, complicated by issues he's facing with his wakiita, his assistant chef, who also happens to
- [Winter Short Story Award 3rd Place: "Creeper" by Taylor Sykes](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-creeper-by-taylor-sykes/) - Set during the Trump presidency, "Creeper" examines the abuse of power in both public and private spaces while following a woman’s lone battle to make things right. Grieving for her newly deceased mother, the narrator-protagonist becomes fixated on her cousin’s rapist. As she seeks to take actions against him, she finds her life spinning out
- [Winter Short Story Award 2nd Place: "A Single Mark" by Reena Shah](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-a-single-mark-by-reena-shah/) - In "A Single Mark," a young mother, Deepa, accompanies her pregnant friend to a follow-up sonogram and senses her own seemingly comfortable life unravelling. As she negotiates between motherhood and selfhood, childhood and adulthood, home country and the new country where she is yet to feel a sense of belonging, she finds her waking hours
- [Winter Short Story Award 1st Place: "Russian Thistle" by Laura Farnsworth](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-russian-thistle-by-laura-farnsworth/) - In a mirrorless psychiatric hospital room, a woman relives her past as images click on in her head like a slide show. She is twelve years old again, forced to grow up too quickly in a world of poverty and misogyny, absent parents and toxic boy cousins, and Soobie, her mentally challenged girl cousin whom
- [Flash Fiction Contest Honorable Mention: "Sealskin" by Haley Kennedy](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-sealskin-by-haley-kennedy/) - Haley Kennedy's "Sealskin" was selected by The Masters Review as the honorable mention in this year's Flash Fiction Contest. "Sealskin" explores communication and memory as the narrator reconstructs a lexicon to understand her parents and their relationships with each other, with her, with her extended family. "I remember mamma in pieces." I remember mamma
- [Flash Fiction Contest 3rd Place: "My Sister Versus Tomatoes" by Kate Barss](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-my-sister-versus-tomatoes-by-kate-barss/) - "My Sister Versus Tomatoes" is a refreshing tale about rituals, relationships, how one survives and belongs in the world. At times funny, its strong, interesting and fun tone makes it a winner!" — Guest Judge Kim Chinquee My sister will no longer eat tomatoes. As a kid, in the early mornings, she was always
- [Flash Fiction Contest 2nd Place: "The Physiology of Arriving" by Michele Wong](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-physiology-of-arriving-by-michele-wong/) - "The Physiology of Arriving'" moves through time and travel, with a sense of wonder, apprehension, and curiosity. The movement in time—past and present—is unique and the character is likeable, interesting, strong. The creativity of this piece is a treat! — Guest Judge Kim Chinquee. Your feet move slowly, dragging one Samsonite hardcase till you
- [Flash Fiction Contest 1st Place: "Out, Brief Candle" by Hannah Rose Roberts](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-out-brief-candle-by-hannah-rose-roberts/) - "Out, Brief Candle" unfolds with longing and with sensory details (mostly smell) revolving around memories, tangibles, a candle. The prose is lovely, the voice is original. And the piece surprises!" — Guest Judge Kim Chinquee Scent is the strongest tie to memory, they say. It had made the decision easy for Marlow. At least
- [New Voices: "Fishing" by Yiwei Chai](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-fishing-by-yiwei-chai/) - "Fishing" by Yiwei Chai narrates the story of Nathelie's return from the boonies, upon which she finds herself locked outside of her sister's house. Across the short space of this story, as something sinister seems to lurk in the shadows, behind every closed door, it becomes clear that Nathelie's state of mind is deteriorating. Watching
- [New Voices: "Used Scars" by Patrina Corsetti](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-used-scars-by-patrina-corsetti/) - "We were all being watched. At least that’s what we thought." In "Used Scars" by Patrina Corsetti, a paranoid expat in China witnesses what she believes to be a violent assault in the apartment across the alley. But the reality of what she saw is questioned by her companion and she must fight through delusions
- [New Voices: "Now or Never" by Leo Ríos](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-now-or-never-by-leo-rios/) - We are pleased to present Leo Ríos and his story "Now or Never." In a Denis Johnson-esque style, a man named Gordo accompanies our narrator to his old frat house for a party. Ríos's prose is simple, terse but brimming with an earnest honesty, a deep longing for genuine human connection. This is a story
- [New Voices: “Jaja-Haha” by Madari Pendas](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-jaja-haha-by-madari-pendas/) - "Jaja-Haha" by Madari Pendas follows Freddy—Federico, as he used to be called—a new executive producer for The Late Show with David Letterman in the late 1980s. An old friend from Cuba resurfaces, a talent agent, calling in a favor to book a new act on the Letterman show. "Jaja-Haha" is a story that explores assimilation
- [September Selects: "A Dictionary of How Things Break" by Nora Studholme](https://mastersreview.com/september-selects-a-dictionary-of-how-things-break-by-nora-studholme/) - We are thrilled to share the first winner of our September Selects series! Nora Studholme's "A Dictionary of How Things Break" was chosen by The Masters Review's staff as the winner of our Hermit Crab category. Congratulations, Nora! 1. Glass: radially. Flicking outward in forking fingers, fleeing the force until all its power is
- [September Selects: "The Woman in the Tree" by Lisa Beebe](https://mastersreview.com/september-selects-the-woman-in-the-tree-by-lisa-beebe/) - The third winner of our September Selects series is Lisa Beebe with "The Woman in the Tree"! This Sudden Stories winner was chosen by The Masters Review's staff for the power in its understated prose. Congratulations to Lisa! When I first saw the woman in the tree, I posted about her on the neighborhood’s
- [New Voices: "Ate Raw and Often" by J.A.L. Martinez](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-ate-raw-and-often-by-j-a-l-martinez/) - "Julio's shoes were half an inch too small." That's how J.A.L. Martinez introduces us to this world of migrant farm work, in "Ate Raw and Often," where Julio is the newest arrival. A seasoned worker, Jorge, takes Julio under his wing and teaches him what he needs to know to be safe, to succeed. But
- [New Voices: "Can't Elope" by Miriam Camitta](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-cant-elope-by-miriam-camitta/) - In "Can't Elope," Miriam Camitta explores her relationship with her older sister, Margot, who, in their childhood, was diagnosed with schizophrenia. "Sometimes," Camitta writes, "my memories come in scenes." These memories are emotionally fraught, complicated. Camitta works, through this piece, to apply a modern understanding of Margot's illness to her memories, to recontextualize her childhood
- [New Voices: "Prelude to the Abyss" by Daniel David Froid](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-prelude-to-the-abyss-by-daniel-david-froid/) - Denis Fine was destined for something—that much is certain in the opening lines of "Prelude to the Abyss" by Daniel David Froid. Equal parts funny and terrifying, Froid's story profiles the world's preeminent jingle-maker, Denis Fine, from his humble childhood, to, well, the end. I. As a young man, Denis Fine knew that he
- [New Voices: "July 2015: A Compendium" by Daniel Garcia](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-july-2015-a-compendium-by-daniel-garcia/) - "July 2015: A Compendium" by Daniel Garcia is a testament to the emotional heft of brevity. Garcia's CNF compendium, presented as a triptych, offers three modes of exploration through grief and trauma. Concepts betroth(-al) | \bi-ˈtrōt͟h v. to promise one’s self to another; to be true. n. a space wherein two people circle together and
- [New Voices: "Blow Up" by G. S. Arnold](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-blow-up-by-g-s-arnold/) - At the height of the pandemic, Two Guys from Mumbai struggles to stay afloat. Despite renaming their dishes to fit the times (who doesn't want to chow down on some Community Spread Chana Masala?), the restaurant's clientele is scared away by an increasingly worrying trend: The inflatable dictators they've stationed around the restaurant to socially
- [New Voices: "Río Negro" by Lynn Sikkink](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-rio-negro-by-lynn-sikkink/) - What happened to Kirsten in the Amazon? That's what her sister Dalia wants to know in Lynn Sikkink's "Río Negro." Determined to find out, Dalia travels to the Amazon herself, to the village where Kirsten was last seen, to try and uncover a truth she may never find. Even with the motor stilled, momentum
- [New Voices: "The Space Between Heartbeats" by Jessica Yen](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-space-between-heartbeats-by-jessica-yen/) - Jessica Yen's "The Space Between Heartbeats" offers an honest look at the difficulties of pandemic parenting. Already an isolating and exhausting experience, the forced-solitude of the COVID pandemic compounded the frustrations of raising a newborn and led, Yen shows us, to this moment of frustration, and the moment immediately after, when "remorse overtook frustration." Read
- [New Voices: "Isabel" by Rachel Duboff](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-isabel-by-rachel-duboff/) - "Isabel" by Rachel Duboff, this week's entry to our New Voices catalog, is an elegiac narrative, recounting the friendship between Kira and Isabel, during their formative years in high school, beginning with a semester long trip to Israel. Duboff's prose is assured, even in her narrator's most unsure moments. "Isabel" is a story that will
- [Getting Unstuck: Do What Scares You](https://mastersreview.com/getting-unstuck-do-what-scares-you/) - With Halloween almost upon us, this month's Getting Unstuck has an appropriately terrifying topic: facing fears, not just in our writing, but in our lives, in order to improve our craft. Even though I have at least three possible ways to drive to work, I choose the same route on both legs of my
- [Finalists Announced! The Masters Review Volume IV](https://mastersreview.com/finalists-announced-the-masters-review-volume-iv/) - Congratulations to the following ten authors, who have been selected for publication in The Masters Review Volume IV with Stories Selected by Kevin Brockmeier. These ten writers stood out among a very talented crowd. It’s going to be an excellent collection and we are so thrilled to be publishing them. Stay tuned for updates on
- [New Voices: "Rosebell" by Silvia Spring](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-rosebell-by-silvia-spring/) - This New Voices entry, "Rosebell," comes to us from Silvia Spring. For one month, Celia, a reporter for Newsweek, shares a flat in Nairobi with Russell, an intern at the UN. Written in the retrospective, Spring's voice transports us to Kenya to show us why Celia's month with Rosebell lives with her so vividly in
- [November Deadlines: 11 Contests to Enter This Month](https://mastersreview.com/november-deadlines-11-contests-to-enter-this-month/) - The last of the leaves are falling from the trees, and these contests are also just about to fade away! Make sure to look through this list, and find the right contest for you! FEATURED! The Masters Review Novel Excerpt Contest This is our annual fall contest, and we’re looking to find an excerpt that
- [Graphic Memoir - "Tomboy" by Liz Prince](https://mastersreview.com/graphic-memoir-tomboy-by-liz-prince/) - Tomboy is a charming YA graphic memoir that deals with issues related to bullying and conformity, especially in relation to children who don’t conform to traditional gender roles. Liz Prince writes about her life as a girl who doesn’t identify with anything "girly". Stuck somewhere in “the middle,” Tomboy follows Prince through her formative years
- [Science Fiction Review Series: Railhead by Philip Reeve](https://mastersreview.com/science-fiction-review-series-railhead-by-philip-reeve/) - In the distant future, humanity has terraformed and colonized dozens of planets across the galaxy. We grow bio-architecture from genetically engineered plants, fight humanoid robots for employment, access the Datasea with the blink of an eye, and are policed by obedient drones. Perhaps the most significant transformation of daily life is the Great Network, where
- [Science Fiction Review Series: The City & The City by China Miéville](https://mastersreview.com/science-fiction-review-series-the-city-the-city-by-china-mieville/) - My review of Railhead compared the novel to China Miéville’s Railsea, a wild steampunk-Western packed with action and adventure. By contrast, Miéville’s The City & The City seems almost subdued, though not wanting for intrigue. This novel succeeds because of its subtlety, and because it never quite shows all of its cards. The City &
- [Science Fiction Review Series: Foundation by Isaac Asimov](https://mastersreview.com/science-fiction-review-series-foundation-by-isaac-asimov/) - Foundation, by science-fiction titan Isaac Asimov, truly earns the label “timeless.” Though the novel was first published in 1951, and four of its five short stories were published in 1942 and 1944, the politics of the narrative and the science that plays an integral role on the galactic stage are still relevant today. Foundation is
- [Book Review: Daddy Issues by Alex McElroy](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-daddy-issues-by-alex-mcelroy/) - Alex McElroy’s chapbook, Daddy Issues, consists of seven short fiction pieces, and each story tackles the role that boys and men play in their families and in the world, paying particular attention to the relationship between fathers and sons. By opening the chapbook with a story in the form of a flowchart, McElroy expands our
- [Science Fiction Review Series: The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter](https://mastersreview.com/science-fiction-review-series-the-long-earth-by-terry-pratchett-and-stephen-baxter/) - From 1950 to 2005, our beloved planet gained a whopping 4 billion people, a more rapid population growth than it has ever seen or is projected to see in the near future. Fears about using more resources than the Earth can afford to give permeate both the world of science and the world of politics.
- [Science Fiction Review Series: Patternmaster by Octavia Butler](https://mastersreview.com/science-fiction-review-series-patternmasters-by-octavia-butler/) - Any science fiction reading list would hardly be complete without a work by Octavia Butler, an author largely considered one of the genre’s greats, and a recipient of both the Hugo and the Nebula awards. She resides in the MoPOP’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame alongside the likes of H.G. Wells, Jules Verne,
- [Science Fiction Review Series: The Chimes by Anna Smaill](https://mastersreview.com/science-fiction-review-series-chimes-anna-smaill/) - The Chimes is Smaill’s debut work, and undoubtedly a stunner. Her background as a poet and a classically trained violinist have clearly prepared her to write a story steeped in music and in the murky, symbolic world of memory. Her slow, dreamy voice is a far cry from Asimov’s dry, dialogue-heavy Foundation, making the narration
- [2022 Novel Excerpt Contest Shortlist!](https://mastersreview.com/2022-novel-excerpt-contest-shortlist/) - Drumroll, please... Our editorial team has (finally) narrowed down our expansive Novel Excerpt Contest submission pool to these final fifteen, who are now being read and considered by our guest judge, Charmaine Craig. The winning three excerpts will be announced by the end of April. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for all
- [2022 Novel Excerpt Contest Finalists!](https://mastersreview.com/2022-novel-excerpt-contest-finalists/) - We are ecstatic to finally share with you the winners of the 2022 Novel Excerpt Contest: Charmaine Craig has selected Robyn Jefferson's "Calling Out" as the grand prize winner! Thank you to every single one of our submitters who made this year's contest especially fierce. A round of applause for all of our shortlisted excerpts,
- [2022 Chapbook Open Winner, Selected by Kim Fu!](https://mastersreview.com/2022-chapbook-open-winner-selected-by-kim-fu/) - Congratulations to Naomi Telushkin, author of Coats, the winning chapbook in the 2022 Chapbook Open, selected by Kim Fu! Fu calls Coats an "urgent, thrilling, gorgeous, intelligent, complex piece of writing," and we cannot wait to share this story with you next spring. Telushkin will receive a $3,000 prize for her chapbook, along with 75
- [Litmag Roadmap: Virginia](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-virginia/) - We're nearing the end of our three year journey—Virginia marks the 47th state we've visited on our Litmap Roadmap tour! Let's join Sara Davis on this literary landscape expedition below. Nicknamed "The Old Dominion," Virginia is one of the oldest states and home to several long- established literary magazines – as well as some
- [Getting Unstuck: Funny/Not Funny](https://mastersreview.com/getting-unstuck-funny-not-funny/) - In our next Getting Unstuck, assistant editor Jen Dupree explores suggestions for incorporating humor into your fiction. "What's funny to one person won't be funny to another," she says. But that's okay! Take risks, put yourself out there, but consider the various advice offered in this essay when you do. I think I’m funny—both
- [Book Review: The Dangers of Proximal Alphabets](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-dangers-of-proximal-alphabets/) - Kathleen Alcott's debut work, The Dangers of Proximal Alphabets is stunning, and thrills on a sentence by sentence level. The insight she offers through prose is striking at times, and brilliant, with much more depth and maturity than you'd expect from a first-time novelist. It stands as an excellent example of talented debut writing. The book examines the
- [Book Review: The Dog Stars by Peter Heller](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-dog-stars-by-peter-heller/) - The Dog Stars by Peter Heller begins after a super-flu has wiped out nearly all of the world’s population. The novel follows Hig and his dog Jasper, who have taken refuge in a small airport hanger in the mountains, and Bangley, an army-type survivalist who has set up camp with enough weapons and ammunition to stave
- [Book Review: What Remains by Carole Radziwill](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-what-remains-by-carole-radziwill/) - Full disclosure. I learned about What Remains while watching the Real Housewives of New York. (Absorb this for a moment. Okay, let's move on.) Carole is by far the most normal woman on the show, by which I mean she treats people with common decency and seems to have impeccable manners. She's the Housewife I'd most like
- [Book Review: I Am Holding Your Hand](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-i-am-holding-your-hand/) - I Am Holding Your Hand is a rare treasure. This collection of short stories brought to us by new author Myfanwy Collins is a wonderful example of writing that feels fresh and intoxicating, while maintaining the sensibility of an author who writes like a seasoned pro. Many of the stories in this fine collection were previously
- [Book Review: You Are One of Them by Elliot Holt](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-you-are-one-of-them/) - You Are One of Them is one of the year's most highly anticipated novels. Debut author, Elliott Holt, was awarded a Pushcart Prize for her short story "Fem Care," originally published in The Kenyon Review, was runner-up for the PEN Emerging Writers Award, and was one of New York Magazine's six "literary stars of tomorrow."
- [Book Review: The Center of the World by Thomas Van Essen](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-center-of-the-world-by-thomas-van-essen/) - Thomas Van Essen has crafted an excellent tale in his debut novel, "The Center of the World." We're calling this book 'A Great Summer Read' in the highest regard, because it belongs not with the airport paperback beach-reads, but among those rare page turners of higher literary esteem. The book focuses on a painting, The
- [Book Review: The Biology of Luck by Jacob M. Appel](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-biology-of-luck/) - Jacob M. Appel’s THE BIOLOGY OF LUCK (Elephant Rock Books, 2013) is an inventive and thought-provoking new novel that transcends the simple boy-meets-girl plot. New York City tour guide Larry Bloom is by his own account neither handsome nor wealthy. (That’s if we can trust his word—more on that later.) Yet on the summer day
- [Book Review: Encyclopedia of Early Earth by Isabel Greenberg](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-encyclopedia-of-early-earth-by-isabel-greenberg/) - To start, this book is beautiful. The first thing you notice when you heft it up (it’s just about as tall as my forearm) is the quality of production: the solid feel, the thick pages, the bold rendering of the lines and colors. Initially its size and luxury make it seem like a coffee table
- [Book Review: A Field Guide To The North American Family by Garth Risk Hallberg](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-a-field-guide-to-the-north-american-family/) - Lyrically told and lavishly designed, Garth Risk Hallberg’s A Field Guide To The North American Family follows the story of two suburban families through a series of 63 illustrated chapters. This evocative novella presents its brief vignettes as a series of non-linear “field guide entries,” each complete with an abstract photo of whatever small-town indiscretion,
- [Book Review: Three Scenarios in Which Hana Sasaki Grows a Tail](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-three-scenarios-in-which-hana-sasaki-grows-a-tail/) - Three Scenarios in Which Hana Sasaki Grows a Tail is a notable debut on two platforms. It is the first short story collection from writer Kelly Luce, whose sensibility and prose rings brilliant on the page. It is also the first book from publisher A Strange Object, co-founded by publishing veterans Callie Collins and Jill Meyers.
- [Book Review: MFA vs NYC edited by Chad Harbach](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-mfa-vs-nyc/) - MFA vs NYC: The Two Cultures of American Fiction, edited by Chad Harbach, is the first book in a new nonfiction series by n+1 and Faber and Faber. In the collection’s title essay, Chad Harbach identifies MFA programs and New York Publishing as the two dominant forces in American fiction. He assigns an aesthetic to
- [Book Review: Beside Myself by Ashley Farmer](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-beside-myself-by-ashley-farmer/) - Beside Myself, Ashley Farmer’s debut story collection, is out March 3, 2014 from Tiny Hardcore Press. Farmer’s flash fiction surprises from story to story and from sentence to sentence, constantly asking the reader to re-evaluate impressions formed just a moment before. These stories are often surreal, but sometimes not; some are longer and more narrative;
- [Book Review: Know the Night by Maria Mutch](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-know-the-night-by-maria-mutch/) - Know the Night is an impressive debut for author Maria Mutch, whose literary memoir maintains that magical balance between lyricism and realism. Occupying the liminal and flexible space of darkness, Mutch’s book takes place between midnight and six a.m., yet spans the years that the author’s son Gabriel was unable to sleep continuously through the
- [Book Review: American Fun by John Beckman](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-american-fun-by-john-beckman/) - John Beckman’s nonfiction debut, American Fun: Four Centuries of Joyous Revolt (Pantheon, 2014), joins the shelf of recent cultural volumes like Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture by Jon Savage or Hip: The History by John Leland that view a weighty historical landscape through the prism of ribaldry and misbehavior. It’s a wildly entertaining work
- [Book Review: Archetype by MD Waters](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-archetype-by-md-waters/) - The buzz behind Archetype is not misplaced. I finished this book in a weekend, and I’m fairly sure that’s how most people have read it – fast and somewhat obsessively. With the proliferation of dystopian novels in the market, it’s becoming difficult to find a standout book among the masses. Archetype does that. It’s been
- [Book Review: The Apartment by Greg Baxter](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-apartment-by-greg-baxter/) - The premise of The Apartment by Greg Baxter is straightforward. An unnamed American expat searches for an apartment in an unnamed European city. At the book’s start, the narrator leaves his hotel and heads into the city with local friend Saskia, who helps him search for permanent lodging. Over a single day, the book unfolds
- [Book Review: Together, Apart by Ben Hoffman](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-together-apart-by-ben-hoffman/) - Together, Apart, Ben Hoffman’s debut chapbook, is recently out from independent publisher Origami Zoo Press. Hoffman’s manuscript won the press’s first-ever chapbook contest, judged by Matt Bell. As the title suggests, the stories in this collection transition rapidly between different modes of experience. The prose is by turns funny and sad. The narrators are cynical,
- [Book Review: A Fairy Tale by Jonas T. Bengtsson](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-a-fairy-tale-by-jonas-t-bengtsson/) - Translated by Charlotte Barslund Jonas T. Bengtsson’s A Fairy Tale, published by Other Press, examines the relationship between a father and son, and how legacies are passed down from one generation to the next. This is Bengtsson’s English language debut; however, he has previously written two award-winning novels in Danish. Although American readers are becoming
- [Book Review: Praying Drunk by Kyle Minor](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-praying-drunk-by-kyle-minor/) - Kyle Minor’s second book of short stories, Praying Drunk, published to rave reviews earlier this year. It has been well covered, and rightly so, as this heartfelt collection brims with craft and wisdom. I’ll admit this is a tough one for me to review, mostly because Minor undoubtedly knows so much more than I do—about
- [Book Review: Sweet Dreams by Massimo Gramellini](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-sweet-dreams-by-massimo-gramellini/) - This week brings another fantastic work in translation. (If you didn’t catch my review of A Fairy Tale last week, go read it now!) Sweet Dreams, by Italian journalist Massimo Gramellini, is published in the U.S. by Atria Books. The book was the most successful Italian novel of last year, and has now been translated
- [Book Review: Us Conductors by Sean Michaels](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-us-conductors-by-sean-michaels/) - Listen to an audio clip of the book here! It’s no secret here at The Masters Review that we’re big fans of Tin House. So when I received my copy of Us Conductors, the debut novel by Montreal-based writer and music critic Sean Michaels, I had high expectations. Thankfully, this dense, yet lyrical novel, delivered
- [Book Review: The Impossible Exile by George Prochnik](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-impossible-exile-by-george-prochnik/) - The Austrian writer Stefan Zweig is enjoying something of a zeitgeist of late. This past week, Other Press published George Prochnik's The Impossible Exile: Stefan Zweig at the End of the World, a probing and personal biography that follows the exiled novelist's journeys from his home in Vienna to a tiny Rio suburb. The book
- [Book Review: The Untold by Courtney Collins](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-untold-by-courtney-collins/) - Though The Untold is a work of fiction, it is inspired by the life of Jessie Hickman, a circus rider, horse thief, convict, fugitive, and all-around wild woman who hid out in the Australian Outback in the 1920s. This is Australian author Courtney Collins’s debut novel, published as The Burial in Australia in 2012 and
- [Book Review: Bald New World by Peter Tieryas Liu](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-a-bald-new-world-by-peter-tieryas-liu/) - There are a few things to address right off the bat in regard to Bald New World. Yes, the title is a direct Aldous Huxley reference. Yes, it is a science fiction dystopia. And yes, everyone in the book is bald. It is, strictly speaking, a book exploring the premise of “What if the whole
- [Book Review: Papers in the Wind by Eduardo Sacheri](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-papers-in-the-wind-by-eduardo-sacheri/) - While studying abroad in college, I had a flatmate who spent hours on his laptop playing a genre of sports video games that I could never imagine taking off in the States: Management Sims. In these PC and console games, which cover every sport in mind-bending detail, you put together a roster for a football
- [Book Review: The Awakening of Miss Prim by Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-awakening-of-miss-prim-by-natalia-sanmartin-fenollera/) - Spanish debut novelist Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera joins the ranks of bestselling international fiction authors with her book, The Awakening of Miss Prim. (For more international fiction in translation, see our reviews of Papers in the Wind, The Impossible Exile, and Sweet Dreams.) The English translation of the novel, published by Atria Books, remains charming and
- [Book Review: Made to Break by D. Foy](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-made-to-break-by-d-foy/) - We’re a little behind the curve in reviewing D. Foy’s debut novel Made to Break, a winter horror of sorts where a group of friends embark for a Tahoe cabin to binge on drugs and booze to ring in the New Year. The literary world has been applauding this book since it hit shelves in
- [Book Review: Stay by Zachary Amendt](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-stay-by-zachary-amendt/) - If you’re a regular reader of The Masters Review, you may remember a story we published back in March: “Stay” by Zachary Amendt. The piece explores the relationship between married couple Marti and Aldo, as it centers on Marti’s inherited baseball collectables. We watch as the relationship is tested and eventually fails -- but not
- [Book Review: Friendship by Emily Gould](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-friendship-by-emily-gould/) - Female friendships are often complicated and layered. I don’t know a single meaningful female relationship that hasn’t been tested to some degree. It almost feels like a right of passage that every “best friendship” endure at least one fight, flirt with jealousies, and challenge hierarchy in order to asses its foundation. Emily Gould’s debut novel
- [Book Review: Naked Me by Christian Winn](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-naked-me-by-christian-winn/) - Summarized, most of the stories in Christian Winn’s debut collection, Naked Me, seem plainly absurd. In the title story, a man makes a bet that he will have sex with the woman who lives across the street from his illegal poker games—in clear view of his fellow gamblers. In “All Her Famous Dead,” perhaps the
- [Book Review: Elegy on Kinderklavier by Arna Bontemps Hemenway](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-elegy-on-kinderklavier-by-arna-bontemps-hemenway/) - As you may have seen in our recent interview, Arna Bontemps Hemenway doesn’t seem boxed in by the typical constraints of the established writer. That's probably on account of his newness, but perhaps a bit of it is just rule-exploding ambition. "I wanted to try and get out into that territory that is maybe not
- [Book Review: Painted Horses by Malcolm Brooks](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-painted-horses-by-malcolm-brooks/) - Malcolm Brooks’s debut Painted Horses walks the steady line of genre archetypes without veering into stereotype. It’s an old-fashioned novel, sweeping in scope and probing of character, without leaning on showy language and post-modern literary gimmicks. Sure, you have a somewhat rote plot and a slightly under-written female lead, but the author recreates his Montana
- [Book Review: 2AM at The Cat's Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-2am-at-the-cats-pajamas-by-marie-helene-bertino/) - A nine-year-old girl has lost her mother and wants to be a jazz singer. A club owner discovers he may lose his building, and a fifth grade teacher reunites with her high school love. Over the course of a single day (Christmas Eve Eve), Marie-Helene Bertino guides readers through three lives as they move in
- [Book Review: How to Catch a Coyote by Christy Crutchfield](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-how-to-catch-a-coyote-by-christy-crutchfield/) - Christy Crutchfield’s How To Catch A Coyote tells the tragic narrative of the Walker family by expertly defying traditional narrative structure. Straightaway, the reader is given the bare bones of the story. Within the first ten pages we learn the principal narrative events, so I don’t think it’s giving away too much to describe them
- [Book Review: Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-bad-feminist-by-roxane-gay/) - There aren’t really adequate words for me to describe how much I love this book. This is the book about feminism and culture that I’ve been waiting years for. And no one can do it quite like Roxane Gay. I’ll be honest—I’m probably not the most impartial reviewer. I’ve been reading Gay’s work for a
- [Book Review: Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-wolf-in-white-van-by-john-darnielle/) - “Does it freak you out, my fucked-up face?” A shotgun blast destroyed most of Sean Phillips’s face when he was seventeen. In one of my favorite scenes from John Darnielle’s Wolf In White Van, a pair of metalhead teenagers drinking beers in a parking lot have asked to see his reconstructed visage up close. He
- [Book Review: Wallflowers by Eliza Robertson](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-wallflowers-by-eliza-robertson/) - Eliza Robertson has collected quite a trophy case in her short career–she’s won three national fiction contests in Canada, been a finalist for the Journey Prize and the CBC Short Story Prize, and recently won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. Her first collection of short stories, Wallflowers, is out on September 16th from Bloomsbury. It’s
- [Book Review: Goodhouse by Peyton Marshall](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-good-house-by-peyton-marshall/) - Though it is set at the close of our present century, Peyton Marshall’s debut novel Goodhouse offers a dreary vision of a future that is as much a conceivable alternate history as it is a dystopian nightmare. It’s a morally complex literary thriller closer in pedigree to The Handmaid’s Tale and Never Let Me Go
- [Book Review: In Case of Emergency by Courtney Moreno](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-in-case-of-emergency-by-courtney-moreno/) - Courtney Moreno’s debut novel is a study in trauma: how we experience and process it, and how it affects our relationships with the world and other people. Piper Gallagher is a 28-year-old rookie EMT, coming to the profession after a bad breakup and a series of dead-end jobs. She just wants to do something with
- [Book Review: Women by Chloe Caldwell](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-women-by-chloe-caldwell/) - Published by Short Drive/Long Flight Books, Women is the thickness of my index finger and nearly the height of my (rather small) hand. It’s not often that I can palm a book like a basketball. But for all its brevity, Chloe Caldwell’s debut novella packs a serious gut-punch. It’s about falling in love with a
- [Book Review: Offerings From a Rust Belt Jockey by Andrew Plattner](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-offerings-from-a-rust-belt-jockey-by-andrew-plattner/) - Author Andy Plattner is a journalist who writes about horseracing and has published two previous short story collections. His debut novel Offerings from a Rust Belt Jockey, published by Dzanc Books, follows forty-five-year-old jockey Carl Arvo from March through Labor Day as he aims for a winning season that will hopefully change his life. It
- [Book Review: Thrown by Kerry Howley](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-thrown-by-kerry-howley/) - Kerry Howley’s Thrown is an ecstatic gutshot of literary journalism that has shaken me in more ways than one. At its core, Howley’s debut is a candid profile of two separate mixed martial artists in the Midwest. Though she never explicitly uses the author’s name, Kit is presumably Thrown’s author Kerry Howley, an MFA writer
- [Book Review: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-station-eleven-by-emily-st-john-mandel/) - Emily St. John Mandel’s fourth novel Station Eleven recently made the National Book Award’s shortlist for fiction. This ambitious story tackles a post-apocalyptic world in which a super flu has wiped out the majority of the population. Examining themes of celebrity and memory, Mandel explores how our world would change in the face of a
- [Book Review: Our Secret Life in the Movies by Michael McGriff and JM Tyree](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-our-secret-life-in-the-movies-by-michael-mcgriff-and-jm-tyree/) - Out of a set of unique constraints, Michael McGriff and J.M. Tyree have written a strange and wonderful little book of fiction. Our Secret Life in the Movies does not follow any obvious narrative path, depending instead on a set of prompts to lead the way. The authors, former university classmates, decided to watch the
- [Book Review: Doll Palace by Sara Lippmann](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-doll-palace-by-sara-lippmann/) - Sara Lippmann’s debut collection Doll Palace, out this September from Dock Street Press, is a sparse but intimate portrait of lives unmoored. Set upon by failed pregnancies, lost innocence, a child’s terminal illness, and a pill-popping babysitter, Doll Palace explores characters who are seeking conviction beyond the circumstances of their everyday lives. In “Starter Home”
- [Book Review: The Ploughmen by Kim Zupan](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-ploughmen-by-kim-zupan/) - The Ploughmen, now available through publisher Henry Holt, is the perfect book to read this autumn. Kim Zupan weaves a story that is equal parts discomfiting and beautiful, desolate and richly imagined. Set in the wilds of rural Montana, The Ploughmen follows the complicated relationship between a rookie deputy and the serial killer caged in
- [Book Review: A Backpack, A Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka by Lev Gonlinkin](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-a-backpack-a-bear-and-eight-crates-of-vodka-by-lev-gonlinkin/) - Lev Golinkin’s memoir, out this November from Doubleday, is a fantastic debut. As he explores his family’s journey of emigration, the reader gets not only a first-hand look at the last great migration out of the USSR, but also an incredibly personal story about the search for identity and meaning as an adult immigrant. As
- [Book Review: The World Split Open: Great Authors on How and Why We Write](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-world-split-open-great-authors-on-how-and-why-we-write/) - I’m a sucker for writers writing about writing. It doesn’t matter if the author’s specialty is romance or high art; I’m curious to know word goals, techniques, how they met their agent, where they write. It’s doubly rewarding, though, when the prose itself is helpful and skillfully rendered, as in The World Split Open: Great
- [Book Review: Loitering by Charles D'Ambrosio](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-loitering-by-charles-dambrosio/) - Loitering got to me. I’ve read Charles D’Ambrosio’s short stories in the New Yorker, so I'd nod knowingly when a friend or colleague raved about his collections. What really excited those same friends and colleagues though, what lowered their tones, made them more conspiratorial, were his essays. In their attempts to describe them, I kept
- [Book Review: The Wilds by Julia Elliott](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-wilds-by-julia-elliott/) - Many of the stories in Julia Elliott’s debut collection The Wilds illustrate strange realities. A grandmother levitates while describing the Rapture. A nursing home outfits its patients with strap-on robotic limbs and embeds tracking devices in their arms. Packs of feral dogs roam the landscape. A robot is programmed to love. Though these premises may
- [Book Review: Almost Famous Women by Megan Mayhew Bergman](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-almost-famous-women-by-megan-mayhew-bergman/) - Megan Mayhew Bergman, known for Birds of a Lesser Paradise, her first book of short stories, has written a new collection that was published by Scribner this month. Almost Famous Women tells the fictionalized stories of historical women on the fringes of fame. Bergman writes their lives into a larger existence than the footnotes to
- [Book Review: Ugly Girls by Lindsay Hunter](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-ugly-girls-by-lindsay-hunter/) - Ugly Girls by Lindsay Hunter was released in November, but readers should consider this late 2014 title a spring-reading essential. Hunter’s debut novel follows best friends Perry and Baby Girl as they navigate the tricky landscape of adolescence. Perry’s mother is an alcoholic who spends her days nursing hangovers in the trailer park where they
- [Book Review: Satin Island by Tom McCarthy](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-satin-island-by-tom-mccarthy/) - The book jacket for Tom McCarthy's new novel Satin Island contains several subtitles—treatise, essay, report, manifesto, confession—all of which are crossed out in favor of “a novel.” It's an appropriate conceit, because the book is at once all of these things and none of them. Satin Island is the first-person narrative of U., an anthropologist
- [Book Review: Find Me by Laura van den Berg](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-find-me-by-laura-van-den-berg/) - Celebrated short story writer and author, Laura van den Berg’s debut novel Find Me contemplates memory, loss, and identity in the same stunning prose we’ve come to know and value in her previous two collections. In the hospital where Joy Jones was abandoned as a child, the nurses grew tired of a nameless baby so they
- [Book Review: Get in Trouble by Kelly Link](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-get-in-trouble-by-kelly-link/) - Kelly Link’s stories have been published in literary magazines such as McSweeney’s and A Public Space and the anthologies The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of The Year and Hauntings, to name a few. They have been described as “creepy little wonders” and “ . . . a beguiling and eerie blend of fairy tale,
- [Book Review: How to Carry Bigfoot Home by Chris Tarry](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-how-to-carry-bigfoot-home-by-chris-tarry/) - Chris Tarry has crafted a wonderful collection of stories in How to Carry Bigfoot Home. With direct and approachable language, Tarry covers experimental writing, flash fiction, fantasy, and coming-of-age in a collection that is contemplative and warm; each of his stories is laced with humor and heart. In the opening story, “Here Be Dragons,” an
- [Book Review: Mr. and Mrs. Doctor by Julie Iromuanya](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-mr-and-mrs-doctor-by-julie-iromuanya/) - Debut novelist Julie Iromuanya holds a long list of accolades: published by The Kenyon Review and the Tampa Review, among others; shortlisted for several prizes, including ones from our Portland publishing comrade Glimmer Train; earned a Ph.D. and was a Presidential Fellow at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln—the list goes on. She clearly comes at novel
- [Book Review: The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen](https://mastersreview.com/the-sympathizer-by-viet-thanh-nguyen/) - With The Sympathizer, available now from Grove Press, debut author Viet Thanh Nguyen demonstrates his prowess as a writer by creating a narrator who we shouldn’t trust but do anyway. This confidence is established in the book’s opening lines. Nguyen’s narrator, who remains nameless for the novel’s entirety, starts by saying, “I am a spy,
- [Book Review: In the Country by Mia Alvar](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-in-the-country-by-mia-alvar/) - It is difficult to believe Mia Alvar's debut collection, In the Country, is in fact a debut. Alvar's nine deft, confident stories full of morally complicated characters and rich, unfaltering prose have all the marks of an author who has arrived at a distinctive voice. No stranger to transnational migration—Alvar was born in the Philippines
- [Book Review: Music for Wartime by Rebecca Makkai](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-music-for-wartime-by-rebecca-makkai/) - Rebecca Makkai’s Music for Wartime is a masterful collection of short stories, the author’s intelligence and wit shining through in beautiful and insightful prose. Written over a period of twelve years, most of these stories have been published elsewhere, including four stories chosen for Best American Short Stories. Makkai is primarily interested in searching for
- [Book Review: Honey from the Lion by Matthew Neill Null](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-honey-from-the-lion-by-matthew-neill-null/) - Matthew Neill Null’s debut novel, Honey from the Lion, is an extraordinary and powerful examination of the steady decimation of ten thousand acres of the West Virginia Allegheny forest. The novel moves with the assured pace of a thriller, while sentence by sentence Null plays with the language of place, of longing, and of violence.
- [Book Review: Ghost Box Evolution in Cadillac, Michigan by Rosie Forrest](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-ghost-box-evolution-in-cadillac-michigan-by-rosie-forrest/) - Rosie Forrest’s Ghost Box Evolution in Cadillac, Michigan, winner of the Rose Metal Press 9th Annual Short Short Chapbook Contest, is as dark as its characters are vulnerable. Forrest has built a world here in her debut collection, a world we recognize and wish we didn’t, a world we grew up in, one we hope
- [Book Review: The Farmacist by Ashley Farmer](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-farmacist-by-ashley-farmer/) - The Farmacist, Ashley Farmer’s first novella, was published this month by Jellyfish Highway Press. The book focuses on Farm Town, a Facebook game that was a precursor to the more well known Farmville. It consists of sixty-one chapters, probably better described as meditations: they are coherent in themselves, but still connect to the novella more
- [Book Review: Youngblood by Matt Gallagher](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-youngblood-by-matt-gallagher/) - Matt Gallagher’s novel Youngblood was published last month by the Atria Books imprint of Simon & Schuster. Gallagher is the author of the popular and highly controversial blog-to-book Kaboom: Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War, which chronicles his time as a soldier in 2007 and 2008. Youngblood, Gallagher’s first novel, is primarily about
- [Book Review: Private Citizens by Tony Tulathimutte](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-private-citizens-by-tony-tulathimutte/) - Tony Tulathimutte’s superb first novel, Private Citizens, is a razor-sharp satire of millennial culture, focusing on themes of class and technology. Set in the San Francisco Bay area in 2007, the novel is populated by a generation of misguided and occasionally misanthropic men and women drifting into their thirties. The book is ultimately compassionate in
- [Book Review: Tuesday Nights in 1980 by Molly Prentiss](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-tuesday-nights-in-1980-by-molly-prentiss/) - Molly Prentiss’s debut novel, Tuesday Nights in 1980, focuses on the soul of the art community in the New York City of decades ago. Prentiss refuses to hold punches, finding the spot that bleeds emotion and holding it open for all she can take. The book shifts between the perspectives of three characters: a synesthetic
- [Book Review: Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemings by Stephen O’Connor](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-thomas-jefferson-dreams-of-sally-hemings-by-stephen-oconnor/) - Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemings is a novel by Stephen O’Connor, released April 5th by Viking Books, an imprint of Penguin. It is a lengthy book with an experimental format, containing excerpts from essays, dream-like sequences, diaries, and factual information situated amidst the primary story of Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings. O’Connor
- [Book Review: Daughters of Monsters by Melissa Goodrich](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-daughters-of-monsters-by-melissa-goodrich/) - Like the opening shot of a late-night, science-fiction horror flick, Melissa Goodrich’s debut short story collection Daughters of Monsters crash-lands into our planet from a universe not quite like our own. Pairing hypersaturated sentences with high-concept surrealism, Goodrich has managed to tweak the parameters of our reality to present a world transformed. This idea of
- [Book Review: Allegheny Front by Matthew Neill Null](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-allegheny-front-by-matthew-neill-null/) - In Allegheny Front, Matthew Neill Null’s first story collection and the winner of the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction, the author returns to the West Virginia territory he mined so beautifully in his thrilling first novel, Honey from the Lion. “The bolderfields, the spaces empty of people—a lonesomeness city-dwellers could never comprehend,” he writes
- [Book Review: Home Field by Hannah Gersen](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-home-field-by-hannah-gersen/) - Home Field by Hannah Gersen, out yesterday from HarperCollins, is a book about recovery. It is a book about the ways people rebound from injury, from heartache, from death. This debut novel follows its characters as they learn the limits of their bodies and struggle to entrust themselves to those around them. Gersen’s bold debut
- [Book Review: The Girls by Emma Cline](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-girls-by-emma-cline/) - Drawing on the events of the late sixties, author Emma Cline reimagines the summer of 1969 in a coming-of-age novel that bumps up against the ideals of the time and a young girl’s involvement in a deadly California commune. The Girls debuted in June to big fan fare. The first of a reported seven figure,
- [Book Review: You Are Having A Good Time by Amie Barrodale](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-you-are-having-a-good-time-by-amie-barrodale/) - While the title of Amie Barrodale’s debut story collection, You Are Having a Good Time, is taken from its epigraph, it also seems a directive from Barrodale to the reader. And, indeed, you will have a good time reading this collection, but you will have an even better time on your second or third read.
- [Book Review: Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-behold-the-dreamers-by-imbolo-mbue/) - Imbolo Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers follows a Cameroonian family as they immigrate to the United States in the years before the financial collapse of 2008. This debut novel explores the complicated relationships between where we’re from and where we end up living, between love and family, sacrifice and reward. Jende Jonga leaves Limbe, Cameroon for
- [Book Review: One-Hundred-Knuckled Fist by Dustin M. Hoffman](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-one-hundred-knuckled-fist-by-dustin-m-hoffman/) - Knife pushers, diggers, painters, can pickers, snake mimes, fire chasers, thieves and ice-cream men populate the stories in Dustin M. Hoffman's One-Hundred-Knuckled Fist, his debut collection from University of Nebraska Press and the winner of the 2015 Prairie Schooner Book Prize. The stories here feature men (and they are largely men) who live by their
- [Book Review: The Grand Tour by Adam O’Fallon Price](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-grand-tour-by-adam-ofallon-price/) - Richard Lazar, the protagonist of Adam O’Fallon Price’s debut novel The Grand Tour, is a washed-up, mid-list writer—divorced, overweight, often drunk, with most of his books out of print, and barely in contact with his grown daughter. But unexpected success arrives with the publication of his sixth book, a memoir about his service (and eventual
- [Book Review: Our Dreams Might Align by Dana Diehl](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-our-dreams-might-align-by-dana-diehl/) - Each story in Dana Diehl's debut collection Our Dreams Might Align starts with a small bullet. "It's been two days since we were swallowed by the loneliest whale in the world," begins one story. "The woman with 43 children is dying," starts another. Words pile on in fragile rhythms. Sentences are constructed out of negative
- [Book Review: The Expense of a View by Polly Buckingham](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-expense-of-a-view-by-polly-buckingham/) - Our current political conversation often revolves around the financial disparities rampant in American culture. Polly Buckingham’s recent story collection, The Expense of a View, hones in on the lives most impacted by the inequalities this gaping imbalance engenders. Buckingham tells the stories of the system’s most vulnerable—the ill, the partnerless, the parentless, the addicted, the
- [Book Review: The Babysitter at Rest by Jen George](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-babysitter-at-rest-by-jen-george/) - In the first story of Jen George’s debut collection The Babysitter at Rest, a nameless genderless Guide climbs through the window of the narrator’s apartment to usher her into adulthood. “Despite your lack of intuition,” they tell her, “you may have become aware of the following changes that signal the onset of adulthood: listening to
- [Book Review: Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-rabbit-cake-by-annie-hartnett/) - Ecosystems perpetually hang in delicate balance, as much with humans as any other species. This is perhaps one thesis of Annie Hartnett’s ebullient Rabbit Cake, a novel loaded with dark humor and self-diagnosed moroseness, but also one that bursts forth with optimism at every turn. Hartnett’s work is interested in classification to say the least,
- [Book Review: American War by Omar El Akkad](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-american-war-by-omar-el-akkad/) - The year is 2075. The United States, its shorelines eaten away by mega-hurricanes and rising seas, has splintered apart. Mexico has reclaimed large swathes of the southwest. The capital has relocated from Washington DC to Columbus, Ohio. And the states of Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi, enraged by a governmental ban on fossil fuels,
- [Book Review: The Idiot by Elif Batuman](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-idiot-by-elif-batuman/) - Elif Batuman tweets under the handle BananaKarenina—a humorous nod toward a great Russian novelist’s depiction of a woman’s dangerous tangle with love. How fitting, then, that Batuman’s strikingly funny, precisely observed first novel, The Idiot, shares its title with the work of another great Russian writer, Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Here we have Selin, daughter of Turkish
- [Book Review: What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-what-we-lose-by-zinzi-clemmons/) - Much of What We Lose, an innovative and engaging debut novel by Zinzi Clemmons, is about being stuck in the in-between. The protagonist, Thandi, is of mixed-race, with an American father and a South African mother. Although Thandi is brought up in Philadelphia, her mother’s ties to her home country are strong, and the family
- [Book Review: Stephen Florida by Gabe Habash](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-stephen-florida-by-gabe-habash/) - Gabe Habash’s confident debut, Stephen Florida, explores the single-minded intensity behind the pursuit of your goals. The result is a fast-paced novel about sacrifice and dedication, as it follows college senior and wrestling national championship hopeful, Stephen Florida, in his attempt to win the 133lb weight class. Stephen Florida is a talented wrestler at an
- [Book Review: Catapult by Emily Fridlund](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-catapult-by-emily-fridlund/) - Emily Fridlund’s collection Catapult, winner of the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction, burrows under the skin to reveal what hurts the most. It shines a light on the ugly truths in relationships, discovers all the ways in which its characters aren’t quite compatible with one another and forces them into (often quiet) confrontations. This
- [Book Review: The Graybar Hotel by Curtis Dawkins](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-graybar-hotel-by-curtis-dawkins/) - Curtis Dawkins’ debut collection of short stories, The Graybar Hotel, gives readers an intriguing glimpse into the emotions and tedium of life as a prisoner in America. After being imprisoned for a drug-related homicide in 2005, Dawkins started writing because it gave him hope. Before his drug addiction, Dawkins earned his MFA from Western Michigan
- [Book Review: Everything Here Is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-everything-beautiful-mira-t-lee/) - Classifying Mira T. Lee’s energetic debut novel, Everything Here Is Beautiful, as a story about sisterhood is inadequate at best and misleading at worst. The novel involves a sisterly relationship, certainly, as two of the narrating characters are sisters, but the fabric of the novel isn’t primarily of one color. It weaves in several Big
- [Book Review: Self-Portrait with Boy by Rachel Lyon](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-self-portrait-boy-rachel-lyon/) - “I’ll tell you how it started. With a simple, tragic accident. The click of a shutter and a grown man’s beast-like howl.” With these opening lines, Rachel Lyon pulls us into a fast-paced and haunting narrative that dramatizes the friction between professional success and personal loyalty. When does art become exploitative? To what does the
- [Book Review: The Natashas by Yelena Moskovich](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-natashas-yelena-moskovich/) - What story is told by The Natashas, Yelena Moskovich’s rich, bizarre, spellbinding first novel? In short: a young woman grows up, becomes beautiful, and is harassed by nearly every male person she encounters; finally, something terrible happens to her. At the same time, a young man grows up, moves away from home, tries to become
- [Book Review: Animals Eat Each Other by Elle Nash](https://mastersreview.com/april-book-review-animals-eat-elle-nash/) - In the single-page prologue to Elle Nash’s debut novel, Animals Eat Each Other, we meet our unnamed narrator in the midst of a sexual encounter, a knife held to her face while she’s tied to a coffee table. Though initially ambiguous, it soon becomes clear that the startling scene is not a coercion of any
- [Book Review: Beyond Measure by Rachel Z. Arndt & Empty Set by Verónica Gerber Bicecci](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-beyond-measure-rachel-z-arndt-empty-set-veronica-gerber-bicecci/) - Quick: how many apps on your phone do you use to organize your day? Alarms help you fall asleep and wake up on time; step counters ensure you hit your daily fitness goal; Venmo pays a friend back for lunch—at a place you chose for its five-star Yelp reviews. For most of us, there is
- [Book Review: A Lucky Man by Jamel Brinkley](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-lucky-man-jamel-brinkley/) - In the age of the #MeToo Movement and the worldwide cultural shift, at least in awareness, to the ways in which gender and sexuality inform our experience of living in the world, Jamel Brinkley’s debut collection, A Lucky Man, comprised of tenderly poignant narratives of boys becoming men, of fractured intimacy, of masculinity as learned
- [Book Review: The Comedown by Rebekah Frumkin](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-comedown-rebekah-frumkin/) - I always have a good feeling about a book that opens with a family tree. Something about the promised sprawl, the delicious intrigue captured in those many dates, arrows, question marks, and crisscrossing lines. Rebekah Frumkin’s debut novel does not disappoint on this front. The Comedown is sprawling, and it is full of intrigue: a
- [Book Review: Night Beast by Ruth Joffre](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-night-beast-ruth-joffre/) - I was first introduced to Ruth Joffre’s work as an assistant fiction editor at Nashville Review, when we published her story “Some of the Lies I Tell My Children,” in 2016. I was excited to see where her writing would take her, and her debut story collection, Night Beast and Other Stories, does not disappoint.
- [Book Review: Half Gods by Akil Kumarasamy](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-half-gods-akil-kumarasamy/) - Every few years, somebody resurrects the old debate over whether reading books can increase a person’s empathy. On the one hand, researchers at The New School and the University of Toronto have conducted studies that suggest that, yes, projecting ourselves into the lives of fictional characters makes us more sensitive toward others. On the other,
- [Book Review: The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-great-believers-by-rebecca-makkai/) - The Great Believers, Rebecca Makkai’s magnificent new novel, opens at a funeral. More specifically, it opens at a funeral party. The actual funeral, for a young man named Nico Marcus, is unfolding concurrently twenty miles north: it’s 1985, and Nico is dead from AIDS, and his family has made it abundantly clear that his lover
- [Book Review: The Blurry Years by Eleanor Kriseman](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-blurry-years-by-eleanor-kriseman/) - If you’re a reader, you can run, and you can hide, but you can’t escape the coming-of-age story. It’s everywhere, a part of every era, a constant of literature as immovable as Hemingway himself. The only new ground is generational: the story varies depending upon the age of the person telling it. For Millennials, the
- [Book Review: This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-this-mournable-body-by-tsitsi-dangarembga/) - This is a hard book. Maybe I shouldn’t start that way, but it’s the first thing I can think to say about This Mournable Body. This book is a stunning, intricately crafted work of art by a writer who possesses insight into the human condition that rivals Hemingway’s, but it is also a dense, difficult
- [Book Review: Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-mouthful-of-birds-by-samanta-schweblin/) - Samanta Schweblin is a writer of impatient stories. Mere seconds into “Headlights”, the first story in her new collection, we meet a woman in her wedding dress, learn that she has just been abandoned by her groom at a restroom by the side of the highway because she took too long, and while we are
- [Book Review: Tonic and Balm by Stephanie Allen](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-tonic-and-balm-by-stephanie-allen/) - A hundred years on, it’s hard to summarize what the demise of vaudeville meant to entertainers, audiences, and early 20th century pop culture. Many vaudevillians, Keaton and Chaplin among them transitioned into silent pictures; others vanished as if they had never been. Part of vaudeville’s freedom was its impermanence: the show is in town for
- [Book Review: The Heavens by Sandra Newman](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-heavens-by-sandra-newman/) - In an essay adapted from a lecture delivered at the New York Public Library in December 2008, Zadie Smith once wrote an impassioned defense of Barack Obama’s seemingly equivocating nature by invoking, rather peculiarly, William Shakespeare. “For reasons that are obscure to me,” she wrote, “those qualities we cherish in our artists we condemn in
- [Book Review: Who Killed My Father by Édouard Louis](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-who-killed-my-father-by-edouard-louis/) - For reasons I cannot quite discern, the reception to French author, Édouard Louis’ new book Who Killed My Father, out March 26th from New Directions, has been rapturous, but almost entirely insubstantial. The book—a straightforward memoir as opposed to his previous novels which, though broadly autobiographical, were still treated as novels—speaks love and rage directly
- [Book Review: Exhalation by Ted Chiang](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-exhalation-by-ted-chiang/) - “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate,” the first story in Ted Chiang’s luminous new collection Exhalation, opens with a benediction: “O mighty caliph and commander of the faithful, I am humbled to be in the splendor of your presence.” Our narrator, Fuwaad ibn Abbas, informs us that he was born “here in Baghdad, City of
- [Book Review: Collective Gravities by Chloe N. Clark](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-collective-gravities-by-chloe-n-clark/) - Aptly named, Chloe N. Clark’s Collective Gravities propels us into invented universes, uncanny in their likeness to our own, and sets them into orbit. Diving into this collection is like emptying a bag of marbles and watching them spin. Each feels suspended by its own gravitational pull. And while many occupy speculative spaces or the
- [Book Review: Other People's Pets by R.L. Maizes](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-other-peoples-pets-by-r-l-maizes/) - R.L. Maizes begins her debut novel, Other People’s Pets, with a near-tragedy. While ice-skating with her inattentive mother, La La has fallen through the lake’s surface: “Her snowsuit inhales icy water and clings to her, weighing her down and threatening to pull her under.” Then her mother disappears, and La La is saved by a
- [Book Review: Hear My Voice by David Vaughan](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-hear-my-voice-by-david-vaughan/) - In David Vaughan’s Hear My Voice, a young (Czech- and German-speaking) man travels from England to Prague to interpret for the British politician Edgar Young. The man, the novel’s narrator, arrives in Prague at the end of 1937 in the middle of the diplomatic crisis between Czechoslovakia and Nazi Germany about the status of the
- [Book Review: Instances of Head-Switching by Teresa Milbrodt](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-instances-of-head-switching-by-teresa-milbrodt/) - In Teresa Milbrodt’s Instances of Head-Switching, the fantastical marries with the familiar, the magical with the mundane. The Greek gods roam the streets seeking new PR campaigns, taking stances on whaling, and of course playing the field. Snow White settles into domesticity after she and her Prince (turned king, turned commoner) lose their throne. A
- [Book Review: Trust Me by Richard Z. Santos](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-trust-me-by-richard-z-santos/) - Speak to someone who works political campaigns, and it isn’t long before they start sounding like a roadie listing their tours: Doug Jones, Alabama senate, 2018; John Edwards for President, 2008; Karen Bass, California congress, 2013. They hardly ever sign year-long leases, and seldom own what can’t be moved in a car. It’s hard for
- [Book Review: Ceremonials by Katharine Coldiron](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-ceremonials-by-katharine-coldiron/) - Katharine Coldiron’s Ceremonials is a novel inspired by the Florence + The Machine album by the same name. I knew that going in, but until I dove into its pages, I had no idea what to expect—would it be readable? Would it be derivative? Would it rely too heavily on Florence Welch’s words? Thankfully, the
- [Book Review: Fade by Russell Helms](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-fade-by-russell-helms/) - There is a careful subtlety to the emotional stakes in Fade. Depression lurks in every facet of the novel. Michael, a divorced father of two, struggles to find meaning in a life surrounded by unwashed clothes, regimented pills, and constant drinking. After Anna commits suicide, her mother, Mandy, haunts her daughter’s bedroom, keeping Anna’s phone
- [Book Review: I Am Here to Make Friends by Robert Long Foreman](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-i-am-here-to-make-friends-by-robert-long-foreman/) - I recently read an interview with Alice McDermott (in the Paris Review’s “Art of Fiction” No. 244) in which she advised writers to “be sure your stories aren’t too much about what they’re about.” I thought of this quote often while reading the nine fabulous stories in Robert Long Foreman’s I Am Here to Make
- [Book Review: You've Got Something Coming by Jonathan Starke](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-youve-got-something-coming-by-jonathan-starke/) - Lenny “Trucks” Babineaux is just the flawed, dogged down-and-outer readers love in fight fiction. The hero of Jonathan Starke’s debut novel You’ve Got Something Coming will stop at nothing for a final chance to forge a respectable life with his young daughter, even when this puts their safety at considerable risk. Starke’s novel is a
- [Book Review: The Snow Collectors by Tina May Hall](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-snow-collectors-by-tina-may-hall/) - Written in startling vignettes much like her debut collection of short stories, The Physics of Imaginary Objects (2010), Tina May Hall’s debut novel, The Snow Collectors, draws upon the depressed and desolate. Set in a snowpocalypse, Hall takes readers deep into the icy reaches of both past and future. The very first line reads, “I found
- [Book Review: My Heart by Semezdin Mehmedinović](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-my-heart-by-semezdin-mehmedinovic/) - Good literature is always universal. My Heart is Semezdin Mehmedinović’s new novel published in English and translated from the Bosnian by Celia Hawkesworth. My Heart is an autobiographical account that reflects the polyhedral nature of America, and one of its infinite faces. Mehmedinović switches back and forward between the years of his exile in Washington
- [Book Review: Dawg Towne by Alice Kaltman](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-dawg-towne-by-alice-kaltman/) - Published by word west, Alice Kaltman’s Dawg Towne opens with the enigmatic line: "You wouldn’t know me now, if you knew me then." In the context of the opening passage, this is the eponymous town introducing itself to the reader. A comment on how much this settlement has changed since the arrival of its humans.
- [Book Review: Girl A by Abigail Dean](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-girl-a-by-abigail-dean/) - By the time Girl A, Abigail Dean’s debut novel, begins, the crime motivating its plot has already been solved. Alexandria Gracie has escaped her parents, who have been shot dead after keeping Lex and her siblings in abusive captivity. But Girl A is not a book about the act that triggered trauma, it is a
- [Book Review: Milk Blood Heat by Dantiel W. Moniz](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-milk-blood-heat-by-dantiel-w-moniz/) - “Real gods require blood.” Dantiel W. Moniz’s Milk Blood Heat opens with this haunting epigraph from Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, and Moniz’s stories require just that. Blood. Life. The people and the world she creates on the page are alive, beating and thriving and demanding to be met on their own
- [Book Review: Spilt Milk by Courtney Zoffness](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-spilt-milk-by-courtney-zoffness/) - In her debut collection of personal essays, Spilt Milk, out today from McSweeney’s Books, Courtney Zoffness examines her childhood through the prism of her motherhood. Fears, loves, doubts, and desires garner fuller significance through highly self-aware, highly intricate modes of retrospection and introspection. With heart and skill, Zoffness is also able to extend the topic
- [Book Review: 48 Blitz by Brett Biebel](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-48-blitz-by-brett-biebel/) - When Brett Biebel’s “Big Red Nation” came through our queue, one of our volunteer readers commented that she didn’t care at all about football but was still enthralled by the story. It’s a fine line that Biebel walks in so much of his debut collection, 48 Blitz, out next week from Split Lip Press. The
- [Book Review: Jillian in the Borderlands by Beth Alvarado](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-jillian-in-the-borderlands-by-beth-alvarado/) - Beth Alvarado’s Jillian in the Borderlands is not a novel, though it often feels like one. It is “a cycle of rather dark tales,” to use the titular language, tales of varying length and constant strangeness. Immediately, in the first tale, the reader is plunged into Jillian’s world, a hallucinatory one of ghosts and eternal
- [Book Review: Death, Desire and Other Destinations by Tara Isabel Zambrano](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-death-desire-and-other-destinations-by-tara-isabel-zambrano/) - If there’s a more perfect title for Tara Isabel Zambrano’s debut collection, Death, Desire and Other Destinations, I would be shocked. Death abounds in this collection of fifty flash stories, only equaled or outmatched by the undercurrent of female desire that is laced through nearly every story. In “Alligators,” the collection’s opening story, and one
- [Book Review: The Dark Heart of Every Wild Thing by Joseph Fasano](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-dark-heart-of-every-wild-thing-by-joseph-fasano/) - In a world shaped by quarantine, with those who currently grieve for loved ones taken away too soon, Joseph Fasano’s The Dark Heart of Every Wild Thing shows the complex changes a person can make when having to confront loss in complete isolation. At the center of the story is an unnamed character who travels
- [Book Review: Seconds and Inches by Carly Israel](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-seconds-and-inches-by-carly-israel/) - Within the frenetic tempo of Carly Israel’s memoir, there are letters of gratitude for things one would expect—doctors, family members—and some they would not—bullies, cruel teachers. These letters act as the sinew of the book, connecting vignettes; brief moments that echo the disjointed rhythm of two lives lived second to second. First: her own, growing
- [Book Review: Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-grandmaster-of-demonic-cultivation-by-mo-xiang-tong-xiu/) - Recently, I’ve been struggling with what it means for a piece of writing to have literary merit. The book that has me so vexed is Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, by Mo Xian Tong Xiu, which is newly available in English in an uncensored form. My interest in the novel sprung from its film adaptation, The
- [Book Review: You Never Get it Back by Cara Blue Adams](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-you-never-get-it-back-by-cara-blue-adams/) - This debut story collection follows all the rules, hits all the right notes, and touches on issues of interest to all young women. The issues are the bonds between mother and daughter, older and younger sister, college roommate and best friend, and the man who is a date, lover, suitor, and fiancé. The stories seem
- [Book Review: Shapeshifting by Michelle Ross](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-shapeshifting-by-michelle-ross/) - “Who is at the center of the stories we tell about pregnancy?” I asked myself while reading “Shapeshifting,” the titular story of Michelle Ross’s second collection of stories. The protagonist was contemplating the title Rosemary’s Baby: “I can’t decide whether that wording makes the baby or Rosemary the subject of the film.” Her husband decides
- [Book Review: Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed: 15 Voices from the Latinx Diaspora](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-wild-tongues-cant-be-tamed-15-voices-from-the-latinx-diaspora/) - The stories we tell ourselves are formed by the people and experiences that shape us, like a river rock worn smooth after so many years of water. But what happens when we ask, “Why are these my stories, and what do I want to say?” In Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed, a collection of essays
- [Book Review: Assembly by Natasha Brown](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-assembly-by-natasha-brown/) - In Natasha Brown's short novel, Assembly, there is a literal plot—a financially successful woman who has just found out she has cancer must go to her boyfriend's parents' anniversary party—and also a metaphoric plot, one that circles around issues of class, social mobility, race and uncertainty, always uncertainty. The book is told from a first
- [Book Review: The Light of Luna Park by Addison Armstrong](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-light-of-luna-park-by-addison-armstrong/) - As probably many would be, I was drawn to The Light of Luna Park by the novel’s source of inspiration—its historical model of Luna Park, the amusement park in Coney Island, New York. The site witnessed the controversial invention and exhibition of incubators that saved thousands of premature babies in the early 20th century. Considered
- [Book Review: The Root of Everything and Lightning by Scott Alexander Hess](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-root-of-everything-and-lightning-by-scott-alexander-hess/) - Scott Alexander Hess’s two novellas are hauntingly emotional, written with elegantly simple sentences that unfold layers of complication in emotion, theme, metaphor. Characters live, grow, and die alongside generational trauma, unkept promises, forbidden love, violence, and haunting, beautiful landscapes. But, beneath that, there is a persistence of hope. The Root of Everything follows three generations
- [Book Review: Living Dolls and Other Women by S. Montana Katz](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-living-dolls-and-other-women-by-s-montana-katz/) - S. Montana Katz’s mid-80s New York art scene is rendered in a fast-paced blur of POV shifting complexity, populated with the intricacies of women—their lives, relationships, desires, dreams. She creates her New York with a precise eye for detail, laying out its crowded streets, traffic, and people in a style that edges towards claustrophobic in
- [Book Review: The Actual True Story of Ahmed & Zarga by Mohamedou Ould Slahi](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-actual-true-story-of-ahmed-zarga-by-mohamedou-ould-slahi/) - Many today experience a strong disconnect between their daily lives and the natural world which surrounds them. In The Actual True Story of Ahmed & Zarga, Mauritanian author Mohamedou Ould Slahi—with editorial assistance from Larry Siems—offers a fablelike perspective on humans’ relationships with the environment through a journey into West African Bedouin culture. Well-known for
- [Book Review: Semiotic Love by Brian Phillip Whalen](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-semiotic-love-by-brian-phillip-whalen/) - In Semiotic Love, Brian Phillip Whalen employs his own dazzling array of storytelling methods with a lyrical turn of phrase to entrance the reader. The book has an intriguing structure. It is in three parts: the first has eleven small stories, and the last, ten, while the middle only features one story (eponymously named “Semiotic
- [Book Review: Site Fidelity by Claire Boyles](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-site-fidelity-by-claire-boyles/) - In the first pages of Site Fidelity, Claire Boyles's character, Norah, comments on her father's speech. After having a stroke, he mistakenly calls her "Vera." The speech pathologist has put up a chart on their fridge. Boyles writes, "I could see the whole consonant chart—the nasals and the alveolars, the voiced and the voiceless.” Boyles's
- [Book Review: Is That All There Is by Marcelle Heath](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-is-that-all-there-is-by-marcelle-heath/) - Published by Awst Press, the stories in Marcelle Heath’s new short story collection Is That All There Is? come in three distinct flavors. The first of these are the dream-like narratives of stories like “The Bluff,” where a woman named Mattie recalls the ghostly visage of a young girl and her terrier on the edge
- [Book Review: The Two Lives of Sara by Catherine Adel West](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-two-lives-of-sara-by-catherine-adel-west/) - In The Two Lives of Sara, Catherine Adel West relates the powerful story of a young single mother in Memphis while threading through Black history and freedom. The novel weaves through grief and oppression in a sharp and elegant way, graceful as it shows the life in 1960s Memphis, a time when the city was
- [Book Review: Mourning Light by Richard Goodkin](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-mourning-light-by-richard-goodkin/) - In Mourning Light, Richard Goodkin seamlessly ties parts of healing from grief to living in a life without your beloved. Drawing from Goodkin's own experience working at Yale University, and then moving to Wisconsin, Reb, the novel’s narrator, is a man believing he would never be loved, a man who had accepted his fate long
- [Book Review: Live Caught by R. Cathey Daniels](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-live-caught-by-r-cathey-daniels/) - R. Cathey Daniels grew up in Western North Carolina where her debut novel, Live Caught, is set; a novel welling from the heart. I sense truth in her landscapes, movement of river currents and the hot still air of a North Carolina summer. And behind this truth lies a terrifying darkness. From the first perplexing
- [Book Review: Fred: An Unbecoming Woman by Annie Krabbenschmidt](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-fred-an-unbecoming-woman-by-annie-krabbenschmidt/) - Fred: An Unbecoming Woman seamlessly ties themes of coming out, accepting one’s queerness, and first loves into a neat package that is full of tongue-in-cheek humor and humility. A debut memoir from Annie Krabbenschmidt, Fred addresses issues of love and anxiety with tenderness and pop culture references ranging from Twilight to Mean Girls, jumping from
- [Book Review: Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-time-is-a-mother-by-ocean-vuong/) - Ocean Vuong runs his fingers through time as if it is water in his new book Time Is a Mother. And, upon contemplation, time does have similar properties to water: in the way it wavers; in the way it melts; in the way it stands, a thick mist before us. In the end, time, like
- [Book Review: The Miraculous Flight of Owen Leach by Jennifer Dupree](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-miraculous-flight-of-owen-leach-by-jennifer-dupree/) - I flew through The Miraculous Flight of Owen Leach in the days leading up to being induced for the birth of my first child. I highlighted the book in a frenzy. I’m writing the review on the other side, sleeping four-week-old by my side. I’ve reread the book. I’ve highlighted different passages, found different lines
- [Book Review: The Sons of the Santorelli by Tony Taddei](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-sons-of-the-santorelli-by-tony-taddei/) - As we get to know the Santorelli family in Tony Taddei’s linked collection The Sons of the Santorelli, watch them try and fail, succeed and fall into disrepair, we learn to love and care for the brothers and their extended family as if they were our own. Because the stories are linked, we get many
- [Book Review: JERKS by Sara Lippmann](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-jerks-by-sara-lippmann/) - The desire that permeates the stories in Sara Lippmann’s Jerks is darkly, delightfully messy. What she renders best is the kind of desire that seems baseless. Why do I want the small random things that I do on a daily basis? I don’t know, simply because I do. And the characters here are much the
- [Book Review: Myth of Pterygium by Diego Gerard Morrison](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-myth-of-pterygium-by-diego-gerard-morrison/) - In the same way that a person tries to wink the remnants of a hangover out of their eyes the first thing in the morning, Diego Gerard Morrison’s debut novel, Myth of Pterygium, opens with a morse-code like awakening. Published by Autumn House Press, the book opens with chapters which are only blinking at first,
- [Book Review: House of Cotton by Monica Brashears](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-house-of-cotton-by-monica-brashears/) - “‘Mama Brown died.’ Those words falling from my lips make me feel like I’m speaking in tongues. Those words make me wish I believed in ghosts. Haunt me, Mama. Even if you a tiny puff of smoke…Haunt me like you ain’t ever left me at all.” This paragraph from the early pages of House of
- [Book Review: Sea Change by Gina Chung](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-sea-change-by-gina-chung/) - In her debut novel, Gina Chung explores how a young woman working in an aquarium, grappling with loss and heartbreak, finds solace in a giant pacific octopus named Dolores. The protagonist Aurora, who goes by Ro, is in her thirties. She is the only child of Korean immigrants and is stuck in life. Her marine
- [Book Review: Chlorine by Jade Song](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-chlorine-by-jade-song/) - “You are not here of your own free will. You are here because I desired you first.” So begins Chlorine, a darkly imaginative debut by artist and writer Jade Song. This coming-of-age novel follows Ren, a competitive high school swimmer whose life revolves around the pool. Outwardly, she is a high-achieving student, a dedicated athlete
- [Book Review: Bark On by Mason Boyles](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-bark-on-by-mason-boyles/) - From its first line, Bark On draws you into the world of the most intense physical endurance sport: the triathlon, consisting of swimming, cycling, and long distance running. Athletes are prepared to do anything to build their endurance, so they attract the type of coach who can get them there. In Bark On, Benji Newton
- [Book Review: The Survivalists by Kashana Cauley](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-survivalists-by-kashana-cauley/) - The Survivalists by Kashana Cauley ruthlessly interrogates what it means to be successful as a Black woman, a Millennial, and a liberal living in an urban center. Protagonist Aretha has it all—a so-called “good job” at a corporate law firm, a best friend, Nia, who is a well-off private practice therapist, and an active dating
- [Book Review: Collateral Damage: 48 Stories by Nancy Ludmerer](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-collateral-damage-48-stories-by-nancy-ludmerer/) - Published by Snake Nation Press in October 2022, Nancy Ludmerer’s debut collection of short stories in Collateral Damage: 48 Stories is a lesson in economy, a master class in saying just enough—about both damage by others and at our own hands, as well as the subsequent attempts to repair, though the fault lines along which
- [Book Review: Aesthetica by Allie Rowbottom](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-aesthetica-by-allie-rowbottom/) - Allie Rowbottom’s Aesthetica is ruthless from start to finish—sharply interrogating Instagram culture, influencers, the world of eating disorders and much more in this new novel from Soho Press. Rowbottom doesn’t hold back: name dropping, calling out celebrities, and conceptualizing a world which feels all too familiar. Aesthetica is full of dark cynicism, but also bright
- [Book Review: You Have Reached Your Destination by Louise Marburg](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-you-have-reached-your-destination-by-louise-marburg/) - The twelve stories in Louise Marburg’s third collection, You Have Reached Your Destination, are about arrivals, but not the ones planned or expected. Instead, each story weaves female characters who reject what is given knowing a deeper expression of feminine identity lies under the surface. Unwilling to fit into tropes of passivity or vanity, the
- [Book Review: I Have Her Memories Now by Carrie Grinstead](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-i-have-her-memories-now-by-carrie-grinstead/) - There’s something comforting about returning, years later, to a familiar story. This rereading transports you, now a different person than you were when you first encountered the story, to somewhere new but recognizable. The details you notice in this new read may not be the same details that captured you back when, but the thrill
- [Book Review: Tell Us When To Go by Emil DeAndreis](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-tell-us-when-to-go-by-emil-deandreis/) - Tell Us When To Go begins with Isaac Moss reflecting on the time his good friend and sometimes roommate, Cole Gallegos, asked him to join in running away following the latter’s decision to drop out of college. The book explores their friendship which is rooted in a shared experience: the two are college baseball teammates
- [Book Review: How We Disappear by Tara Lynn Masih](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-how-we-disappear-by-tara-lynn-masih/) - The mapmaker’s hand is always visible. The sketch of the person outlined in the drawings, marking the mapmaker’s own journey, to connect the reader to the land the way the mapmaker saw it. “Come with me,” the map whispers. How We Disappear, is a book composed of short stories and a novella written by Tara
- [Book Review: Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-family-lore-by-elizabeth-acevedo/) - In Family Lore, the first novel by poet and YA author Elizabeth Acevedo, desires exist not only to be satisfied, but for their own sake, whether they can be quenched or not. But that does not mean that the women of the Marte family, having quenched their thirsts, are freed of desires, disappointments, blessings, and
- [Book Review: Learned by Heart by Emma Donoghue](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-learned-by-heart-by-emma-donoghue/) - “And I ask myself why the present tense is the only one that matters. Can’t the past be a sort of present too, if I plunge into memory and swim like a fish? Since every moment is fleeting, gone as soon as noted, so perhaps past, present, and future are all thin slices of reality,
- [Book Review: The Prumont Method by Trevor J. Houser](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-prumont-method-by-trevor-j-houser/) - The Prumont Method by Trevor J. Houser doesn’t gloss over the topic of gun violence or relegate it to the background to tell a different story. This novel, Houser’s second, places gun violence front and center, dropping the reader into the protagonist’s story with the opening line, “When did I predict my first mass shooting?”
- [Book Review: And Then He Sang a Lullaby by Ani Kayode Somtochukwu](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-and-then-he-sang-a-lullaby-by-ani-kayode-somtochukwu/) - Set in the backdrop of a radically anti-gay Nigeria, And Then He Sang a Lullaby by Ani Kayode Somtochukwu—the inaugural title from Roxane Gay Books—follows the story of two young men in university in Enugu City, simply trying to survive. August, a first-year student-athlete with low exam scores, whose overbearing sisters have all but raised
- [Book Review: The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-late-americans-by-brandon-taylor/) - With The Late Americans, Brandon Taylor returns to a space he has a talent for exploring: the minutiae of life on a college campus and in a college town. The Late Americans concerns a carousel of characters, each revealing more about the others as they take their turns in the spotlight. The book begins with
- [Book Review: The Lookback Window by Kyle Dillon Hertz](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-the-lookback-window-by-kyle-dillon-hertz/) - The Lookback Window, Kyle Dillon Hertz’s forthcoming novel from Simon & Schuster, pulls no punches. When I read early drafts in a workshop led by Jeffrey Eugenides in early 2020, right before the pandemic would completely change the way we write, work, and workshop, I immediately knew Hertz had something rare and special. The pages
- [Book Review: Small Animals Caught in Traps by C. B. Bernard](https://mastersreview.com/book-review-small-animals-caught-in-traps-by-c-b-bernard/) - True tragedy holds us with its prose, making it safe to fall in love with the characters even when we know their fate. We discover the personalities within ourselves, so in a way, they live on. Tragedy, according to Nietzsche, describes the genre as catharsis: joy seeping from walls of pain. Small Animals Caught in
- [Litmag Roadmap: Alaska](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-alaska/) - The Last Frontier, the Land of the Midnight Sun: Pack your parkas, we're headed north to Alaska! It's quite the trek, but assistant editor Melissa Hinshaw has brought the map. Learn more about a few of the great literary magazines that call Alaska home: There are a lot of things to say about The Last
- [Litmag Roadmap: Nevada](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-nevada/) - We're headed down to the desert, to the Silver State, home to Las Vegas and great literary magazines! Check out the journals we've highlighted below who are proud to be published out of Nevada! I would like to caveat this particular stop on our lit mag road map by admitting my deep well of unresolved
- [Litmag Roadmap: Nebraska](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-nebraska/) - On the road again! Off to the Great Plains, we're headed to the Cornhusker State, home of Brett Biebel's "Big Red Nation" and the College Baseball World Series: Nebraska. Check out what literary magazines this Midwest state has to offer. Welcome to what is arguably the middle of the country (fight us, Kansas): a land
- [Lit Mag Roadmap: Montana](https://mastersreview.com/lit-mag-roadmap-montana/) - We're headed north! Our third stop on this road trip along the literary landscape lands us in Montana, Big Sky Country, the Last Best Place. The Big Sky State is vast and sparse, dotted with rich cultural pockets you don’t see coming ‘til you’re there--and its literary scene is no different. Put these four lit
- [Litmag Roadmap: Arizona](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-arizona/) - We've made the trek from the deep south to the southwest: 1,700 miles from Montgomery to Phoenix, but lucky for you, it only takes a second to navigate between webpages. Dive in to our dissection of the literary world of Arizona! To understand the Arizona literary scene you must first understand the Arizona landscape: there
- [Litmag Roadmap: Alabama](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-alabama/) - It's Friday, which is as good a day as any to kickstart a new series. Join us as we travel across the country and explore the literary magazines and journals and the places they call home! If you don’t think of Alabama when you think of the literary scene you’re forgetting about Harper Lee’s homeland
- [Litmag Roadmap: Louisiana](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-louisiana/) - On the road again: We're headed south to the bayou, to the land of "Crocodile" and Mardi Gras and "The Monster in Back Bruly" and so many fantastic literary journals. Melissa has rounded up a few of them for to visit today! Ah, the original LA LA land. Whether your appeal to this great state
- [Litmag Roadmap: Ohio](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-ohio/) - Buckeye State, here we come! Ohio is our next stop on our Litmag roadmap, and I hope you've packed for a long trip, because there are so many great journals to look at! The main things you need to know about Ohio are that it was home to the “Roller Coaster Capital of the World”
- [Litmag Roadmap: Wyoming](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-wyoming/) - On the road again: We're on the way to Big Wyoming! Join us on our trip through the literary journals of the Cowboy State. The Wild West portion of our road trip continues with the loneliest home on the range: Wyoming is officially the most sparsely populated state in America, and that shows not only
- [Litmag Roadmap: New Mexico](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-new-mexico/) - Pack your things, we're headed back west! Join us on the trip to New Mexico to explore the sights and sounds of the literary journals that make their home in the desert. “Ah, the Land of Enchantment.” Just saying it makes you feel wise, otherworldly, and ethereal. This is the place for all things spicy
- [Litmag Roadmap: North Carolina](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-north-carolina/) - We're headed down the coast to North Carolina in this month's edition of our Litmag Roadmap. Buckle up and let's hit the road. There's plenty of sights to see and literary journals to read! Welcome to North Carolina, the unabashed golden child of literary states. First off, it appears the state holds an unspoken rule
- [Litmag Roadmap: Delaware](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-delaware/) - In this month's Litmag Roadmap, we're staying in New England, heading over to the Diamond State: Delaware. Check out a few of the literary markets our first state has to offer below! Delaware is a state you don’t want to underestimate. From a distance, the Delaware literary scene gives off an oddly chill and supportive
- [Litmag Roadmap: Connecticut](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-connecticut/) - Next stop, Connecticut! Thankfully virtual travel is still an option for us. We're hanging around in New England, still, and we think you'll appreciate the literary scene here. If you drove across Connecticut and literary magazines were like McDonald's or Starbucks, you would pass one every ten or eleven miles. The state isn’t huge but
- [Litmag Roadmap: New Hampshire](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-new-hampshire/) - We're back in the contiguous United States, headed up to New England. Join us on our trip through the Granite State's extraordinary literary magazines! Things you might not have known about New Hampshire: it’s a beach state (Portsmouth is the new Boston, ya’ll); it was the first state to have its own constitution; it was
- [Litmag Roadmap: South Carolina](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-south-carolina/) - We're off to the east coast! Melissa is back with a roundup of the great literary magazines the Palmetto State has to offer. Come with us! Before diving into the great Palmetto State, we wanted to take a second to recognize the positive impact that social distancing has had on. Becky Tuch at Lit Mag
- [Litmag Roadmap: Indiana](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-indiana/) - Next stop on our roadtrip: Indiana! Rebecca Williamson has rounded up the great Indiana literary journals for all of us to visit, support, and send our work to. Join us on our tour through the Hoosier state! Indiana may be known for its car racing, but there’s more to the 19th state of the United
- [Litmag Roadmap: Georgia](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-georgia/) - Georgia is in the new right now for not-great reasons, but there are still lovely lit mags in the state that need your support! Rebecca Williamson's got you covered in this post: Considering Georgia’s status as the fourth state of the country, its home to many historic landmarks, including the beautiful Savannah and pivotal Atlanta.
- [Litmag Roadmap: Southern California](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-southern-california/) - It's not a far drive, so let's head on down to Southern California. A couple weeks ago we rounded up some great literary magazines in the northern part of the state. Now, let's dig into who's publishing what in the south: The Golden State of the West Coast, California, is the most populated state of
- [Litmag Roadmap: Northern California](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-northern-california/) - Strap in your seatbelts, y'all: we're headed to Northern California! There are so many wonderful journals and magazines in California that we needed to split the state into two. Check below for the great venues of the north, and check back in a couple weeks for our review of the south! Northern California, home of
- [Litmag Roadmap: Oklahoma](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-oklahoma/) - Oklahoma, the sooner state! The sooner we get there, the sooner we can learn about their wonderful literary journals! (I can't promise to stop the puns.) Oklahoma! If you’re not singing it, you’re sleeping. And if you’re neither of those, hopefully you’re reading, writing, or checking out some of these underrated lit mags from this
- [Litmag Roadmap: New Jersey](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-new-jersey/) - We're making a quick pitstop in New Jersey this month to visit the outstanding literary journals the state has to offer. Pack your bags! In our New Jersey, GTL stands not for gym-tan-laundry but for Get That Literature! (Look, it’s not my best….it’s been a long year). The Garden State is a great place for
- [Litmag Roadmap: Vermont](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-vermont/) - We're flying off to the Northeast! As the fall settles in around us and the leaves changes colors and the weather drops (and so on and so on), why not enjoy the season with the litmags of chilly Vermont? It may be prime leaf peeping season, but there’s a lot more to explore in Vermont
- [Litmag Roadmap: Ontario](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-ontario/) - Do you have your passport ready? This week we're crossing the Canadian border on our trek finding the best local literary magazines! After over a year of restrictions, the Canadian border has finally reopened to nonessential travel! Well, sort of. It’s complicated. What’s not complicated is the plethora of outstanding litmags published by our neighbors
- [Litmag Roadmap: Rhode Island](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-rhode-island/) - We're off the mountains and headed back east, out to tiny Rhode Island. But what this state lacks in size, it makes up for in its impressive literary scene, as Rebecca Williamson shows us below. Tag along. Although Rhode Island is the smallest state, it has an interesting history, like being one of the original
- [Litmag Roadmap: Colorado](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-colorado/) - Join us on a trek to the Rockies! Reader B.B. Garin gives us an overview of the wonderful litmags this expansive state has to offer. Buckle up! Whether you’re looking for high peaks, hot springs, or Hunter S. Thompson’s favorite bar, Colorado has got you covered. So, hitch up the RV and head west for
- [Litmag Roadmap: Tennessee](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-tennessee/) - We're moving to Music City in this edition of Litmag Roadmap! B.B. Garin's got the next roundup of incredible litmags who call the state of Tennessee home. Follow along. From Graceland to Dollywood to The Grand Ole Opry, Tennessee is bursting with musical history. But did you know, it also boasts some deep literary roots?
- [Litmag Roadmap: Michigan](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-michigan/) - Buckle up! We're headed to the Wolverine State, home of Motor City, and a peninsula that should belong to Wisconsin. Rebecca Williamson's got the round up of the wonderful literary magazines that call Michigan home. As of the states that borders four of the five Great Lakes, Michigan is divided into the Upper and Lower
- [Litmag Roadmap: Pennsylvania](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-pennsylvania/) - We're headed down the East Coast to the Keystone State! Pennsylvania gave us Hershey, the Liberty Bell, Rocky, and sadly the Pittsburgh Pirates, but also these incredible literary magazines! Pennsylvania boasts a lot of history due to its status as one of the thirteen colonies. Philadelphia, in particular, was once the capital where the Declaration
- [Litmag Roadmap: Maine](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-maine/) - On the way to the Northeast! Tucked up there in the corner of the country sits Maine, the next stop on our literary roadtrip. Join B.B. Garin on a tour of the state's great litmags! Maine isn’t just for blueberries, lighthouses, and the Museum of Cryptozoology. It’s also been home to the likes of Henry
- [Litmag Roadmap: New York City](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-new-york-city/) - We're headed to the city that never sleeps, home to Broadway, the Bronx, and a ton of great literary magazines! Strap in and join us on this tour. New York City, home to some of the greatest literary publishers, with a thriving literary scene, is the next stop on our Litmag Roadmap series. The literary
- [Litmag Roadmap: Arkansas](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-arkansas/) - Our roadtrip across America returns with a trek through Arkansas! From Little Rock to Fayetteville, Melissa Bandy takes us on a tour of Arkansas's premier literary outlets. Welcome to Arkansas, the state that brought you Walmart, Bill Clinton, and cheese dip. Literary offerings are small but mighty in The Natural State, attracting authors from the
- [Litmag Roadmap: Wisconsin](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-wisconsin/) - We're back with a new list for Wisconsin! Follow us back to our editor-in-chief's home state for another round up of Badger litmags you should be sending your work to! If you’ve read the stunning Shotgun Lovesongs by Nickolas Butler, you know there’s something about a biting Wisconsin winter that gets down in an artist’s
- [Litmag Roadmap: Iowa](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-iowa/) - Next up on our trip around the country: Iowa! Land of corn, birthplace of John Wayne, blacked out from six MLB teams, and home to some incredible literary outlets! Iowa may seem like a lonely place, but many a writer has been attracted to the quiet of endless cornfields. The state is home to one
- [Litmag Roadmap: Missouri](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-missouri/) - Join us on the road into the Midwest! We're stopping off this week in Missouri, home of the Gateway Arch and Busch Beer. Join B.B. Garin on a tour of the state's literary magazines below! A truly eclectic mix of historical figures have called Missouri home; Harry Truman, Jesse James, Dick van Dyke, and Chuck
- [Litmag Roadmap: Oregon](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-oregon/) - We're coming home to Oregon in this edition of our Litmag Roadmap! Join us on a tour around some of the other wonderful litmags that call this beautiful state home. The next stop on our litmag road trip takes us to the Pacific Northwest. Oregon’s literary scene is as rich and lush as its forests;
- [Litmag Roadmap: Florida](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-florida/) - If it's getting a little cold where you are, consider joining us on our trip down to Florida! B.B. Garin's rounded up the great literary journals that the Sunshine State has to offer. It’s easy to joke about Florida. Spring Break. Gator Wrestling. The Interstate Mullet Toss. (Yup, that’s a real thing!) But all joking
- [Litmag Roadmap: Texas](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-texas/) - Buckle up! We're on our way to the Lone Star State. Texas is our next stop on our litmag road trip. Rebecca Paredes comes to us today with a list of some of the great literary venues that call Texas home. It makes sense that the vast Lone Star State is home to a diverse
- [Litmag Roadmap: Hawai'i](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-hawaii/) - We have to leave the car behind, but the destination is worth it: we're flying to Hawai'i! Join us on the exploration of the islands' various literary journals, brought to us by Rebecca Parades! The indigenous islands of Hawai‘i are home to diverse cultures, languages, and literary histories. In this leg of our road trip,
- [Litmag Roadmap: Utah](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-utah/) - We’re headed to the Southwest in this month’s Litmag Roadmap. Let’s touch the Four Corners, visit the Great Salt Lake, see the Arches, ski the mountains at Park City (and maybe we’ll catch Sundance while we’re at it). It’s off to Utah! You may not expect it, but Utah is home to a number of
- [Litmag Roadmap: Idaho](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-idaho/) - We're headed all the way across country this month, from West Virginia to the Pacific Northwest, the Gem State: Idaho! Join editor-in-chief Cole Meyer on a tour of this great state's literary institutions! Idaho is known for its vast stretches of natural landscape, those gorgeous mountain ranges, and for being that place where your potatoes
- [Litmag Roadmap: West Virginia](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-west-virginia/) - Rebecca Paredes is leading us back east—this time to West Virginia! Let's find out what excellent literary institutions call the Mountain State home below! Also known as the Mountain State, West Virginia’s rich cultural history is grounded in Appalachian arts and heritage. On this leg of our literary roadtrip, we’re taking a look at active
- [Litmag Roadmap: New York State](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-new-york-state/) - Hop in, as we head back to New York to explore the rest of the state outside the city! New York State has a long history of excellent literary institutions—and these magazines are a big part of why! The state of New York has been publishing the nation’s finest short literature since at least 1850,
- [Litmag Roadmap: Washington State](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-washington-state/) - Rebecca Paredes leads us to the PNW on our tour of litmag destinations. Today's stop: Washington State! The home of Starbucks, the Seahawks, and several fantastic literary publications. The Evergreen State is home to more than rainy days and coffee shops. Washington state is home to a rich literary community thanks to several creative writing
- [Litmag Roadmap: South Dakota](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-south-dakota/) - Next up on our roadtrip: South Dakota! You might know S.D. for Mount Rushmore, the Badlands or the Corn Palace, but we know it as the home to these terrific literary magazines. Rebecca Paredes gives us a guided tour of South Dakota's premier publications below. On this leg of our literary road trip, we’re stopping
- [Litmag Roadmap: Minnesota](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-minnesota/) - Hop in; we're headed to the home of the Gophers today to tour the great literary magazines Minnesota has to offer! Rebecca Paredes has us covered. The Land of 10,000 Lakes is also the land of independent bookstores, literary organizations, and, of course, litmags. On this leg of our litmag road trip, we’re checking out
- [Litmag Roadmap: Illinois](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-illinois/) - Onward! We continue on our trek across the country in search of outstanding literary venues. This month, we turn to Illinois, the Land of Lincoln, home to Chicago and The Bean, and many excellent literary reviews! Nicknamed “the Prairie State,” Illinois is home to established writers’ conferences, notable literary journals, and Chicago’s active literary scene.
- [Litmag Roadmap: Mississippi](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-mississippi/) - One of our final stops on this roadtrip across the literary institutions in the US: Mississippi! Join us below for a tour of the journals and reviews who call the Magnolia State home. Did you know that Mississippi is one of only two states with a state toy? (It’s a teddy bear, by the
- [Litmag Roadmap: Massachusetts](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-massachusetts/) - We only have a few stops left on our Litmag Roadmap road trip! This month's post brings us to Massachusetts. Let's join Rebecca Paredes on a tour through this New England state's literary institutions below! From Louisa May Alcott to W.E.B. Du Bois, Massachusetts is rich with literary history. Boston was the nation’s publishing
- [Litmag Roadmap: Maryland](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-maryland/) - Rebecca Parades takes us back to the east coast in this month's Litmag Roadmap—we're headed to Maryland! Let's dive into the great literary journals that call the Free State home. Our next stop takes us to Maryland, the birthplace of our national anthem and home to a thriving literary scene (after all, Baltimore’s nickname is
- [Litmag Roadmap: North Dakota](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-north-dakota/) - The next stop on our litmag roadmap tour: North Dakota! Cole Meyer leads us today on a tour through the literary institutions of the Peace Garden State. Buckle up! Though their numbers are few, these North Dakota literary outlets are not to be trifled with! And when you're done checking these out, pop down south
- [Litmag Roadmap: Kansas](https://mastersreview.com/litmag-roadmap-kansas/) - Our next stop on our Litmag Roadmap: Kansas! Join Rebecca Paredes on a quick tour through this Great Plains state to see what exciting publishing opportunities can be found! If you’re looking for literary magazines in Kansas, you’ll find your home on the range with these journals. The Sunflower State is home to several publications
- [Getting Unstuck: Re-Visioning Revision](https://mastersreview.com/getting-unstuck-re-visioning-revision/) - In this month’s Getting Unstuck, Jen Dupree has some recommendations for how to approach a revision, featuring suggestions from writers like Peter Ho Davies, Grant Faulkner and more! You did it! You wrote a draft of a story and it’s pretty good or at least not bad. There’s some energy to it, some plot, some
- [Getting Unstuck: Rebounding From Rejection](https://mastersreview.com/getting-unstuck-rebounding-from-rejection/) - In this month's Getting Unstuck, assistant editor Jen Dupree offers resources on how to handle that ubiquitous writerly experience: rejection. What does rejection mean? And how do we apply those lessons to our work? Let's find out together. I recently met with an agent and her response to my project was like being dunked
- [Getting Unstuck: Things are Getting Tense (Hopefully)](https://mastersreview.com/getting-unstuck-things-are-getting-tense-hopefully/) - In this month's Getting Unstuck, assistant editor Jen Dupree dives into resources for ramping up the tension in your story. If you feel uncertain about the differences between conflict and tension, or you're worried your most recent draft lacks one or the other (or both), look no further! In life, I avoid conflict and tension
- [Getting Unstuck: Don't Go It Alone](https://mastersreview.com/getting-unstuck-dont-go-it-alone/) - Feeling stuck? Not sure where to turn? You're not the only one. In this month's Getting Unstuck, assistant editor Jen Dupree explores resources for getting feedback, including when and where to seek feedback, how to know what kind of feedback you need, and where to find writing groups! Writing is a tender business. Most of
- [Getting Unstuck: Characters, or Getting to Know You](https://mastersreview.com/getting-unstuck-characters-or-getting-to-know-you/) - In this month's Getting Unstuck, Jen Dupree dives into resources available for writing strong, well-rounded characters. How can we write compelling characters without knowing who they are? And how better to learn your characters than taking them on a first date? If you want other people to care about your characters as much as you
- [Getting Unstuck: Endings](https://mastersreview.com/getting-unstuck-endings/) - Endings are hard! Endings are so hard. Writers know this. Editors know this. But still the perfect ending can seem like magic, inevitable and effortless. But this effortlessness is, of course, an illusion. In this month's Getting Unstuck, assistant editor Jen Dupree offers a few resources that try to lift the veil on writing the
- [Getting Unstuck: Plot as a Noun](https://mastersreview.com/getting-unstuck-plot-as-a-noun/) - We're a few days late for February's Getting Unstuck, but let's blame it on the short month. In this post, assistant editor Jen Dupree suggests reimagining the way we conceive of plot, and offers a few resources for thinking of plot as a noun and not a verb! When I started graduate school, I thought
- [Getting Unstuck: Carefully Crafting Dialogue](https://mastersreview.com/getting-unstuck-carefully-crafting-dialogue/) - In a new craft series by assistant editor Jen Dupree, we'll explore ways to move forward in our works-in-progress, particularly those that seem to be stuck in the mud, the ones we don't know what to do with. Today, we're looking at sprucing up dialogue and cutting back on conversations that aren't doing much. As
- [Winter Short Story Award, 2nd Place: "Where They Come From" by Casey Gentry Quinn](https://mastersreview.com/winter-short-story-award-2nd-place-where-they-come-from-by-casey-gentry-quinn/) - Grounded in so much specificity, "Where They Come From" is a hauntingly metaphorical story that, as a writer and not an academic studying the piece for its meaning, I feel compelled to let the reader find what they will in this chilling story of love—what we will do for it, what we will do to
- [Winter Short Story Award, 3rd Place: "The River at the End of the Road" by Hillary Millán](https://mastersreview.com/winter-short-story-award-3rd-place-the-river-at-the-end-of-the-road-by-hillary-millan/) - "The River at the End of the Road" offers readers a compelling narrative with desires and stakes sharply felt. Reading this story, I was held by and enamored with the writer’s unwavering ability to make the disparate storylines and characters blend into something coherent, which made the story’s heart throb with tension, wonder, and delight.
- [Winter Short Story Award Honorable Mention: "The Developer" by Sarah Walsh](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-developer-by-sarah-walsh/) - "That year, like every year, the ocean lapped up the shoreline. Its hunger was an enormous force, and a patient one." Our story for this week is Sarah Walsh's "The Developer," the honorable mention in our 2022-2023 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers! "The Developer" explores the narrator's relationship with Jaime, a local she
- [From the Archives: “Midlife Crisis” by Angie Pelekidis—Discussed by Rebecca Paredes](https://mastersreview.com/from-the-archives-midlife-crisis-by-angie-pelekidis-discussed-by-rebecca-paredes/) - In September 2014, we published “Midlife Crisis” by Angie Pelekidis. The story follows Anne and Dan, a middle-aged couple, and what happens when Dan begins wearing diapers and behaving, literally, like a baby. Let’s take a trip into the archives. When I first read “Midlife Crisis” by Angie Pelekidis, I was drawn in by
- [October Deadlines: 9 Contests and Prizes This Month](https://mastersreview.com/october-deadlines-9-contests-and-prizes-this-month/) - These contests are sure to make you light up like a jack-o-lantern! Find a contest that works for you, and then submit your favorite work! American Literary Review Awards In this threefold contest offered by American Literary Review, contestants can submit entries for short fiction, essays, and poetry! Submissions may be up to 8,000 words
- [Interview with the Winner: Hillary Millán](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-hillary-millan/) - On Monday, we published the third place finalist in our 2022-2023 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers, "The River at the End of the Road" by Hillary Millán, selected by Morgan Talty. First, read this magnificent and tense story, then check out our interview with the writer below! This is your first short
- [2023 Spring Small Fiction Awards Winners!](https://mastersreview.com/2023-spring-small-fiction-awards-winners/) - K-Ming Chang's picks are in! Congratulations to the six winners in our inaugural Spring Small Fiction Awards. This year, our annual Flash Fiction Contest evolved into a contest with three dedicated categories for short form prose: micro, flash and sudden fiction. K-Ming Chang was given a shortlist of ten stories in each of the three
- [Interview with the Winner: Casey Gentry Quinn](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-casey-gentry-quinn/) - Casey Gentry Quinn's "Where They Come From" was chosen by Morgan Talty as the 2nd place finalist in our 2022-2023 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers. If you haven't read this magical story yet, what are you waiting for? Once you've finished, come back here and read our interview with the winner! First,
- [New Voices: “Copycat” by Susan Sanford Blades](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-copycat-by-susan-sanford-blades/) - In “Copycat" by Susan Sanford Blades, twins Bobby and Jordan Hagen are the pride of their town—rising hockey stars, confident, cocky—and, for the girls of Strathcona Composite High, objects of desire. But when Bobby dies by suicide in Grade 11, everything changes. Sanford Blades captures the moody angst of the mid-90s high schooler pitch perfectly
- [August Deadlines: 11 Deadlines This Month](https://mastersreview.com/august-deadlines-11-deadlines-this-month/) - There may be wildfire warnings for outdoor activities, but it’s perfectly safe to let yourself get fired up about all of these writing opportunities! Take a look, and feel free to fix on your favorite. FEATURED! Summer Short Story Award for New Writers Our contest is coming to a close, but it’s not too late!
- [New Voices: “Life Hack” by Patricia Callahan](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-life-hack-by-patricia-callahan/) - There’s something unexplainable at work in Patricia Callahan’s “Life Hack": a concrete chunk falls from a school and crushes a young girl; a house is vandalized over and over by unseen hands; a doll may or may not be coming to life. Just as one mystery is solved, another surfaces and shrouds the story. Stylized
- [A Conversation with Austin Ross, Author of Gloria Patri](https://mastersreview.com/a-conversation-with-austin-ross-author-of-gloria-patri/) - In celebration of Austin Ross's debut novel release, The Masters Review proudly presents this interview between the author and Joanna Acevedo. For those who have utilized our editorial letter option in the past or read recent interviews or book reviews on our site, these names are likely familiar. Gloria Patri, a novel that Dan Chaon
- [Interview with the Winner: Donovan Swift](https://mastersreview.com/interview-with-the-winner-donovan-swift/) - If you missed it, the winner of our 2022-2023 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers, selected by Morgan Talty, was published on Monday. First, read Donovan Swift's terrific "Advanced Reader," then check out our interview with the winner below! What sparked this story, or led you to write this piece? To be completely
- [Michael Martone to Judge the 2023 Chapbook Open!](https://mastersreview.com/michael-martone-to-judge-the-2023-chapbook-open/) - While you're anxiously awaiting the release of Naomi Telushkin's Coats, the 2022 Chapbook Open winner, wrap your head around this bit of news: Michael Martone will serve as the guest judge for the 2023 Chapbook Open! Submissions this year will be open from September 1 through December 17. One winner will receive a $3,000 cash
- [2022-2023 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers: Finalists!](https://mastersreview.com/2022-2023-winter-short-story-award-for-new-writers-finalists/) - No more waiting: Morgan Talty has picked his winners! Congratulations to Donovan Swift, whose "Advanced Reader" was chosen as the grand prize winner, earning him a $3,000 prize, along with online publication and agency review. Please give a round of applause for our finalists, and for our shortlisted authors as well, whose stories made it
- [Featured Fiction: "What Happened to Eloise" by Manuel Gonzales](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction-what-happened-to-eloise-by-manuel-gonzales/) - Manuel Gonzales is the author of The Miniature Wife and Other Stories and his fiction has appeared in The Believer, McSweeney's, Esquire, One Story, and many others. In this tale, an oceanic clean up crew discovers a woman with a strange mark on her face. It's perfectly creepy, and we can't think of a better
- [Featured Fiction: "Other Dangers" by Ben Hoffman](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction-other-dangers-by-ben-hoffman/) - Ben Hoffman presents us with a terrifying tale that examines the lasting nature of fear. In "Other Dangers," a teacher convinces her third-grade class that every misbehavior—each missed homework assignment, each tug of a girl's ponytail—brings them that much closer to doomsday. Find out what happens when the class reunites after decades and decides to
- [Featured Fiction: Kate Bernheimer](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction-kate-bernheimer/) - Today, we are thrilled to feature an original story from Kate Bernheimer, the contemporary master of the fairy tale. Her dark story, “The Punk’s Bride,” is a haunting read that demonstrates the darkness inherent in the fairy tale genre. This chilling imitation of “The Hare’s Bride” involves punk musicians, a straw doll, and an unexpected
- [Featured Fiction: "The Candelabra" by Ben Loory](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction-the-candelabra-by-ben-loory/) - To finish Short Story Month in style, we are pleased to bring you "The Candelabra" by Ben Loory. We loved his collection Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day, and we are thrilled to be publishing an original tale of his. While "The Candelabra" is just about five hundred words, it palpably conveys the ways
- [Featured Fiction: Our Secret Life in the Movies - by Michael McGriff and JM Tyree](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction-our-secret-life-in-the-movies-by-michael-mcgriff-and-jm-tyree/) - San Francisco film buffs Michael McGriff and JM Tyree set out to watch all 800 + films in the Criterion Collection in a single year. After each film, the writers penned a short story loosely inspired by the movie, which became Our Secret Life in the Movies, a collection produced by Austin publisher A Strange
- [Featured Fiction: "Lookout" by Kelly Luce](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction-lookout-by-kelly-luce/) - We first discovered, and fell in love with, Kelly Luce's writing when we read Three Scenarios in Which Hana Sasaki Grows a Tail, her award-winning short story collection. When she agreed to write a piece for our Featured Fiction section, we were thrilled. In "Lookout," a young man runs away with his brother's new wife
- ["The Lady Winchester Deciphers Her Labyrinth" by Adrian Van Young](https://mastersreview.com/the-lady-winchester-deciphers-her-labyrinth-by-adrian-van-young/) - Sarah Winchester began plans for the famous Winchester House in San Jose, California, in 1884. Construction continued 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year, resulting in a house filled with mysterious windows, doors, and staircases, many of which lead nowhere. In "The Lady Winchester Deciphers Her Labyrinth," author Adrian
- ["The Restorative Unit" by Julia Elliott](https://mastersreview.com/the-restorative-unit-by-julia-elliott/) - We're so pleased to conclude our October Issue with a story by Julia Elliott. Elliott's novel, The New and Improved Romie Futch, debuted earlier this month through Tin House, and follows a drunk, recently divorced, Internet-porn surfing taxidermist who decides -- in hopes of improving his life -- to enroll as a research subject at
- [Featured Fiction: "Creation Story" by Katie Chase](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction-creation-story-by-katie-chase/) - We're so pleased to present the first piece of fiction for Short Story Month, "Creation Story" by Portland, Oregon, author Katie Chase. Chase's work has been called brilliant, nuanced, fraught, and mysterious, and this piece, which appears in her debut collection from A Strange Object out May 10th, is each of these things. A city
- [Featured Fiction: "Room Tone" by Brian Evenson](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction-room-tone-by-brian-evenson/) - We're so pleased to introduce original fiction by Brian Evenson as part of our October showcase. In "Room Tone," Filip needs to finish his movie. And he's almost done, except for the room tone. "But Filip found himself unable to sleep at night, thinking about the room tone, thinking about the several moments in the
- [Featured Fiction: “The Visitor” by Lydia Davis](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction-the-visitor-by-lydia-davis/) - Thank you to everyone who submitted to our first ever Flash Fiction Contest. Today, we are honored to bring you an original piece from one of the masters of the short short form: Lydia Davis. We have been loyal fans of Lydia Davis's short and potent stories for ages, and we cannot even tell you
- [Featured Fiction: "Hunt and Catch" by Jac Jemc](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction-hunt-and-catch-by-jac-jemc/) - Every October we focus on literary fiction that is dark, scary, and a little bit disturbing, and we couldn't be more pleased (and a little creeped out) to present "Hunt and Catch" by Jac Jemc, an unnerving cat and mouse story about a young woman named Emily who leaves her office to find the world
- [Featured Fiction: “Last Bridge Burned” by Ron Rash](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction-last-bridge-burned-ron-rash/) - Today, it is our honor to publish an original story by the esteemed Ron Rash in our Featured Fiction section, in which we publish work by established authors. In “Last Bridge Burned,” a man is closing up his gas station late at night when a woman in need of help knocks on the door. This
- [Featured Fiction: Heitor by Chaya Bhuvaneswar](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction-heitor-by-chaya-bhuvaneswar/) - Today, it is our honor to publish an original story by the esteemed Chaya Bhuvaneswar in our Featured Fiction section. In “Heitor,” a sixteenth-century slave examines his life before the firing squad. This story, from her recently released collection WHITE DANCING ELEPHANTS, dives into the darkest truths of our collective history, and bright possibility of personal transcendence. “When
- [Featured Fiction: "Praise Rain" by Kathy Fish](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction-praise-rain-by-kathy-fish/) - With our Flash Fiction Contest wrapping up next week, we thought you might need some inspiration in the form of new fiction from this year's judge, Kathy Fish. We are huge fans of Kathy's, so we feel especially blessed to present "Praise Rain," and to have her as our judge. You don't want to miss
- [Featured Fiction: "Under the System" by Adrian Van Young](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction-under-the-system-by-adrian-van-young/) - We are so pleased to have the chance to publish another excellent story from Adrian Van Young. "Under the System" comes to us just in time for the Halloween season, flush with the living dead and overly cheery meteorologists. Van Young's story strikes hardest in its ending—but why let us spoil it? Read "Under the
- [Featured Fiction: "Woodpeckers Peck to Establish Territory in the Spring" by Sherrie Flick](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction-woodpeckers-peck-to-establish-territory-in-the-spring-by-sherrie-flick/) - Today we are thrilled to share with you this excellent new flash from current Flash Fiction Contest judge, Sherrie Flick! If you're still looking for inspiration for our contest which closes on the 31st of May, look no further: Flick's "Woodpeckers Peck to Establish Territory in the Spring" moves from scene to memory with affecting
- [New Voices: "Linear Histories" by Dan Tremaglio](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-linear-histories-by-dan-tremaglio/) - "Linear Histories" by Dan Tremaglio follows a classics major's encounter with a stranger outside his rented stonehouse at the edge of the desert, and her desire to document the history of the land in her will. Tremaglio's prose winds and weaves through this memory and the memories it sparks with ease, as if floating down
- [New Voices: "The Reflecting Pool" by Karina Cheah](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-reflecting-pool-by-karina-cheah/) - Karina Cheah's essay, "The Reflecting Pool," set against the backdrop of a concert performance of Come From Away on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on the 20th anniversary of September 11, explores what it means to be Asian-American in the nation's capital, incorporating a history of the capital's conception and design, as well as
- [New Voices: "Natural Selection" by Diana Reed](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-natural-selection-by-diana-reed/) - In "Natural Selection" by Diana Reed, a small moment becomes a pathway for a much larger conversation. As the mother combs lice out of her daughter's hair, she searches for a way to reassure her children—and herself. The boy wields the new blue lice comb. It has two sets of tiny teeth and a
- [New Voices: "Pigeons in Every Universe" by Kiran Kaur Saini](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-pigeons-in-every-universe-by-kiran-kaur-saini/) - In this moving flash fiction by Kiran Kaur Saini, our young bedridden narrator finds a penpal using messenger pigeons, under the guidance of her grandfather. Despite the obstacles that arise, as the end nears, her grandfather assures her: "a pigeon always finds its way home." Ma is banging pots in the kitchen, and this
- [New Voices: "The Tail" by Kailyn McCord](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-tail-by-kailyn-mccord/) - Kailyn McCord's wonderfully creepy "The Tail" begins as any good horror begins: with a seemingly innocuous, if slightly unsettling, discovery. "At the corner of our country parcel, where the driveway meets the street, my husband and I found a tail." What follows cannot be explained by any conventional means, but her husband is certain the
- [Summer Short Story Award 1st Place: "Homeboy" by Nancy Garcia](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-homeboy-by-nancy-garcia/) - From the first line, I was enraptured by the voice of Cielo. High energy, pitch-perfect dialogue, and quick intelligent humor weave through this aching, pining, and surprising story about unrequited love. "HOMEBOY" utilizes a voice I'd follow a lot longer than just these pages, and showed supreme control over the direct address form, that, when
- [Summer Short Story Award 2nd Place: "Leap Year" by Chloe Alberta](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-leap-year-by-chloe-alberta/) - A deeply flawed and funny character, I thought of Hollis long after reading, wondering what happened to her. At times relatable, raw, and equal measures wise and naive, this voice felt impulsive and unpredictable and yet somehow fully grounded in the well-drawn and yearning world of the Trunk House. Where else will Hollis's misguided searching
- [Summer Short Story Award 3rd Place: "The Distant Daughter" by Brenda Salinas Baker](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-distant-daughter-by-brenda-salinas-baker/) - A novel packed into a short story, the tale of Vera's life built itself line by line into utterly surprising and powerful territory. The complexity between the mother and daughter and the force of things unsaid culminated in a final heartbreaking outcome that was deeply moving. This story felt timeless and cinematic but offered enough
- [Summer Short Story Award Honorable Mention: "The Sum of All Amazements" by Lyndsie Manusos](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-sum-of-all-amazements-by-lyndsie-manusos/) - "My father lit himself on fire as a side gig." It's unlikely you'll need much more than that to be hooked into Lyndsie Manusos's "The Sum of All Amazements," the honorable mention in our 2022 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers. Eleven-year-old Annie looks up to her father, an amateur daredevil, more than anyone
- [New Voices: “Sorry About Your Bird” by Kathryn M. Barber](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-sorry-about-your-bird-by-kathryn-barber/) - In Kathryn M. Barber's "Sorry About Your Bird," Libby and her wife Claire leave Claire's grandmother's funeral with an unexpected passenger: Captain, a parrot Claire's grandmother had kept for years, whose favorite phrase is a string of obscenities. Dive into this wry new addition to our New Voices catalog below: Avery hangs between us, notes
- [New Voices: “The Road Takes the Shape of the Earth Beneath It” by Jeremy Packert Burke](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-road-takes-the-shape-of-the-earth-beneath-it-by-jeremy-packert-burke/) - In “The Road Takes the Shape of the Earth Beneath It” by Jeremy Packert Burke, our newest addition to our New Voices catalog, we're given three views of a car crash. It's a blink-and-you'll-miss-it kind of moment, but one Packert Burke manages to spiral around to give the reader a clear image into this strange
- [New Voices: "You Can't Take it With You" by Jami Kimbrell](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-you-cant-take-it-with-you-by-jami-kimbrell/) - Today, we are excited to share with you our newest edition to our New Voices catalog, "You Can't Take it With You" by Jami Kimbrell. Kimbrell's story follows a mother and her daughter on a road trip to see the narrator's own mother, near the end of her life. You know the kind of story
- [New Voices: "This is for My Auntie Penzi Who—" by Idza Luhumyo](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-this-is-for-my-auntie-penzi-who-by-idza-luhumyo/) - "This is for my Auntie Penzi who—" repeats the narrator throughout Idza Luhumyo's newest story, published here in our New Voices series. Luhumyo elegaic narrative explores the expulsion of Auntie Penzi from flat A and the arrival, years later, of a new woman, a mzungu woman with a dress "short and red." Dig in: But
- [New Voices: "The Monster in Back Bruly" by Kailyn McCord](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-monster-in-back-bruly-by-kailyn-mccord/) - You can't make anything in Back Bruly, or at least that's what the narrator of Kailyn McCord's "The Monster in Back Bruly" tells us. We are proud to share this newest entry to our New Voices catalog with you today, about a group who makes as much out of nothing as anyone can, especially deep
- [New Voices: "Taking Mr. Itopa" by Caleb Ozovehe Ajinomoh](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-taking-mr-itopa-by-caleb-ozovehe-ajinomoh/) - Annevoi's husband is missing—that's where we find ourselves at the beginning of Caleb Ozovehe Ajinomoh's tender yet surprising new fiction, "Taking Mr. Itopa," today's entry into our New Voices catalog. Dive in below to this phenomenal tale of a woman who takes her life into her own hands: At the clinic, everyone smiled at her.
- [The Masters Review Anthology Volume XII Shortlist!](https://mastersreview.com/the-masters-review-anthology-volume-xii-shortlist/) - Announcing the thirty stories and essays selected for The Masters Review Anthology Volume XII! These thirty pieces are now in the hands on Toni Jensen, who has the immensely difficult task of selecting only ten to appear in this year's printed volume. Congratulations to the shortlisted authors, and thank you once again from the bottom
- [Literary Terms: Symbol, Motif, Theme](https://mastersreview.com/literary-terms-symbol-motif-theme/) - Our Literary Terms series takes a close look at words that describe stories. Like when we examined the uncanny, the gothic, and the grotesque or when we looked at the difference between magical realism, science fiction, and fantasy. This week, we explore symbol, motif, and theme, and their differences. All three of these nouns take
- [Literary Terms: Flash Fiction](https://mastersreview.com/literary-terms-flash-fiction/) - These days, it seems like flash fiction has never been more popular. With many journals including separate submission categories for flash and still others, such as wigleaf and SmokeLong Quarterly, devoted entirely to the publication of small fictions—the short short story is (finally) getting its due. Many authors, such as Lydia Davis, Amelia Gray, Ben
- [First-Person Direct Address](https://mastersreview.com/craft-essay-first-person-direct-address/) - Today on the blog, we continue our Craft Essay series with this entry on the first-person direct address. I take a look at four stories from Brett Anthony Johnston, Kevin Brockmeier, Sandra Cisernos and Stuart Dybeck, that utilize the first-person direct address and examine how it's used to benefit the story. When used effectively, the
- [Horror vs Terror: The Vocabulary of Fear by Lincoln Michel](https://mastersreview.com/horror-vs-terror-vocabulary-fear-lincoln-michel/) - This October we're focusing on literature that disturbs, disgusts, and frightens, and with it comes a craft talk about the elements of those stories that scare us most. In this essay by Lincoln Michel, he writes about the difference between horror and terror, exposing the fine line between what we know about scary stories and
- [Literary Terms: Gothic, Grotesque, and The Uncanny](https://mastersreview.com/literary-terms-gothic-grotesque-and-the-uncanny/) - Today, we are pleased to present the Halloween edition of our Literary Terms series. Here at TMR, we love scary stories, and it is useful to examine the vocabulary we use to describe the fiction that frightens us. Gothic Literature- Merriam-Webster defines Gothic as: adj., “of or relating to a style of writing that describes
- [Literary Terms: Narrative Nonfiction, Autobiography, and Memoir](https://mastersreview.com/literary-terms-narrative-nonfiction-autobiography-and-memoir/) - There's something special about excellent nonfiction, but the water gets muddy when you try to label works under its large umbrella. Today, as part of our literary terms series, we examine three methods of telling a true story as we explore the similarities and differences among narrative nonfiction, autobiography, and memoir. (In past literary terms
- [Literary Terms: Magical Realism, Science Fiction, and Fantasy](https://mastersreview.com/literary-terms-magical-realism-science-fiction-and-fantasy/) - In past literary terms posts, we have discussed: the difference between terror and horror; apocalyptic, dystopian, and post-apocalyptic fiction; and legend, myth, and fairy tale. We are happy to continue our studies with the latest addition to our literary terms series. One of our favorite things about fiction is its ability to build new worlds,
- [Literary Terms Library](https://mastersreview.com/literary-terms-library/) - In our Literary Terms series, we examine the definitions of frequently used (and misused) words. What is the difference between horror and terror? Apocalyptic and dystopian? Magical realism, science fiction, and fantasy? In this series, we tackle questions such as these. Today, we present our full Literary Terms archive so that you can refresh your
- [Literary Terms: Apocalyptic, Dystopian, and Post-Apocalyptic](https://mastersreview.com/literary-terms-apocalyptic-dystopian-and-post-apocalyptic/) - The end of the world, a cataclysmic future, oppressive governments. The future of mankind has been imagined and reimagined in literature for decades, but it seems lately there has been an influx of stories on the topic. This week we're looking at the apocalypse in fiction. To start it off, we'll examine three end-of-the-world terms
- [Literary Terms: Legend, Myth, and Fairy Tale](https://mastersreview.com/literary-terms-legend-myth-and-fairy-tale/) - In our literary terms series, we tackle the gaps of understanding between words. What's the difference between internal monologue and stream of consciousnesses? Dystopian and apocalyptic? Horror and terror? Today we examine the unique definitions of legend, myth, and fairy tale. Legends, myths, and fairy tales all have a place in folklore, the main difference
- [Notes From The Slush](https://mastersreview.com/notes-from-the-slush/) - Masters Review editors Kim Winternheimer and Sadye Teiser discuss craft elements in submissions they've recently accepted and declined. K: After our editorial meetings when we discuss the stories we want to accept, there are always a few craft issues that come up as a result of submissions that seem worth discussing. But before we get
- [Notes from the Slush: Summer 2018 Short Story Award](https://mastersreview.com/notes-from-the-slush-summer-2018-short-story-award/) - Thank you to all of our submitters for participating in this year's Summer Short Story Award for New Writers. Today, our editors discuss what helped our winning stories stand out and what, ultimately, held others back. Thanks to all again and we wish you the best of luck in our future contests. Cole Meyer:
- [Notes from the Slush: 2019 Flash Fiction Contest](https://mastersreview.com/notes-from-the-slush-2019-flash-fiction-contest/) - The winners of our 2019 Flash Fiction Contest will be announced next Tuesday, which means it's time for one of our favorite series! Our editorial team had a hard time narrowing the shortlist down to only 15 stories, so we can only imagine how tough it was for Kathy Fish to make her selections. After
- [Notes from The Slush: 2018 Winter Short Story Award](https://mastersreview.com/notes-slush-2018-winter-short-story-award/) - Every submission we read here at The Masters Review teaches us something new. Well, this year's Winter Short Story Award for New Writers was no exception. It was a tough deliberation and, after the winners were chosen, we found that we still had a lot to talk about. Here, our editors discuss what makes a
- [Notes From The Slush Pile](https://mastersreview.com/notes-from-the-slush-pile/) - We asked editor Andrew Wetzel to offer some insight, a summary of sorts, of the types of things he's seeing in submissions. Here is what he had to say: Entries have typically run between 2500 and 4500 words, but it seems like 3500-4000 has been the sweet spot for a lot of the stronger submissions.
- [Notes from the Slush: 2018 Winter Short Story Award](https://mastersreview.com/notes-from-slush-2018-winter-short-story-award/) - We received an incredible number of submissions for our Winter Short Story Award judged by Aimee Bender, and the shortlist decision was tough. So many excellent stories we couldn't nominate! Editors Cole and Melissa discuss the strengths of the stories on the shortlist, where others fell just short, and common trends we see in successful
- [Notes From The Slush - Flash Fiction](https://mastersreview.com/notes-from-the-slush-flash-fiction/) - Our Notes From The Slush series is a discussion among Masters Review editors about what they saw in their most recent submissions. In the discussion they examine what was working in the stories they accepted and some of the challenges they saw in the pieces that were declined. Today, editors Kim Winternheimer and Sadye Teiser,
- [Notes From The Slush // Winter Award](https://mastersreview.com/notes-from-the-slush-winter-award/) - In this installment of Notes From The Slush, Sadye Teiser and Kim Winternheimer discuss their most recent round of submissions: what worked in the stories they accepted and the challenges they saw in stories that were declined. K: I love doing these exchanges because it's fun to discuss the stories as a group as opposed
- [Craft Chat: Second Person](https://mastersreview.com/craft-chat-second-person/) - Our editors return to our conversation on perspective with some thoughts on a point of view we'd like to see more of: second person. We were lucky to publish Nancy Ludmerer's "Matchbox" on Monday, a fantastic example of the power in this perspective. Cole Meyer: We've published very little in second person at The Masters
- [Craft Chat: Pacing](https://mastersreview.com/craft-chat-pacing/) - In this month's Craft Chat, the editorial team discusses a component of submissions that we often find makes or breaks a piece: Pacing. So I wanted to ask, what are we talking about when we talk about pacing? Cole Meyer: What do we talk about when we talk about pacing? (Is that cliche?) One of
- [Craft Chat: Overused Narrative Tropes](https://mastersreview.com/craft-chat-overused-narrative-tropes/) - We've all been there: Open Submittable and click on the first assignment for this week, and groan—it's another ____ story! Inspired by a recent Cathy Ulrich tweet, The Masters Review editors chatted about what narrative tropes we feel are overused, ineffective, or generally hard sells for us. Cole Meyer: Everyone has a narrative pet peeve,
- [Craft Chat: What We're Looking For in Chapbooks](https://mastersreview.com/craft-chat-what-were-looking-for-in-chapbooks/) - In this Craft Chat, our editors discuss a few of the endless possibilities that chapbooks represent for us. We're hoping to read great writing, of course, and we always do! But this contest offers something new that our other contests don't. We can't wait to see what y'all have in store for us! Cole Meyer:
- [Craft Chat: Finding the Nugget](https://mastersreview.com/craft-chat-finding-the-nugget/) - While reading through submissions for our ninth anthology, the editors began to discuss what work needed to be done to "find the nugget", the good story that's buried inside early drafts. The following chat is what emerged. Cole Meyer: When we were reading through the longlist for our 9th Anthology and narrowing down to the
- [Craft Chat: 1st Person vs. 3rd Person POV](https://mastersreview.com/craft-chat-1st-vs-3rd-person-pov/) - It happened. We got into a small argument: Which is better, first-person or third-person POV? It's a pointless argument, one you can never win, but we thought the resulting conversation was worth sharing. Which side of the aisle are you on? Melissa Hinshaw: I would like to start by saying I would love to apply
- [Craft Chat: Endings](https://mastersreview.com/craft-chat-endings/) - In this edition of Craft Chat, The Masters Review editors talk about a particularly tricky part of writing: nailing the ending. Or, sticking the landing. However you want to conceive of that finale, we talk about what, in our opinion, makes endings successful. (Which unfortunately is also why they're so hard!) Cole Meyer: Something that
- [Craft Chat: Flash Fiction](https://mastersreview.com/craft-chat-flash-fiction/) - With just under a week left in our Flash Fiction Contest, our editors decided to have a chat about just a few of the great finalists we've published in this contest in past years. Don't miss out on your opportunity to be read by the great Stuart Dybek! Submit those stories today. Cole Meyer: Flash
- [Stories That Teach: "Heaven" by Steven Barthelme - Discussed by David James Poissant](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-heaven-by-steven-barthelme-discussed-by-david-james-poissant/) - This week, we'll be examining some of our favorite short stories and discussing the craft elements that make them so memorable. Today, author David James Poissant walks us through the brilliant story, "Heaven" by Steven Barthelme. "The story is wild, funny, fierce. It’s imaginative. But those are just adjectives. What, then, makes this story so
- [Stories That Teach: "Ghosts and Empties" by Lauren Groff - Discussed by Kim Winternheimer](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-ghosts-and-empties-by-lauren-groff-discussed-by-kim-winternheimer/) - In this craft essay, Masters Review editor Kim Winternheimer uses Lauren Groff's "Ghosts and Empties," to examine how success on the sentence level affects story elements. "New writers fill their sentences with syrupy words or too many adverbs, but good writers use prose to reflect a sensibility about the world." Read "Ghosts and Empties" here.
- [Stories That Teach: “The Rememberer” by Aimee Bender - Discussed by Sadye Teiser](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-the-rememberer-by-aimee-bender-discussed-by-sadye-teiser/) - On Monday, we heard from author David James Poissant on craft elements he admires in Steven Barthelme's story "Heaven." On Wednesday, Masters Review editor Kim Winternheimer took us through the beautifully crafted sentences of Lauren Groff's "Ghosts and Empties." Today, editor Sadye Teiser talks about Aimee Bender's story "The Rememberer" and the lessons it can
- [Stories That Teach: “Mollusk, Membrane, Human Heart” by Anne Valente – Discussed by Sadye Teiser](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-mollusk-membrane-human-heart-by-anne-valente-discussed-by-sadye-teiser/) - In our Stories That Teach series, we consider the lessons that some of our favorite stories can teach us about craft. In the past: David James Poissant has written about the elements he admires in "Heaven" by Steven Barthelme; editor Kim Winternheimer has walked us through the exquisite sentences in Lauren Groff's "Ghosts and Empies";
- [Stories That Teach: “When I Make Love to the Bug Man” by Laura Benedict – Discussed by Adrian Van Young](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-when-i-make-love-to-the-bug-man-by-laura-benedict-discussed-by-adrian-van-young/) - Today, we present the October edition of our Stories That Teach series, in which authors discuss effective craft elements of a particular story. We are proud to feature a contribution from the venerable Adrian Van Young, who dissects Laura Benedict's masterfully unsettling tale "When I Make Love to the Bug Man." In Benedict's creepy story,
- [Stories That Teach: “A Bedtime Story,” Gideon Jacobs](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-a-bedtime-story-gideon-jacobs/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [Stories That Teach: “Letter to the Lady of the House” by Richard Bausch & the Power of Schmaltz](https://mastersreview.com/stories-teach-letter-lady-house-richard-bausch-power-schmaltz/) - In our Stories That Teach series, we take a close look at our favorite tales to see what they can teach us about craft. We've examined the fictional lessons and social relevance of Susan Minot's story "Lust," dissected the elegant sentences in Lauren Groff's "Ghosts and Empties," and considered what makes Steven Barthelme's "Heaven" so
- [Stories That Teach: Gideon by ZZ Packer—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-gideon-by-zz-packer-discussed-by-brandon-williams/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from such pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [Stories That Teach: "For Our Children and For Ourselves" by Xuan Juliana Wang—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-for-our-children-and-for-ourselves-by-xuan-juliana-wang-discussed-by-brandon-williams/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [Stories That Teach: "Lust" by Susan Minot - Discussed by Sadye Teiser](https://mastersreview.com/stories-teach-lust-susan-minot-discussed-sadye-teiser/) - In our Stories That Teach series, we look at what some of our favorite works of short fiction can teach us about craft. In the past, we've examined the art of the sentence in Lauren Groff's "Ghosts and Empties" and dissected the creepiness of Laura Benedict's "When I Make Love to the Bug Man," to
- [Stories that Teach: "Violations" by Catherine Lacey—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-violations-by-catherine-lacey-discussed-by-brandon-williams/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [Stories That Teach: “A Particular Woman” by Molly Jean Bennett – Discussed by Sadye Teiser](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-a-particular-woman-by-molly-jean-bennett-discussed-by-sadye-teiser/) - Our Stories That Teach series closely examines works of fiction for the lessons that they can teach us about craft. We've taken a look at Lauren Groff's exquisite sentences, the creepy suspense of Laura Benedict's "When I Make Love to the Bug Man," and interiority in Anne Valente's beautiful story "Mollusk, Membrane, Human Heart," to
- [Stories that Teach: “Novostroïka” by Maria Reva—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-novostroika-by-maria-reva-discussed-by-brandon-williams/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [Stories that Teach: "The Pugilist at Rest" by Thom Jones—Discussed by Brandon Williams](https://mastersreview.com/stories-that-teach-the-pugilist-at-rest-by-thom-jones/) - When we think of teachable stories, we often reach deep into the rucksack of the literary past, pulling out classroom-tested stories that have worked their way into the canon. While there is obviously a ton to learn from these pieces, contemporary short story writers are also completing strong work built upon teachable literary foundations, while
- [Fall Fiction Contest 1st Place: "Salt-Sea" by Zeeva Bukai](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-salt-sea-by-zeeva-bukai/) - Introducing the 2019 Fall Fiction Contest Winner: "Salt-Sea" by Zeeva Bukai, selected by Anita Felicelli! About this grand prize winning story, Felicelli wrote, "Salt-Sea enthralls. Set against Israeli army life in the Judean Desert, this luminous story excavates both the brutal and the soulful with equal attention. The beautiful, hypnotic voice of the lonely narrator
- [Fall Fiction Contest 2nd Place: "Shenzhen" by Willa Zhang](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-shenzhen-by-willa-zhang/) - In today's New Voices, we're excited to share with you the second place finalist from our Fall Fiction Contest, "Shenzhen" by Willa Zhang, selected by Anita Felicelli. In her words: "Shenzhen is a vivid, heartfelt, and moving story about the moment in which we realize we don’t truly know our parents, that they’ve undergone a
- [Fall Fiction Contest 3rd Place: "It Could Happen To You" by Trent England](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-it-could-happen-to-you-by-trent-england/) - "'It Could Happen To You' is an unforgettable story about a family of three finding a UFO. As it slowly builds towards the eerie, it finds power in finely crafted scenes about the mundane aspects of child-rearing. There’s so much beauty in its everyday insights, in lines like “This is how most of parenting happens,
- [Fall Fiction Contest Honorable Mention: "Genealogy" by Nancy London](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-genealogy-by-nancy-london/) - Today, we are proud to share the honorable mention from our Fall Fiction Contest, Nancy London's "Genealogy." In this breathtaking reverie, the narrator reflects on her life and the lives of her ancestors: "There’s no way to write about my ancestors without beginning with my legs." read on. So. Trickle down economics. Youngest girl and
- [Summer Short Story Award 1st Place: "Ghost Story" by Becca Anderson](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-ghost-story-by-becca-anderson/) - At last! The Masters Review is proud to present the grand prize winning "Ghost Story" by Becca Anderson, selected by Tope Folarin as the best story in our 2019 Summer Short Story Award for New Writers! Becca's amazing story of two young friends on a road trip to a haunted bridge earned her a $3,000
- [Flash Fiction Contest Honorable Mention: "Observation Tube—McMurdo Station, Antarctica" by Justin Herrmann](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-observation-tube-mcmurdo-station-antarctica-by-justin-herrmann/) - We are thrilled to present the honorable mention from this year's Flash Fiction Contest: "Observation Tube—McMurdo Station, Antarctica" by Justin Herrmann. What exists just below the ice? What exists just below the surface of our interactions, those words both said and unsaid? Feel the chill of Herrmann's world in this breathtaking flash. A flask inside
- [Flash Fiction Contest 1st Place: "Homecoming" by Kathryn Phelan](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-homecoming-by-kathryn-phelan/) - The winner has arrived! Kathryn Phelan's "Homecoming" was selected by Kathy Fish as the grand prize winner for our Flash Fiction Contest this year. There's so much to say about this wonderful flash, but let's hear it straight from our judge herself: "This flash has the feel of a quiet, beautiful, deeply moving short film.
- [Flash Fiction Contest 2nd Place: "The Remains" by Felicity Fenton](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-the-remains-by-felicity-fenton/) - Today, we're sharing the second place finalist from our Flash Fiction Contest, selected by Kathy Fish. "The Remains" by Felicity Fenton: "Apocalyptic, unnerving, horrifying, and strange, this is another flash that begins with a great first line: 'Earlier there was talk of explosion buttons and who might push them.' I was in awe of the
- [Flash Fiction Contest 3rd Place: "Simple Physics" by Kevin Leahy, 3rd Place Flash Fiction Contest](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-simple-physics-by-kevin-leahy-3rd-place-flash-fiction-contest/) - Today in New Voices, the third place finalist for our Flash Fiction Contest, selected by Kathy Fish: "Simple Physics" by Kevin Leahy! In selecting this piece, Kathy said, "This deceptively simple story addresses the murkiness of memory in the face of great pain and loss. Here, the narrator, now grown, recalls a family outing that
- [Winter Short Story Award 2nd Place: "Caretaker Needed" by Meghan Daniels](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-caretaker-needed-by-meghan-daniels/) - "Caretaker Needed," the 2nd place story in our 2018 Winter Short Story Award for New Writers was selected by Aimee Bender on the basis of its frank and anti-sentimental voice. She said, "I love how this voice will make a statement and then a sentence later modify the statement— the narrator’s voice is so frank
- [Winter Short Story Award Honorable Mention: "At This Late Hour" by Rebecca Turkewitz](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-at-this-late-hour-by-rebecca-turkewitz/) - The 2018 Winter Short Story Award was our toughest contest in recent memory. Judge Aimee Bender had ten excellent stories to decide between. Today, we're publishing her honorable mention selection: "At This Late Hour" by Rebecca Turkewitz. About the story, Bender said, "This story shows such inhabited psychological insight— the sentences themselves feel lived in,
- [Summer Flash Fiction Contest 2nd Place: "Two Kinds of Neighborhoods" by Neil Cooney](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-two-kinds-of-neighborhoods-by-neil-cooney/) - Today, we are proud to present "Two Kinds of Neighborhoods" by Neil Cooney. Cooney placed second in our Summer Flash Fiction Contest with this story about a fight that breaks out in the narrator's neighborhood. But is his neighborhood the kind of neighborhood where fights occur, or is it another kind? I suppose there are
- [Summer Flash Fiction Contest 3rd Place: "Rieb Kear (to Marry)" by Adam Joseph Nazaroff](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-rieb-kear-to-marry-by-adam-joseph-nazaroff/) - Today, we are excited to share the third place winner of our Summer 2018 Flash Fiction Contest. "Rieb Kear (to Marry)" takes place at a Khmer wedding and highlights the melding of traditional and modern ceremonies, as well as the importance in passing on your heritage. In five years my own son’s first words will
- [Summer Short Story Award 3rd Place: "A Country Where I Am Beautiful" by Patty Smith](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-a-country-where-i-am-beautiful-by-patty-smith/) - We are excited to begin sharing the winners of our Summer 2018 Short Story Award for New Writers! Today, we have our third-place winner: "A Country Where I Am Beautiful" by Patricia Smith. We were drawn to this story's commentary on body image and beauty. Evelyn is in Senegal, far from her family and home
- [Spring Flash Fiction Contest 1st Place: "Ebenezer, Ebenezer" by Ariel Chu](https://mastersreview.com/winner-of-the-spring-flash-fiction-contest-ebenezer-ebenezer-by-ariel-chu/) - We are honored to share with you the heartbreaking "Ebenezer, Ebenezer" by Ariel Chu today—the standout Winner of the Spring Flash Fiction Contest. "Ebenezer, Ebenezer" softly leads the reader through loss and death, the heartache of a family robbed of their daughter, their sister. Poetic, tender, affecting—Chu's writing demands your attention. ““You’re still hung up
- [Spring Flash Fiction Contest 2nd Place: "Out of the Fields" by Bryna Cofrin-Shaw](https://mastersreview.com/spring-flash-fiction-contest-2nd-place-out-of-the-fields-by-bryna-cofrin-shaw/) - "Out of the Fields" by Bryna Cofrin-Shaw—selected as the Second Place winner of the Spring Flash Fiction Contest—is a tender, melancholy exploration of the relationship between step-mother and daughter. In only a few hundred words, Cofrin-Shaw delivers a rich emotional experience of loss and love through the perspective of a tenuous and fragile relationship. “Comatose? I
- [Spring Flash Fiction Contest 3rd Place: "Spies" by Timothy Schirmer](https://mastersreview.com/spring-flash-fiction-contest-3rd-place-spies-by-timothy-schirmer/) - We are so excited to share with you "Spies" by Timothy Schirmer today—selected as the Third Place winner of the Spring Flash Fiction Contest. "Spies" takes you into the heat of a family broken by divorce, exploring the disjointed relationships between parents and children. With poetic punch, Schirmer's complex story quickly takes shape around avian
- [Winter Short Story Award Honorable Mention: “The Visible Spectrum” by Carlee Jensen](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-visible-spectrum-carlee-jensen/) - Today, it is our pleasure to present "The Visible Spectrum" by Carlee Jensen. This lovely, languid, and aching summer story is the perfect start to June. It is told from the perspective of Samantha, whose older sister is determined to swim the length of the lake one summer. As they embark on their journey—Samantha in
- [Winter Short Story Award 3rd Place: “Birth Stories” by Sarah Harris Wallman](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-birth-stories-sarah-harris-wallman/) - Today we are pleased to present the third-place winner of our Short Story Award for New Writers: “Birth Stories” by Sarah Harris Wallman. We were immediately taken with this story which is told in short vignettes that chronicle the experiences of a group of neighborhood mothers in New Haven as the 2016 election draws near.
- [Fall Fiction Contest Honorable Mention:  “The Deca-life Crisis” by Jessi Lewis](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-deca-life-crisis-jessi-lewis/) - Today, we are proud to present "The Deca-life Crisis" by Jessi Lewis as the latest installment in our New Voices series. In this story, hundreds of children each year mysteriously turn into pieces of coral by their tenth birthdays. Along with this comes an irrepressible urge for these children to find new homes in the
- [Fall Fiction Contest 1st Place: “If I Could Have Anything, I’d Only Choose This” by Jill Rosenberg](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-anything-id-choose-jill-rosenberg/) - Today, we are pleased to present the winner of our Fall Fiction Contest judged by Brian Evenson: “If I Could Have Anything, I’d Only Choose This” by Jill Rosenberg. Evenson had this to say about the story: “The trouble with reality is that it’s all too prone to slip and slide and collapse, and when
- [Fall Fiction Contest 2nd Place: “Lepidomancy” by Maria Lioutaia](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-lepidomancy-maria-lioutaia/) - Today, we are proud to present “Lepidomancy,” the second-place winner of our Fall Fiction Contest judged by Brian Evenson. This story blew us away from the start. In "Lepidomancy,” there exists a conservatory full of butterflies who can foretell people’s future. Hannah and her husband Steven have a daughter with a rare chromosomal disorder, and
- [Fall Fiction Contest 3rd Place: “Together, Maureen” by Amanda Emil Anderson](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-together-maureen-amanda-emil-anderson/) - Today, we are pleased to present the third-place winner of our Fall Fiction Contest judged by Brian Evenson: “Together, Maureen” by Amanda Emil Anderson. In this story a woman, Maureen, literally becomes two different people after the sudden loss of her husband. The new Maureen and the old Maureen are left to mourn their loss
- [Summer Short Story Award 1st Place: “Demonman” by Julialicia Case](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-demonman-julialicia-case/) - Today, we are proud to present “Demonman” by Julialicia Case, the winner of our Summer Short Story Award for New Writers. We have never read a story quite like this powerful piece. It takes a few moments to recalibrate to the world in this story, but its horrors address some very real issues. In “Demonman”
- [Spring Flash Fiction Contest 1st Place: "Out and Out" by Latifa Ayad](https://mastersreview.com/spring-flash-fiction-contest-1st-place-out-and-out-by-latifa-ayad/) - Latifa Ayad’s “Out and Out” is the winner of The Masters Review‘s Spring 2017 Flash Fiction Contest. The Masters Review is an online and print publication that celebrates and promotes new and emerging writers. Ayad is a Libyan-American writer born and raised in Sarasota, Florida. She holds an MFA in Fiction from Florida State University.
- [Spring Flash Fiction Contest 2nd Place:  “Lions in the House” by Beejay Silcox](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-lions-in-the-house-by-beejay-silcox/) - Today, we are pleased to share with you the second place winner in our Flash Fiction Contest, “Lions in the House” by Beejay Silcox. This is a lovely, taut piece of flash. Through a discussion of nighttime noises in a house, this story reveals how two people in a relationship experience their anxieties differently. “He’s
- [Spring Flash Fiction Contest Honorable Mention: "Balter Café" by Elle Flythe](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-balter-cafe-by-elle-flythe/) - Today we introduce "Balter Café" by Elle Flythe to our New Voices library. This sweet, but sad story, was an honorable mention in our Flash Fiction Contest and slowly unveils the terrors of an earthquake as it tears apart a café. You won't soon forget this small, but powerful piece. The chairs outside the Balter
- [Spring Flash Fiction Contest Honorable Mention: “Road Trip” by Rachel Attias](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-road-trip-by-rachel-attias/) - Rachel Attias’s powerful piece, “Road Trip,” received an honorable mention in our recent Flash Fiction Contest. This pithy little story goes deep. It chronicles the experience of a group of girls who set off on a cross-country road trip after college. Attias perfectly conveys both the freedom of youth and the ways in which young
- [Winter Short Story Award 2nd Place: "White Out" by Caitlin O'Neil](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-white-out-by-caitlin-oneil/) - Congratulations to Caitlin O'Neil and her haunting story, "White Out," the second-place winner of our Winter Short Story Award. In "White Out," New England is under feet of snow, which has separated families and loved ones from the rest of the country. The affected area worsens, enters a state of emergency, and becomes a military
- [Winter Short Story Award 3rd Place: “Malheur Refuge” by Rick Attig](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices-malheur-refuge-by-rick-attig/) - In Rick Attig’s wondrous and moving story, “Malheur Refuge,” a foster father is forced to part with his foster daughter after his wife leaves them both. They spend their last day together on a journey to band sandhill cranes in the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. This story beautifully navigates complex physical and emotional landscapes.

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- ["Calling Out" by Robyn Jefferson](https://mastersreview.com/calling-out-by-robyn-jefferson/) - Beth knew she was getting dumped as soon as her phone lit up in her hand, because the first line of the incoming message was hey uhhhhh. She swerved into the Caffè Nero at the top of Union Street, bought a smoothie, then sat alone in the corner with her phone face-up on the table
- ["Crybaby" by Mariah Adcox](https://mastersreview.com/crybaby-by-mariah-adcox/) - 1. That fall, the rats were out. Everywhere you went people were talking about them. It was like they were taking over. I was repulsed, of course, but I also felt jealous of how confidently they moved through the world. They danced on the subway tracks like death wasn’t coming and I thought to myself,
- ["The Blood Hustle" by Alice Hatcher](https://mastersreview.com/the-blood-hustle-by-alice-hatcher/) - Most people would agree that, if a thirty-year-old woman is selling her own blood in a seedy highway motel in Tucson, just to chip away at the interest on student loans she took out for a General Studies degree, she’s probably made some bad choices. I’ll admit, I made some bad choices, but they had
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- ["Life Hack" by Patricia Callahan](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/life-hack-by-patricia-callahan/) - The day a chunk of the school broke off and crushed Sharon’s skull, she’d said something rotten. “Hope you don’t still keep Carlotta in your room,” she’d said, biting into one end of a sour belt, yanking hard on the other. Sharon’s mom packed the best snacks. Sometimes Sharon would trade me for the granola
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- ["Natural Selection" by Diana Reed](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/natural-selection-by-diana-reed/) - The boy wields the new blue lice comb. It has two sets of tiny teeth and a bright light, like an undersea monster. He shines the light on his sister’s forehead. His mother and sister brush him away, and he jumps off the toilet seat to look for his alien ship, adrift somewhere in the
- ["Pigeons in Every Universe" by Kiran Kaur Saini](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/pigeons-in-every-universe-by-kiran-kaur-saini/) - Ma is banging pots in the kitchen, and this is how I know Grapa is on the roof feeding the pigeons. The HOA had a meeting about him and Ma is worried about eviction. Grapa and I have a coop hidden up there. On days I feel well enough to climb the stairs, he shows
- ["The Tail" by Kailyn McCord](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-tail-by-kailyn-mccord/) - At the corner of our country parcel, where the driveway meets the street, my husband and I found a tail. Or, I found it, and showed him, and that was how things began. We arrived at dusk. The tail hung on the edge of the trash box, which was square and rotting and had been
- ["B.I.W. Boys" by Katherine Cart](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/b-i-w-boys-by-katherine-cart/) - “B.I.W. boys!” Jacob had cried when he and Quiller and Samual all got hired on at Bellport Iron Works. The way Quiller had curled his peach-fuzzed lip, like what the fuck is it that you’re saying when you’re saying B.I.W., when you’re saying boys, really? shut Jacob up. Quiller had two inches on the shoulders
- ["July 2015: A Compendium" by Daniel Garcia](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/july-2015-a-compendium-by-daniel-garcia/) - Concepts betroth(-al) | \bi-ˈtrōt͟h v. to promise one’s self to another; to be true. n. a space wherein two people circle together and then fuse. hope | /hōp/ v. to bridge, as if having shot an arrow, across the interstice between dream and touch. n. the bloom, red and slow, in my sternum, the day
- ["The Space Between Heartbeats" by Jessica Yen](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-space-between-heartbeats-by-jessica-yen/) - Once, the baby woke prematurely from a nap, or perhaps she screamed and refused to go down for one, I remember not which, only that I needed a moment to myself and she would not grant me even that. Resentment vaporized any patience that still clung to my bones. By that point, the husband and
- ["Blow Up" by G. S. Arnold](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/blow-up-by-g-s-arnold/) - Saddam Hussein has toppled into his Shelter in Place Strawberry Falooda, the air gone out of him like a popped tire. Crimson guck pools around the tandoori skewer pronging from his side. I dab a finger and sniff. Tomato chutney. Again. Sanjay swishes up in fluid resistant coveralls, gloves, a plastic face shield. “Another one?”
- ["Río Negro" by Lynn Sikkink](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/rio-negro-by-lynn-sikkink/) - Even with the motor stilled, momentum propelled the boat through the root beer-colored water. “Is this it?” Dalia asked her guide. “Si, señorita,” Fausto replied, his eyes on the shore. If Fausto was right, the boat’s prow pointed to the village where Dalia hoped to find her missing sister. Dalia searched for a breach in
- [Flash Fiction Contest](https://mastersreview.com/flash-fiction-contest/) - The Masters Review Spring Small Fiction Awards //Submissions Close June 1// We've long admired the mighty power of the compressed form, which is why we are expanding our search for the very best in small fiction. The Masters Review is excited to announce the new Spring Small Fiction Awards! This contest will honor a grand
- ["Leap Year" by Chloe Alberta](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/leap-year-by-chloe-alberta/) - Hollis was bored, so bored, so gruesomely bored she’d resorted to tracing the tip of a butcher’s knife along the inside curve of her hip bone. Bored on a cosmic level so she withdrew her last eighty-seven dollars and fucked off to a cabin up north to do a new kind of nothing in a
- ["Homeboy" by Nancy Garcia](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/homeboy-by-nancy-garcia/) - You were low-key dating a sorority girl when we first met at the Fatburger checkout line, but didn’t tell me for like, a fucking year. My buddy Alex comforted me when I found out, telling me it was because she could dunk a basketball better than she could hose down a triple patty. It was
- ["The Distant Daughter" by Brenda Salinas Baker](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-distant-daughter-by-brenda-salinas-baker/) - Inside a closet, there’s a faded mint green album with a row of pink and orange houses. Tucked between its pages is a photo of Vera on a mustached man’s lap. She wears a wrist-length turquoise dress with puffed sleeves and a lace collar. On her heart, a white bib with embroidered marigolds in a
- ["The Sum of All Amazements" by Lyndsie Manusos](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-sum-of-all-amazements-by-lyndsie-manusos/) - My father lit himself on fire as a side gig. When he wasn’t working as a mechanic, he was an amateur daredevil. He performed at local rodeos in Spring Grove and Lakemoore. The Greased Pig festival and at the start of the boat races at Blarney’s Island. Low-budget high schools hired him for homecoming football
- ["Prelude to the Abyss" by Daniel David Froid](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/prelude-to-the-abyss-by-daniel-david-froid/) - I. As a young man, Denis Fine knew that he would one day do something very great and very terrible. This was no show of pride, of overweening and vainglorious ambition. No, it appeared to be a matter of fact, because he was told, or shown, and he tended to do as he was told.
- ["Can't Elope" by Miriam Camitta](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/cant-elope-by-miriam-camitta/) - I didn’t invite Margot to my wedding. She was my brilliant older sister, diagnosed with schizophrenia when I was a child. Once, I’d adored her, but she’d fallen ill in the fifties and, failing effective or even adequate medication, might now, even in the eighties, savage my perfect day: talking to her familiars, declaring a
- ["The Woman in the Tree" by Lisa Beebe](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-woman-in-the-tree-by-lisa-beebe/) - When I first saw the woman in the tree, I posted about her on the neighborhood's online message board. I titled it "Lady in tree," described her location, and asked if anybody knew where she'd come from. None of the commenters were able to identify her, but a few hazarded guesses that she was homeless, mentally ill, addicted
- ["Behind the Falls" by Paulette Pierce](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/behind-the-falls-by-paulette-pierce/) - When Lainey looks at Niagara Falls, all she can think about is Jenni Olson and the Golden Gate Bridge suicides. She remembers the hook of Keller’s leg under the blanket as they watched The Joy of Life, Olson’s narration about the city’s refusal to erect a barrier of protection around the bridge, Keller’s limbs fastened
- ["A Dictionary of How Things Break" by Nora Studholme](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/a-dictionary-of-how-things-break-by-nora-studholme/) - 1. Glass: radially. Flicking outward in forking fingers, fleeing the force until all its power is spent and it settles into an uneasy stillness. 2. Metal: reluctantly. It shouldn’t be breaking. It is supposed to be impervious. It splits hot and howling, its edges vengeful, seeking flesh. 3. Water: doesn’t. It shifts and splashes, playful,
- ["Now or Never" by Leo Ríos](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/now-or-never-by-leo-rios/) - That other time, with that neighbor kid, it had scared me—hearing him yell like he’d been shot, the wound on his thigh muscle red and sliced open. He’d tried to jump the fence and failed, impaling his leg on one of the metal spikes that lined the top. Peeking out from behind my living room
- ["Used Scars" by Patrina Corsetti](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/used-scars-by-patrina-corsetti/) - We were all being watched. At least that’s what we thought. Sometimes, we even imagined the watching into existence so that we had an excuse for our paranoia, which was very real. “Don’t let them think you don’t want to be watched,” Ed With The Bad Teeth had said. Tomorrow when I can stand straighter,
- ["Jaja-Haha" by Madari Pendas](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/jaja-haha-by-madari-pendas/) - 1989, Midtown Manhattan Freddy was unaware that as he worked the past was storming down Broadway and 53rd, past security, past his secretary, and into The Late Show with David Letterman offices. He perked up when he heard a knock at his closed door. Before he could ask who was there, the door swung open
- ["Fishing" by Yiwei Chai](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/fishing-by-yiwei-chai/) - She thought going to the boonies would help things, but after a month and a half she is back. Her sister only picks up after the third consecutive call. “I’m outside your house,” she says. “What?” “I rang the doorbell and everything. Are you trying to avoid me?” “God, Nathelie. I’m not home. It’s Tuesday.
- ["Jessica's Body" by Kit Mitchell](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/jessicas-body-by-kit-mitchell/) - Jessica used to have a recurring dream when she was a teenager that she picked at a hangnail and the strip of skin, instead of breaking off, kept peeling back, down her finger, across the back of her hand and up her arm until—as if her body was a box of chocolates wrapped in cellophane
- ["Out, Brief Candle" by Hannah Rose Roberts](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/out-brief-candle-by-hannah-rose-roberts/) - Scent is the strongest tie to memory, they say. It had made the decision easy for Marlow. At least the initial decision. From there she had been overwhelmed, standing at the counter in a near-trance, fiddling with the tassels on the zipper of her purse, trying to decide what to put him in. This whole
- ["The Physiology of Arriving" by Michele Wong](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-physiology-of-arriving-by-michele-wong/) - Your feet move slowly, dragging one Samsonite hardcase till you reach the departure gate where you feel the eel of awkward slip from head to toe as each word bends the heart when Ba says my child and Ma asks in Cantonese if she’d let your hand go too soon, would your scholarship turn you
- ["My Sister Versus Tomatoes" by Kate Barss](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/my-sister-versus-tomatoes-by-kate-barss/) - My sister will no longer eat tomatoes. As a kid, in the early mornings, she was always awake before the rest of us. We’d always find her in front of the TV, a bowl of chopped tomatoes in front of her, spooning them into her mouth, licking the spoon afterwards for the juice. Her boyfriend
- ["Linda Peterson Sounds Like A Reasonable Name" by Jennifer Dupree](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/linda-peterson-sounds-like-a-reasonable-name-by-jennifer-dupree/) - We are on the way home from a Saturday afternoon family Halloween party and I am wearing my sexy witch costume, which is basically a black leotard, tights, and a lot of eye makeup. I ditched the hat in the backseat with the girls. The leotard is riding up in both the front and the
- ["Russian Thistle" by Laura Farnsworth](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/russian-thistle-by-laura-farnsworth/) - The place where you grew up plays like a slideshow on the screen of your eyelids years and more years later, one after another, click and click and click, the pictures coming up in no order, here’s your daddy bringing a lemonade to your mama, here’s grandpop next to the big truck he drove for
- ["A Single Mark" by Reena Shah](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/a-single-mark-by-reena-shah/) - Maybe it was wrong to bring the baby. Deepa could’ve called Louisa to watch the child, or one of her expecting friends eager for practice. She didn’t mind leaving Anu to go to the gym or buy groceries or swipe through racks at Marshall’s. In fact, she liked it. Ruchi stared out the one window
- ["The Crown Prince of Koi" by Daniel Abiva Hunt](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-crown-prince-of-koi-by-daniel-abiva-hunt/) - Before the first seating of the night, I beg my assistant chef—my wakiita—to refrain from correcting any of the customers tonight. He can come off curt when explaining how to properly enjoy premium sushi. We can’t afford to upset anyone at the moment. Our restaurant’s in a tight race for a James Beard Award. Any
- ["Rosebell" by Silvia Spring](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/rosebell-by-silvia-spring/) - For the entire nine months I lived in Nairobi, I slept in a single bed. I had volunteered to move there because my boss said we didn’t have anyone else to cover East Africa. The bureau chief in Capetown guaranteed me at least seven days of work a month for my reporting, a hundred dollars
- ["Take Warning: The Ballad of Sammy Slug" by Glenn Lester](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/take-warning-the-ballad-of-sammy-slug-by-glenn-lester/) - A TRUE DORK My name is Sammy Slug, and I faked punk. This is the story of me, and of Gibbs Mott, and of a poor kid who lost a brother and two fingers when all he wanted was to be my friend. This is the story of a sorrowful young mother, and of my
- ["Hakuri" by Jessica Cavero](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/hakuri-by-jessica-cavero/) - In the spring, I learned to walk through Japanese as through a revolving door. I was in constant, violent translation. Hands bored through the holes of my undressed form, struggling to make me legible. Eyes studied the margins of my face. Legs crossed. Sit straight. By the end of my third year as a hostess,
- ["The Slapjack" by Alan Sincic](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-slapjack-by-alan-sincic/) - A Citizen True The days they rambled on. Barnett moved—if you could call it that, for a kid with naught but a lungful of air for luggage—from Maggie’s anteroom to the shed out back. Set up shop under the shade of an oak at the edge of the road. Flea market from out the bed
- ["Red State" by Allie Torgan](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/red-state-by-allie-torgan/) - Jill November 1989 It’s in our blood like the Republican party and Jesus Christ. Football. It’s life here; plasma fueling veins, throbbing arteries, pounding hearts. You can feel the pulse in this flat Texas town tonight. An away game; a Friday night. We advance like warriors. Wildcats. Vikings. Cougars. Lions and Tigers and Bears oh
- ["Unmuted" by Daniel Condict Moore](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/unmuted-by-daniel-condict-moore/) - The great reckoning will come. All the sad trash in the world will be redeemed in everlasting light. If you could cry you would, but you are on a conference call, staring at the odd assortment of debris that has formed an accidental still life on the grassy median between the drive-through lane and the
- ["Shelly had pencils covered in teethmarks" by Lindy Biller](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/shelly-had-pencils-covered-in-teethmarks-by-lindy-biller/) - and beige scrunchies and bitten-down nails painted silver with glitter glue, which she peeled off at the end of the school day and collected in a pile on her desk, like snake scales. Shelly was my best friend, and she was shy, like me, so we were also each other’s only friend—but even if I’d
- ["The Blue Raincoat" by Judith Cooper](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-blue-raincoat-by-judith-cooper/) - 1 Listen to the low hum on either side of the deserted road and imagine the huge mass of bees spread throughout the forest. Follow the ancient stone wall on your left that in some places stumbles and falls, in others is patched and stands strong. There is a constant trill of birdsong wherever you
- ["For Our Children and For Ourselves" by Xuan Juliana Wang](https://mastersreview.com/for-our-children-and-for-ourselves-by-xuan-juliana-wang/) - From the book HOME REMEDIES by Xuan Juliana Wang. Copyright © 2019 by Xuan Wang Inc. Published by Hogarth, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Hogarth. In a blue sky smeared with white clouds, his mother’s pigeons whirled above his head in
- ["Knitting Verse" by Elizabeth Brinsfield](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/knitting-verse-by-elizabeth-brinsfield/) - 1 The first time my son and I arrived at the farm school, the mothers and children were congregating out by a metal swing set with barber-pole stripes. Two girls, about five, rode on traditional swings with long chains, and two younger girls were swinging back and forth on a plastic glider, their gunnysack dresses
- ["The Writer" by Lyndsey Smith](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-writer-by-lyndsey-smith/) - I last saw the writer at a party in his house on Manor Street, which was halfway between the house I shared with Liv and the Tesco on Prussia Street where we did most of our grocery shopping. There had been talk of him selling up and moving on or of renting the house out
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- ["The Picnic" by Nathan Alling Long](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-picnic-by-nathan-alling-long/) - They were there in the field after the picnic (of cheeses and a loaf of fresh sour dough that he had baked that morning, which filled the car with the scent of roasted wheat, and of cold grilled asparagus and tomatoes she had picked from the garden she had been cultivating all summer, of peaches
- ["The Fight" by Chaya Bhuvaneswar](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction/the-fight-by-chaya-bhuvaneswar/) - "It's not just that he came into the room," Mahisha said. They were walking to Clark's Diner to get ice cream. A May afternoon near end of term. "It's you. It's that you didn't do anything when he just came in and talked to you and I was fucking naked in your bed." "We were not fucking.
- ["Hey, Stop Blaming Your Dead Father's Fists" by Vincent Anioke](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/hey-stop-blaming-your-dead-fathers-fists-by-vincent-anioke/) - There’s an unsnoozeable alarm clock in your head. Your room has a lopsided bed and no sheets and unscuffed running shoes near the wilted hydrangeas. Sushi Paradise rolls float in greasy mold. The journal on your nightstand has a shiny golden latch in front. Its pages are scrawled with I wills that never were: Will
- ["In The New Year" by Nicole VanderLinden](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/in-the-new-year-by-nicole-vanderlinden/) - The year crashed into being. This was before the disappearances, the pets and the girl and the house. That morning, on New Year’s Day, Elle drove to the grocery for black-eyed peas, because she’d realized that she hadn’t done anything for her son for the new year, no ball drop on the TV or glitter
- ["Land of the Midday Sun" by Jeff Ewing](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/land-of-the-midday-sun-by-jeff-ewing/) - Jens could feel the snow accumulating, the wet flakes clumping on his shoulders—one more weight piling on. He lit a cigarette and let the smoke warm him as the feeble sun scooped along the horizon, grazing the line of trees at the edge of the sea. Far to the north, Suna was settling back into
- ["Raw" by Isle McElroy](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/raw-by-isle-mcelroy/) - When did the nosebleeds begin? Months before I met Gabe? Weeks? That night? I did get a couple that night. The first came before work—technically during work. I was in the alley behind Raw, ten minutes late to my shift, and leaning my head back so I wouldn’t dirty my shirt. Eric’s car was unlocked,
- ["Carve" by Kaushika Suresh](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/carve-by-kaushika-suresh/) - Mallavika tells Kavitha who tells Rani who tells Brinda who tells Pinky’s older sister at Princeton who tells Pinky who tells us. Everybody is doing it. Water then soap then sugar then butter then rinse, Pinky tells us. All those rules? we ask. Will it hurt? Will it work? Yes, yes, yes. We like the
- ["Picture This" by Alicia Marshall](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/picture-this-by-alicia-marshall/) - Father The father stood off to the side of the picture, like he stood off to the side of the family, like he stood off to the side of life, always looking for a way to escape into the margins, where there was breathing room, where he could tell stories and crack jokes without receiving
- ["The Virgins of San Nicolás" by Nicole Simonsen](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-virgins-of-san-nicolas-by-nicole-simonsen/) - In San Nicolás de Ibarra, in the old house where Abuelita’s spinstered sisters lived their entire lives, my cousin Perla and I shared a small room with a single, large bed. The pillows were thin, the mattress hard, the sheets musty, and it was hotter and more humid than we’d ever experienced, so we didn’t
- ["The Rains" by Rona S. Fernandez](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-rains-by-rona-s-fernandez/) - Delta Marsh, November 2051 The three months since the baby died had been a purgatory of waiting. First, for the bleeding to cease, then for grief to stop sawing at her bones like a rusty cleaver. When it was done, it settled inside Tess’s flesh as unwanted weight she would never shed. Later, a brief,
- ["Snow Angels" by Noah Codega](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/snow-angels-by-noah-codega/) - The call that Dad had frozen to death in a snowbank in Deering Oaks Park came from Mom. She liked keeping me abreast of family matters, even though Dad hadn't been family for years. In my more cynical moments I thought of family as strange outlying islets, related only by caprices of geography, the waters
- ["a work of art" by aureleo sans](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/a-work-of-art-by-aureleo-sans/) - Mami crossed oceans to avoid getting drowned, but you can’t escape water like you can’t escape fate. You attended the school of her hard knocks: the fairy tales she lullabied at bedtime about gangs and death squads and narcotraficantes marauding the countryside and her childhood. Her family dined on the tough meat from the horses
- ["An Essential Service" by Joy Guo](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/an-essential-service-by-joy-guo/) - It was still dark when we finished breakfast and Ma packed what we needed for the day—oily smock and slippers, two masks, my Hello Kitty suitcase with the bum wheel. Inside the suitcase were nail polish, remover, hand towels, clippers, cotton pads, a foot buffer with removable pads. “Come on,” she said, waving away the
- ["Night Stencils" by Sherine Elbanhawy](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/night-stencils-by-sherine-elbanhawy/) - Forty stacks of disheveled newspapers, each one filtered by headline. Forty days of bleeding after birth. Forty days of travel in the underworld—one month and ten days. As a historian, Hoda should have felt more tethered to the fortieth day ritual, yet all she wanted was to be alone. “I can’t tell people not to
- ["Wish You Were Here" by Carlee Jensen](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/wish-you-were-here-by-carlee-jensen/) - Jackson died in November and for a few months I barely saw Alicia at all. I helped out with the memorial service, obviously, and we texted a little afterward, especially through the holidays. We even made plans to see a movie at The Charles one weekend, though those fell through at the last minute after
- ["All This is Yours to Lose" by Marcus Tan](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/all-this-is-yours-to-lose-by-marcus-tan/) - 1. Wenxiang stared at the back of the bus seat. “There’s nothing to be sorry about.” “I feel like I’ve let you down,” Leanne said. “Stop it. We both know it’s not your fault.” Wenxiang leaned his head against the window, his breath fogging up the glass, creating a mist which bloomed across the swathes
- ["Degenerate Matter" by Jennifer Galvão](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/degenerate-matter-by-jennifer-galvao/) - Girlhood was uncomfortable, flyaway. I couldn’t keep myself assembled. Always a drooping sock, a shirt coming untucked. I had bruises whose origins I couldn’t place. I felt called to maintain impartiality, to never admit to liking anything. I did everything in secret. I think of my years at Danver as numb, but when I read
- ["Joe Blake" by Raeden Richardson](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/joe-blake-by-raeden-richardson/) - In late summer, Vrinda awoke to her phone chiming beside the agarbatti. Her son was off, dropping Ma a few texts, scooting early to the airport with his girl, cheers for the extra vitamin m, cheers for helping his mates host a going-away, soz for the mess, he’d see Ma at Chrissy, he’d call her
- ["Houses Acting Like Cars" by Sarp Sozdinler](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/houses-acting-like-cars-by-sarp-sozdinler/) - There are two years between Pistol and Elwood, and Blue clicks into that gap. Yet she talks and walks faster than any of the boys in her hood—her friends can testify to that. Pistol looks as confused and genderless as that oyster he’s carving the life out of with his father’s old switchblade: a girl
- ["Don't Move" by C.M. Lindley](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/dont-move-by-c-m-lindley/) - Bursts of California poppies lined the campground’s entrance. Children left charred marshmallows to melt into the damp earth. The RV was old and dwarfed under a colonnade of towering redwoods. Most days, we passed time inside on the two benches that lined the walls, each covered in birds-of-paradise patterned cushions, a circular rusted table between
- ["The Getaway" by Natalie Storey](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-getaway-by-natalie-storey/) - Act 1 I met The Author the summer before I left that small Montana town for college. That was the liminal period of impossibly long, bright days wearing cutoffs so short the pockets hung out on our thighs. The days of perpetual sunburn from floating the Yellowstone River in old black inner tubes. The days
- ["SAGA" by Joshua Nagle](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/saga-by-joshua-nagle/) - On the second day, they found the bones. Sun-bleached half-moons rising out of the dust. The canyon sat low against the horizon. Evening redness turned the land to shape and shadow. “I told them. I told them it would be here. Didn’t I tell them?” Doctor Valentine brought a rough hand along his brow. Smearing
- ["I Walked the Dogs" by Ai Jiang](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/i-walked-the-dogs-by-ai-jiang/) - Married women have a strange attractiveness, like the glow of pregnant women, or the blossoming blush of a young woman new to relationships. Or maybe it is all only an excuse. Maybe it makes these hidden desires a little less terrible, a little more logical, rational, in something that has no explanation. And what authority
- [Fall Fiction Contest](https://mastersreview.com/fall-fiction-contest-2000-publication/) - Fall Fiction Contest //Currently Closed// 2019 Winners: Judged by Anita Felicelli. Winner: "Salt Sea" by Zeeva Bukai Second Place Story: "Shenzhen" by Willa Zhang Third Place Story: "It Could Happen to You" by Trent England Honorable Mention: "Genealogy" by Nancy London 2017 Winners: Judged by Brian Evenson. Winner: “If I Could Have Anything, I’d Only
- ["If I Plant You" by Brian Franklin](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/if-i-plant-you-by-brian-franklin/) - When the power dies, you know you got to leave. You little brother, Malik, still sits down in Dad’s chair in the front room, arms wrapped round he knees and staring at the door as though at any moment we parents going fling it open and take we up in them arms and tell we
- ["Move Along, You" by Snigdha Roy](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/move-along-you-by-snigdha-roy/) - When we were directed to the waiting room, I knew right away this wasn’t normal. There were mostly Indians there. Ma glanced over her shoulder at Baba and hesitated. “A little faster, Mrs. Rao. We don’t have forever,” the CBP officer behind us said. I didn’t like the way he talked to her. This was
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- ["Everywhere, All at Once" by Emily Roth](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/everywhere-all-at-once-by-emily-roth/) - My brother has been missing for three days. But when I finally arrive at his school, after driving through two hours of cornfields, he’s everywhere. I see him in the quad, gazing at the clouds. I blink, and he is gone. Outside his dorm, he sprints past me, full speed. The wind morphs him, his
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- ["An Ordinary Ache" by Bikram Sharma](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/an-ordinary-ache-by-bikram-sharma/) - Uzma was talking about her upcoming review when Asif noticed the pain. It was the dull kind which has no beginning and could’ve been throbbing away inside his body for a long time. An ordinary ache, except it was in his left testicle. Are you listening to me? Uzma asked. I’m listening. She clanged the
- ["Love is Such a Morphing Thing" by Ugochukwu Damian Okpara](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/love-is-such-a-morphing-thing-by-ugochukwu-damian-okpara/) - I. Grief makes one oblivious to the loops they long unknotted especially if the grief is theirs to own. Circa 12:53 AM, the morning is asleep and the road is still, except for the swaying of the trees and me, in a car, driving. I do not know exactly where I am, or rather I
- ["Shootout in Prospect Park" by Chuck Nwoke](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/shootout-in-prospect-park-by-chuck-nwoke/) - I was sitting in the park minding my own business when a woman in front of me got up and asked if I would watch her things. “No problem,” I said, thinking nothing of it, and she left her bike, bag and sneakers and went down the hill with her phone and yoga mat into
- ["And Then?" by Sara Brody](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/and-then-by-sara-brody/) - Because I cannot stand to hear about Paige’s problems, I tell her about Vesna Vulovic, who fell 33,000 feet and survived. “Imagine!” I say. I feel a real swooping in my chest, but Paige doesn’t like the story, I can tell. What part is bad? Does the thought of all that tumbling through clouds give
- ["That Kind of Girl" by Stephanie Wheeler](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/that-kind-of-girl-by-stephanie-wheeler/) - Meryl knew that the old man ran his business out of his cabin. His name was Gregory and he lived on the outskirts of town, down a gravely private way that forked off a country road and snaked through towering pines. There was a lake next to his property. She had paddled a rowboat on
- ["Crocodile" by Ashleigh Bell Pedersen](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/crocodile-by-ashleigh-bell-pedersen/) - Sunshine was standing in the lake when she discovered the stones, one behind each bare nipple. They’d felt tender in the cold water so she’d stood and cupped her palms against each and found them—two strange, tucked-away treasures. Her mama hated the word nipple and instead said buttons when she had to call them anything
- ["Consider the Shape of Your Fist" by Leah Dawdy](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/consider-the-shape-of-your-fist-by-leah-dawdy/) - Curl your nailbeds into the meat of your palm, thumb on top. This is the letter S in American Sign Language. This is S as in stomach, where Uncle Sean’s hand now goes instead of his chest when he signs me and mine. S as in scars marking where his colon should be. As in
- ["Demonman" by Julialicia Case](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/demonman-julialicia-case/) - I am eleven the spring Demonman comes, first to the alley behind the Kroger, where the dumpsters reek like fermented orange juice, then to the train tracks by the boarded-up video store, then to the Harding mansion, still for sale, then to a snot-colored van with flattened tires. He comes to our nightmares, our whispered
- ["Heirlooms" by Amanda Jean Akers](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/heirlooms-by-amanda-akers/) - She squeezes a tomato into an empty mason jar and thinks of her dentist. “You’re missing roots,” he told her. The pulp is left to stew with gnats in her kitchen window. On the third day, she looks closely at the white mold that has grown around the chipped glass, the dried-up juices. Light, sneaking
- ["Fire Season" by Vincent Chavez](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/fire-season-by-vincent-chavez/) - The scorch is the first thing you look for on the drive home after the long flight across the country. It’s Thanksgiving break. It’s fire season in California. Phone calls and satellite images can never articulate the damage that’s been done. Last fall, a national newscaster described your neighborhood and the explosion of mustard scattered
- ["Trucker's Notebook" by Nicole Roché](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/truckers-notebook-by-nicole-roche/) - I've been from Tucson to Tucumcari Tehachapi to Tonapah Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made Driven the back roads so I wouldn't get weighed And if you give me weed, whites, and wine And you show me a sign I'll be willin', to be movin.' Little Feat, "Willin'" He was just another
- ["Not Dead. Yet, (Golem Father)" by Nathan Szajnberg](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/not-dead-yet-golem-father-by-nathan-szajnberg/) - “I go nowhere without de mamme!” my father—tatte he prefers—proclaims, your mother, stubbied index finger poking, tattooing the heavens above. Restaurants, dinner parties? Not unless they go together, “Mit de mamme!” Movies, for sure, not without her. Concerts, of course not. Baseball games, never…even with her. To shul only, each morning 6:45 a.m. alone he
- ["Escaping" by Tom Lakin](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/escaping-by-tom-lakin/) - It was the middle of July and they were fleeing north from the city in a stolen Ford Explorer, the radio going full blast and the girl’s bare feet up on the dash, crossed on the fake leather, her toes painted green and shining like bits of glass in the glare slamming in through the
- ["Catch and Release" by Grace Holtzclaw](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/catch-and-release-by-grace-holtzclaw/) - An oil rig lights up the ocean at midnight. She’s a glowing dutchman of rusted iron and cement. The suspended crustaceans and barnacles below the surface stick themselves to the edges for an anchor. The black water knows no limit but the impending horizon. It’s harvest season in California. The strawberries that grow in the
- ["The Lake Isle of Innisfree" by Rosemary Harp](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-lake-isle-of-innisfree-by-rosemary-harp/) - When Dermot asked me how I could have risked missing our daughter’s tenth birthday party to spend time with my gay ex-boyfriend, I told him he had to understand that there’d been a legitimate emergency. What I didn’t tell Dermot was that performing acts of self-negation for Theo was a kind of muscle memory I
- ["Running from Blackness" by Allen M. Price](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/running-from-blackness-by-allen-price/) - I was born five years, three months, and two days after the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. in Providence, Rhode Island on July 10, 1973. My mother, who divorced my father when I was five, raised me in the predominately all-white neighborhood and schools of Warwick so not to worry about me getting hurt,
- ["Inheritance" by Adam Byko](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/inheritance-by-adam-byko/) - Understand this: My father was born with a bullet in his head. My father came into this world late and screaming. This was 1953, inside the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, off the New Brunswick trolley line. My grandmother panted in her bed, blinded by her labor. The nurse only noticed after bathing the child.
- ["Different" by Sindya Bhanoo](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/different-by-sindya-bhanoo/) - For three decades, Chand gave his Indian graduate students his house keys when he and Raji left town. He told them to relax and use his spacious home as a place to rest and study, to use the hot tub in the back, and the grill, as long as they did not put beef on
- ["The Photograph on the Wall" by Ope Adedeji](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-photograph-on-the-wall-by-ope-adedeji/) - My father is a child when he returns to me the second time: blue eyes, red skin and babbles of incoherent words. It is a cool Wednesday morning, but my thighs and the neckline of my boubou are thick with sweat. “Papa, welcome,” I say to him, pressing my wet hand into his face. He
- ["The Driver" by Samantha Xiao Cody](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-driver-by-samantha-xiao-cody/) - The summer we visited my aunt and uncle’s new house in Changsha, they were having dozens of lemon trees planted in the front yard. A large team of workers had been hired for the task. They were loud and bold—sitting where they liked, setting up makeshift tents here and there on the lawn, telling jokes
- ["The Easiest Thing in the World" by Taylor Grieshober](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-easiest-thing-in-the-world-by-taylor-grieshober/) - What was it with the men in my life? There were simple solutions to their problems, but they never thought of them. My boyfriend slept on a sleeping bag he'd had since Scouts. He had no other blankets. He lived by the highway in an uninsulated attic studio because it was cheap. He got a
- ["Rapture" by Chloe Chun Seim](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/rapture-by-chloe-chun-seim/) - The last time I had seen him, the pounds came at eleven at night during a rainstorm, in true dramatic fashion. Chung and I were still awake. Chung was playing Majora’s Mask for the fifth time, and though he was eleven, and though he knew every monster and every creep-creep-creep of the red-eyed Moon closer
- [Submission Fees - Our Take](https://mastersreview.com/submission-fees-our-take/) - Submission fees have been a hot-button issue in the literary community for some time, and since we do have categories that charge a fee (contests, fast responses, and editorial letter options) we thought it only fair to explain how we view the process and what paid submissions versus free submissions means to to us. Submission
- ["All The White People" by Sue Granzella](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/all-the-white-people-by-sue-granzella/) - On the morning after the 2016 Presidential election, my third-grade students huddled around me. Most of them were Latino, and nearly all of them children of color. Before even taking off their jackets, they informed me, big-eyed, that Donald Trump had won. I winced at the contradiction; they were savvy enough to understand the implications
- ["Sorry About Your Bird" by Kathryn M. Barber](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/sorry-about-your-bird-by-kathryn-barber/) - When Claire’s grandmother died last week, we dropped everything, spun our tires fast as they would go from Nashville up to Roanoke, Virginia, spent the last few days with floral arrangements, sinking a coffin into soft summer ground. The only time I feel lonelier than being with Claire these days is when we’re with her
- ["Compound Fractures" by Alice Hatcher](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/compound-fractures-by-alice-hatcher/) - At eight years old, she already has a mastery of the orthopedic lexicon. She can name all 206 bones in the adult human body, from the distal phalanges at the tips of toes to the parietal bone crowning the skull. She has studied the architecture of interphalangeal joints that enable the flexion of fingers. She
- ["The Road Takes the Shape of the Earth Beneath It" by Jeremy Packert Burke](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-road-takes-the-shape-of-the-earth-beneath-it-by-jeremy-packert-burke/) - Three Views of a Car Crash I. The car screams down the undivided highway, a blur of chrome and white as it crosses the half-broken yellow line and passes Alice on her left. “Jesus fuck,” she says. The move is legal, there is no oncoming traffic, and the white car makes it back to its
- ["You Can't Take it With You" by Jami Kimbrell](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/you-cant-take-it-with-you-by-jami-kimbrell/) - The line to the ladies’ room extends into the beer aisle. I wait, rocking from foot to foot. My thirteen-year-old daughter weaves her way quietly through the souvenir racks, picking up snow globes, pieces of driftwood, shrunken alligator heads, catching my eye only once while inspecting a bedazzled conch shell. The line moves slowly but
- ["This Is For My Auntie Penzi Who—" by Idza Luhumyo](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/this-is-for-my-auntie-penzi-who-by-idza-luhumyo/) - This is for My Auntie Penzi Who— sets the whole of flat A against her, and this because she likes to wear booty shorts, and on her head sit coils of hair like snakes, and she drinks and smokes and curses in that deep voice of hers, and with no shame, refers to an old
- ["The Monster in Back Bruly" by Kailyn McCord](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-monster-in-back-bruly-by-kailyn-mccord/) - You can't make anything in Bruly, and not especially in Back Bruly. Not money, nothing that lasts, nothing of yourself. That sounds like a pity party of shit, sure, but it's true, and besides, it's how all this come about. None of us are bad folks, not Trudy and not Eli and not me, but
- ["A Sense of Time and Place" by Courtney Harler](https://mastersreview.com/a-sense-of-time-and-place-by-courtney-harler/) - A believable setting is crucial to any short story. Broadly, an intimate, authentic sense of time and place is necessary to fully develop the overall narrative arc and solidify the greater significance of the story. The stories of Aimee Bender, Donald Barthelme, Alice Munro, Lydia Davis, and James Joyce illuminate the range of clever ways in
- ["Woodpeckers Peck to Establish Territory in the Spring" by Sherrie Flick](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction/woodpeckers-peck-to-establish-territory-in-the-spring-by-sherrie-flick/) - The tree branches that run along Janice’s path twist and loop like licorice whips, as she circumnavigates her way through a patch of wild garlic mustard and knotweed. A woodpecker drums a little rat-tat-tat … rat-tat-tat. It’s mid-March and the forest, dormant and muddy, has lost a tree here and there, giant roots upended from
- ["Taking Mr. Itopa" by Caleb Ozovehe Ajinomoh](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/taking-mr-itopa-by-caleb-ozovehe-ajinomoh/) - Even though Joshua was not dead, she missed him. She forgot the children; the two boys she had adopted to please him, and Vick, the girl she had had at first, unluckily, who had then extended their bad luck by having a child of her own, a grandson nobody had asked for. She was thinking
- ["Rereading Stephen King on the Eve of my MFA" by Steph Grossman](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/rereading-stephen-king-on-the-eve-of-my-mfa-by-steph-grossman/) - I remember the moment I began going through writer puberty. It was one of those humid April days in the suburbs of New York that make your forearm creases sticky. A spring thunderstorm had just begun, and I was on my bed with my legs crossed under me, my back slouched forward, and Stephen King’s
- ["Some People Belong Inside" by Shannon Peavey](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/some-people-belong-inside-by-shannon-peavey/) - The guard squashes Tarrare's face to the vent letting air out of the kitchen, all hot metal against his cheek, and food smells and oil smells, and he can't help it—he drools, actually drools, a little slug of saliva inching over his lip to roll down his chin. The guard laughs and grinds his sweaty
- ["Salt-Sea" by Zeeva Bukai](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/salt-sea-by-zeeva-bukai/) - I met Iris Landau the summer of 1972. We were in our second week of basic training and our unit was scheduled for the shooting range. By eight a.m. the sun had scorched the earth and the dew that had fallen overnight turned to vapor where scrub grass managed to survive July. We were in
- ["Shenzhen" by Willa Zhang](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/shenzhen-by-willa-zhang/) - Here’s one way to go home again. It’s 2006 and we’re on the tail end of a long, humid summer criss-crossing the thousands of li that is China. We’ve taken planes and trains and cars from Los Angeles to Hong Kong to Fuzhou to Shanghai and everywhere in between. It’s only my second time back
- ["It Could Happen to You" by Trent England](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/it-could-happen-to-you-by-trent-england/) - In the end, they decided to keep it. Celeste sat in the passenger seat while Pete drove the Volvo the long way home, all back roads and dark streets, cutting through unlit neighborhoods, people asleep. She flipped down the visor above her head and watched Tiger through the vanity mirror, the glow of his phone
- ["Genealogy" by Nancy London](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/genealogy-by-nancy-london/) - ONE There's no way to write about my ancestors without beginning with my legs. I wanted the kind that ended somewhere under my armpits, but when I look at my legs, in a mirror, in a bathing suit, I see my Russian grandmother, my great-grandmother, all the mothers before them; the long chain of women
- ["Skin Hunger" by Melissa Goode](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/skin-hunger-by-melissa-goode/) - At Mercy Memorial, the examination room walls are paper-thin. A man in the next room tells the psych registrar that he will top himself if he doesn’t get the money today, the seventeen-thousand dollars his brother stole from him. I wrap my hand across my forehead, a reflex, holding a migraine. I rush from the
- ["Obscure Sorrows" by Ndinda Kioko](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/obscure-sorrows-by-ndinda-kioko/) - The day Tito Telagat wrote to me, saying he’d been sleeping with my husband of one year, I was thinking about my knees, which have always had scars. On the email, Tito Telagat had attached a picture of the two of them sitting on the edge of a bed, my husband half-dressed or half-naked, his
- ["Russian Roulette" by Lauren Green](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/russian-roulette-by-lauren-green/) - The summer of ’93, I learned everything I know about grief from watching the way Barry Colker’s mother dressed herself for work each morning. Mrs. C. worked only five days a week, but even on weekends she would come downstairs in her starched white nurse’s uniform, with the green cross over the breast pocket. When
- ["Adult Education" by Laura Maylene Walter](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/adult-education-by-laura-maylene-walter/) - Every time I tried to start a new lesson—about our nation’s emergency response services, for example, or libraries, or the electoral college, or the IRS—the Venerites interrupted to ask about food. Why do humans consume three squares a day, Pam asked, and I had to tell her the expression she was looking for was three
- ["Ghost Story" by Becca Anderson](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/ghost-story-by-becca-anderson/) - Saturday afternoon. You and Riley lay flat on your backs on the living room floor, teenager-bored, your legs propped up on the sofa seats. You’ve tossed a basketball back and forth in the driveway; dealt multiple hands of three different card games; dug the year-end homework out of your backpacks with great intentions. That homework
- ["Escape Velocity" by Karisa Tell](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/escape-velocity-by-karisa-tell/) - The night I saw the advertisement, Oliver was out and we were all up: Aunt Jody was scrubbing ancient remnants of my mother’s burnt molasses cookies from a tray we ought to have given up on years ago. Dad was sitting before the television, a comedy with a laugh track and lazy physical stunts beaming
- ["Terraforming Mars" by Emmett Knowlton](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/terraforming-mars-by-emmett-knowlton/) - The cars came flooding into the parking lot around ten, a long shining line that coursed past the tennis courts and stretched all the way to our middle school’s east entrance. It was only the second week of the school year, only Tuesday, and I was in Earth Science doing that thing with my eyes
- ["Mutts" by Shane Page](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/mutts-by-shane-page/) - Bill the Dog had been killed, run down by the mailman, and Mom said Dad was to blame, so she dragged our kitchen table out in front of the television, set two stools on either side, and called to Dad that they needed to settle this. They were going to sit down like adults and
- ["Homecoming" by Kathryn Phelan](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/homecoming-by-kathryn-phelan/) - After "A Second Time" by James Galvin It was the year I painted the bedroom gold like kente cloth, so pigmented you could nearly pluck it from the walls and weave it. You needed a haircut but wanted everyone to know you’d been through something. We read our old letters out loud to each other,
- ["What More Do You Want?" by Michael Ruby](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/what-more-do-you-want-by-michael-ruby/) - “Stick to the straight and narrow,” Randle told me as we rode in his truck. He was my mother’s current boyfriend, and his Chevy smelled like breath mints and sweat. “That means no hooch. Not until you get your sea legs. Till then, find a cheap beer you can stomach.” “Right,” I said. “I myself
- ["The Basement Beneath the Basement" by Dale Gregory Anderson](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-basement-beneath-the-basement-by-dale-gregory-anderson/) - We lived then on the Mesabi Range in northern Minnesota, in a house with two basements. Finn said the sub-basement was a fallout shelter for a nuclear war that could happen at any time. “If they bomb us,” he said, “we’ll bomb them right back.” He called it mortally ushered destruction. Our town, Hibbing, was
- ["The Remains" by Felicity Fenton](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-remains-by-felicity-fenton/) - Earlier there was talk of explosion buttons and who might push them. Sidewalks, porches, begonias, all of it could come shaking down with one finger. It’s likely houses may sink low and soggy. Be prepared to swim. Make sure to store enough potable water, aspirin, and emergency blankets. Plan on there being no way out
- ["Simple Physics" by Kevin Leahy](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/simple-physics-by-kevin-leahy/) - That same June night, our parents bought us ice cream and balloons on the promenade of Buckingham Fountain. (Dad claims it was August, but I prefer to remember it my way, with the whole summer ahead of us.) We were greedy, ravenous: three boys fighting for the first scoop, catching elbows in our ribs. Every
- [Common Revisions Suggested](https://mastersreview.com/common-revisions-suggested-brandon-williams/) - In the last year, I've read and written critiques for a whole lot of stories, many of them through The Masters Review. Whether for our New Voices section, our summer and winter contests, every imaginable genre of fiction, flash, nonfiction, a couple accidental submissions of children's books or one 300-page collection of poetry, I've seen
- ["A Horror Tale is a Fairy Tale Turned Inside Out" by Amber Sparks](https://mastersreview.com/a-horror-tale-is-a-fairy-tale-turned-inside-out-by-amber-sparks/) - Do you know how to write a fairy tale? Then you know how to write a horror story, too. A horror story is, more or less, a fairy tale turned inside out. The fairy tale and the horror tale are both very old, and both have similar origins: They’re rooted in warnings, in advice, in
- ["Observation Tube–McMurdo Station, Antarctica" by Justin Herrmann](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/observation-tube-mcmurdo-station-antarctica-by-justin-herrmann/) - A half dozen Weddell seals lay in the distance like giant slugs baked on pavement. Six austral summers at McMurdo, Mike has seen seals appear and disappear on the gray sea ice, but has never seen one actually move. This season Station installed an observation tube on the sea ice that extends fifteen feet below
- ["Under the System" by Adrian Van Young](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction/under-the-system-by-adrian-van-young/) - Well hi there, folks! It’s your friendly neighborhood meteorologist Stuart Smalls here, checking in from the WRAL Weather Center downtown with a few updates on that big, nasty storm system everyone’s been talking about. Now remember, folks, these reports don’t control the weather, they only predict it, but current models show this storm with the
- ["It's All Perfectly Natural" by Emily Chiles](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/its-all-perfectly-natural-by-emily-chiles/) - “Okay, Maddie. What you want to do is make a C with your hand, like this.” Barb the hospital lactation nurse grabs my left breast like it’s a sandwich. Maybe not, but I’m thinking a lot about food just now. I haven’t eaten since my water broke in my dad’s old Subaru twenty-nine hours ago,
- ["The Danbury Firebirds" by Andrew Erkkila](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-danbury-firebirds-by-andrew-erkkila/) - There’s only so many fiery pep talks you can give when the talent isn’t there. Sometimes that’s life. There’s no victory in sight. You just pray for a miracle. I try to put the games St. Regis lost behind me and focus on right now. Bottom of the ninth, two outs. Down by two. Bases
- ["Premonition" by Emily Dyer Barker](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/premonition-by-emily-dyer-barker/) - The oranges were sweetest in the afternoon, around 3:00pm. Paloma knew this. She’d tried the fruit at various times during the day and kept a record in the notebook God gave her. More than the sweetness of the oranges, the notebook helped her realize how much time she had. There were many points of the
- ["1961" by Laura Demers](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/1961-by-laura-demers/) - They had her out the window now, so that her neck lolled backwards. Her false eyelashes had come loose on one eye, giving her the look of a doll in a little girl’s clutches. “Help me,” she called. Her voice was far away, down the end of a tunnel. Salvator wished he had a moment
- ["Lost in Transformation" by Nicole Burdge](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/lost-in-transformation-by-nicole-burdge/) - Flood The house is drowning. Your bedroom with your bright patterned curtains. The floral wallpaper in the corner by the closet. It splinters and peels and dances among the bubbles. Weightless. Your clothes are wet and heavy. Drag you down like bottles tied to your wrists. Far below the surface where you won’t breathe or
- ["Big Red Nation" by Brett Biebel](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/big-red-nation-by-brett-biebel/) - The state of Nebraska executed Matthew Alan Nowinski at 10:47AM on a Friday, some 32 hours before the biggest Husker football game in at least a decade. In fact, in the days leading up to the execution, 200 or so citizens had written to the governor asking for a stay, and most of these letters
- ["The Engagement" by Stacey Wang](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-engagement-by-stacey-wang/) - 1. The world was too new for you. You lacked words and understanding. Flailing fists and splitting cries, you made your suffering known. In those first days of your life, we lived on the grounds of the Tianjin New Star Textiles Factory, in a square room with a bed and table. The paper-thin walls conducted
- [A Conversation with Gabriel Urza](https://mastersreview.com/a-conversation-with-gabriel-urza/) - BENJAMIN KESSLER: Did you do any magic as a child? GABRIEL URZA: In my entire life I’ve only possessed three magic tricks. My main one was the standard rubber thumb, but the skin color was always off so it never looked quite right. I used to make it look like I was putting out my
- ["Century Women" by Maura Lammers](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/century-women-by-maura-lammers/) - The manager says, We have high expectations for our Century Women. Serena nods her head yes. The manager says, Our customers pay top-dollar not just for the clothes, but for the experience they have when they walk through the door. We need all our Century Women to uphold certain standards. They sit in the break
- ["To Kill The Second" by Di Bei](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/to-kill-the-second-by-di-bei/) - Outside the barbed wire and crudely built brick walls, parents were waiting. Cars, motorcycles, a few tricycles and bikes, feet, feet, feet. At Hebei No.7 Experimental High School, we had one weekend off every month. For the rest of the days, we studied and slept on campus. When the college entrance examination ended, half of our graduates
- ["To Kill The Second: Part 3" by Di Bei](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/to-kill-the-second-part-3-by-di-bei/) - Mom was out for the weekend. “Business trip,” Dad said. He cooked spicy beef tendons with lots of cilantro. It was my favorite three years ago. I pushed my plate away. “Can’t Mom go some other time?” I asked. “I thought she would miss me.” Dad said he was sorry. Of course Mom missed me.
- ["To Kill The Second: Part 2" by Di Bei](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/to-kill-the-second-part-2-by-di-bei/) - “The best gift a wife can give her husband is her virginity.” On the projector, Teacher Tao played video lectures. The theme of our weekly class meeting was Virtue. I doodled in my textbook. Just when I was adding moles to Confucius’ face, Teacher Tao called my name. “Jade, what do you think of the
- ["To Kill The Second: Part 1" by Di Bei](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/to-kill-the-second-part-1-by-di-bei/) - Outside the barbed wire and crudely built brick walls, parents were waiting. Cars, motorcycles, a few tricycles and bikes, feet, feet, feet. At Hebei No.7 Experimental High School, we had one weekend off every month. For the rest of the days, we studied and slept on campus. When the college entrance examination ended, half of our graduates
- ["Damico" by Joe Bond](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/damico-by-joe-bond/) - A peer named Harley ran off and stole a motorcycle. We didn’t know what kind. Somebody said he wrecked it and tore off his leg. Somebody said he was still riding, that he’d called from Canada. It was hard to get good info. We decided he wasn’t coming back. I took his Bible. Another peer
- ["Another Life" by Olivia Parkes](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/another-life-by-olivia-parkes/) - Magda was in pieces again. As she bent to pick up the largest shards, she caught the curve of her shoulder, the palm of her outstretched hand, her nostrils, obscene from this angle, and a thrillingly blank piece of ceiling. Since discovering her reflection, Gracie had been trying to ascertain if it was friend or
- ["Caretaker Needed" by Meghan Daniels](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/caretaker-needed-by-meghan-daniels/) - I found Mr. Emory the week I arrived in New Mexico by way of a hardware store flier. CARETAKER NEEDED​.​ GOOD PAY. I called the number and drove the winding road to Mr. Emory’s home. His desiccated front yard was littered with cacti, rocks, lawn ornaments. A bent “Don’t Tread on Me” sign was staked
- ["Narada's Ears" by Sanjena Sathian](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/naradas-ears-by-sanjena-sathian/) - My shop had been open for a few weeks when the man called Narada arrived to ask me for a strange favor. I was bent over my desk, examining the gray iris on one of my latest glass eyeballs. My shop sat on the second floor of a half-commercial, half-residential building. Above me lived a
- ["At This Late Hour" by Rebecca Turkewitz](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/at-this-late-hour-by-rebecca-turkewitz/) - I’ve been working the front desk of the Leavitt Hotel for three years, but booking rooms and greeting guests is only part of my job. It took some persuading, but William, the owner, lets me haunt the place. When William hired me, the Leavitt was already considered one of the most haunted spots in New
- [IED by Neville F. Dastoor](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/ied-by-neville-f-dastoor/) - In the war, Kirkwood conquered his swing. Firebase Cobra, Uruzgan province, he finagled a driver and twenty-dozen golf balls into an airdropped resupply. We punched tee holes into flattened MRE boxes and snapped blue chem lights and swung over the concertina wire into the night. The game was to match the strikes with the awful
- ["Tropical Fascism" by Gabriella Monico](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/tropical-fascism-by-gabriella-monico/) - Not God but a swastika So black no sky could squeak through. Every woman adores a Fascist, The boot in the face, the brute Brute heart of a brute like you. Sylvia Plath, “Daddy” It now appears that the dictatorship in Brazil, which began with the military coup of 1964, never really ended. Its official
- ["Euphoria" by Heather De Bel](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/euphoria-by-heather-de-bel/) - We go shopping for our mother’s birthday present and I drive because Abby has been drinking. It’s a week or so after New Years and New Jersey’s Willowbrook Mall still smells of pine and log cabin candles. Paper stars and red streamers hang from the ceiling. The store windows are littered with what’s left of
- [Craft Essay: First-Person Direct Address](https://mastersreview.com/craft-essay-first-person-direct-address/) - When I began research for this essay, I was surprised to discover how little information is readily available about the first-person direct address. It’s a technique I’ve often seen mistaken for the second-person point-of-view, even in creative writing workshops, but it’s distinctly different. So where is deviation? Let’s take a look. What is first person
- ["Caiman" by Bret Anthony Johnston](https://mastersreview.com/caiman-by-bret-anthony-johnston/) - "Caiman" first appeared in AGNI. Reprinted by permission from the author. Your mother wouldn’t let me bring the ice chest into the house, so I left it in the garage. Earlier, I’d knifed four holes into the styrofoam lid. One of them looked like half a star, which I remember liking. This was years ago,
- ["Praise Rain" by Kathy Fish](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction/praise-rain-by-kathy-fish/) - The fallen and the falling were rain. The haunted and the haunting, rain. Tears were rain but they were clichés, unworthy of rain. All, for centuries, thirsty for rain. Kings and queens and emperors, rain. The dry and salted earth begging for rain. Faces upturned to rain. Praise rain. Bodies-in-need rain. Bodies that form, are
- ["Girl on Girl" by Diane Cook](https://mastersreview.com/girl-on-girl-by-diane-cook/) - From the book MAN V. NATURE: Stories by Diane Cook. Copyright © 2014 by Diane Cook. Reprinted by permission of Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Freshman year starts, and somehow everyone is someone else, someone older, someone interested in the faraway future life. Everyone except me. I’m back from a summer at my dad’s
- ["On Not Knowing Just Enough" by Emily Fridlund](https://mastersreview.com/on-not-knowing-just-enough-by-emily-fridlund/) - A number of years ago, I wrote a story about a baby. It was one of the first stories of mine accepted for publication, the first piece of fiction I felt an almost animal pleasure while writing. When I think of it now, I always think of it as the Baby Story, though the infant
- ["Lessy" by Jeremy T. Wilson](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/lessy-by-jeremy-wilson/) - Delia’s mother finally agreed to get rid of her collection of ceramic mammies only after she saw the movie The Help. She’d told Delia she understood now why they “might possibly come across as offensive to some people.” She’d lied. When her mother was dying of pancreatic cancer, Delia found a ceramic toothpick holder in
- ["Seraglios of Night" by Greg Sendi](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/seraglios-of-night-by-greg-sendi/) - The boy appeared out of the odd blue glare of an early summer evening on a Huffy, I think it was, and I hit him doing over sixty with the Infiniti. Laura stiffarmed the dashboard and pumped her right foot on the phantom brake of the passenger side. We both saw the child’s face turn
- [On People-Watching by Ross Feeler](https://mastersreview.com/on-people-watching-by-ross-feeler/) - A decade ago, a young, sunburned woman in an off-center bikini paddled her inner tube up to the banks of the Guadalupe River, and my girlfriend’s dad—who has since become my father-in-law—introduced me to the term people-watching. It was summer, Central Texas. Bubba’s Big Deck, the beer joint where we’d been for half an hour,
- ["The Plight of the Red-Feathered Austrian Goose" by E. Y. Smith](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-plight-of-the-red-feathered-austrian-goose-by-e-y-smith/) - Here’s a story that you don’t hear every day: I once knew a man who owned the last red-feathered Austrian goose. He said that it came from a wintry mountainside, where the lakes had just about frozen over, and now he was adapting the goose to the winters of the Bronx. Well, I said, it
- ["A Sick Child" by Dustin M. Hoffman](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/a-sick-child-by-dustin-m-hoffman/) - Naomi was a sick child, she was told. From birth, her mother and father bid her safe travels to the afterlife every time they lowered her shriveled infant body into the cradle. She’d surely die of the plague, like most the village did. She’d die fast as any, they told her, for her sick stretched
- ["Year of the Snake" by A. J. Bermudez](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/year-of-the-snake-by-a-j-bermudez/) - 1989 Chùsi is ten today, double digits, an achievement marked by the coming-of-age sacrament of frybread with sprinkles and icing for breakfast. Cupcakes are scheduled for 3:00, but Chùsi got what she came for. This is the year of the brick-by-brick dismantling of the Soviet Bloc, the ascent of Vaclav Havel, and Chùsi’s pronouncement, for
- ["How to Spot a Whale" by Jacqui Reiko Teruya](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/how-to-spot-a-whale-by-jacqui-reiko-teruya/) - Do not look impressed when Roberta tells you about narwhals—the Monodontidae, the white whales. Do not bat an eye when she talks about their elongated canines, how they twist like candy out of the artic sea. When she says she’s heard so much about you, look at your mother. Let her know you see her.
- [A Case for the Classics](https://mastersreview.com/a-case-for-the-classics/) - During office hours for an Advanced Composition course I took in college, my professor sat me down and asked me who I liked to read. “Oh, you know,” I said, looking around at his shelves full of books with spines listing name after name I didn’t recognize. “Thoreau, Emerson, T.S. Eliot.” I shrugged. “Those guys
- ["Two Kinds of Neighborhoods" by Neil Cooney](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/two-kinds-of-neighborhoods-by-neil-cooney/) - Mr. Sierakowski and Mr. Edwards are fighting in the street. Mr. Edwards is winning. From the window I see blood dripping out of Mr. Sierakowski’s nose, and other blood on his face I don’t know where from. Mr. Edwards is older and a little fat, so it’s surprising to see him doing so well. I
- [Debut Author Spotlight: Tom Howard](https://mastersreview.com/debut-author-spotlight-tom-howard/) - I’ve been writing since I was eight years old. I mean that when I was eight years old, I started telling people I was a writer. I’d spend my time drawing the covers of my future novels, agonizing over typography, devising pen names for myself. And I would write. By the time I was ten,
- ["Rieb Kear (to Marry)" by Adam Joseph Nazaroff](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/rieb-kear-to-marry-by-adam-joseph-nazaroff/) - A Khmer wedding will last for three days. I told the officiant for the third day of Kim and Phan’s wedding that it was because Cambodians had a lot to celebrate. She hadn’t been to the other two days, the ones that carried meaning for our parents. Only this, the third day, the one inspired
- [No Left Turns by Jennifer Dupree](https://mastersreview.com/no-left-turns-by-jennifer-dupree/) - I have trouble with endings. I once asked a writer friend for feedback on a story which had a surprise ending. “I took a left turn,” I said, meaning I threw in a twist. “Left turn?” she said. “You got in a different car!” Most writers have heard that endings are supposed to surprise the
- ["Tilting at Windmills" by Debbie Vance](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/tilting-at-windmills-by-debbie-vance/) - I spent opening night of my first real art show staring at the exposed pipe hanging from the ceiling of the hip Boston gallery, wondering if the angular symmetry of these pipes was more visually stunning than the work I had chosen to display. The wine I drank tasted like its plastic cup, but that
- ["Mercy" by Carla Diaz](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/mercy-by-carla-diaz/) - The Pottingers lived next door to us for years, but it took until seventh grade—those carpools home from soccer games—for our moms to realize they needed each other. They tried to make friends by making us friends. “Such a nice boy,” my mother said absently, searching her purse for a Rolaid. We were staked out
- ["Casino Night" by Gabriel Welsch](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/casino-night-by-gabriel-welsch/) - I’m not there five minutes and Cici’s going off on me: Big college boy. Too smart to clear a few tables. Too good to work in the kitchen. I thought she’d go after me for wearing a shirt with a collar, but she didn’t go that way. That’s not how it was going to go
- ["Confirmation" by Alina Grabowski](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/confirmation-by-alina-grabowski/) - The day before our last confirmation class, Gemma Anderson does not return home from her afternoon jog. The four of us hear this from Ruth Jones at the Stop and Shop on Main Street, while we’re buying brownie mix for our sleepover. In the fluorescent light of the baking aisle she tells us that her
- ["A Country Where I Am Beautiful" by Patricia Smith](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/a-country-where-i-am-beautiful-by-patricia-smith/) - Evelyn met the men everywhere. At school. Getting her electricity and water turned on. In the bank. She met the men walking the dusty red streets on her way to market, swatting flies, staying clear of pigs who roamed freely. She met the men driving cabs. At the newspaper kiosques. "Miss, I am wanting to
- ["A Portrait of a Virgin" by Rachel Cochran](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/a-portrait-of-a-virgin-by-rachel-cochran/) - “There is no such thing as a portrait of a virgin,” Ramesh tells us over cards, after we have fattened ourselves on a dinner of salt rice down in the hold. The night sea sluices and ripples past us at the speed of a rushing snake; in the starlight the water is dark as old
- ["A New River" by Dominic Desmond](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/a-new-river-by-dominic-desmond/) - It had been Jake and his supervisor, Andy, in the manager’s trailer. The top three buttons of the manager’s flannel were undone. Jake could see his brow shiny in the light. Jake heard murmurs among the men outside the thin-walled trailer. “Like a watermelon.” “Pop.” Andy looked at the manager. “You should make that call,
- ["The Front Line" by James Walley](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-front-line-by-james-walley/) - Between deployments the battalion flew to California. The Department of Defense converted a square mile of condemned suburban housing outside of Riverside into a mock war zone so we could practice controlling an occupied urban area. The Marine Corps called this Security and Stability Operations training. Our own little slice of the war, right here
- ["The Deca-life Crisis" by Jessi Lewis](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/deca-life-crisis-jessi-lewis/) - I was buckling my seatbelt in the station wagon when I said to Luca, “I wish you hadn’t hardened yourself.” Really, I meant this in two ways, but he was nine and only understood the calcium carbonate that was developing across his skin and what that meant. My son’s physical mutation was now obvious. A
- ["The Devil is a Liar" by Nana Nkweti](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/devil-liar-nana-nkweti/) - Out of the mouths of babes and suckling infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger. – Psalm 8:2 There are hymns, there are hosannas, there are hallelujahs. There are some who are struck dumb in His presence and those who are newborn linguists—speaking in tongues. Eyes
- ["Drop Zone Summer" by Nick Fuller Googins](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/drop-zone-summer-nick-fuller-googins/) - Two weeks have passed since Cotter’s fall from the radio tower. His girlfriend, Liv, sparks with flashes of her former, easygoing self, remaining upbeat for customers and their tips, but she’s not fooling anyone. She’s most of all not fooling Osman. Osman watches her trot in from the landing area, grinning, Evel Knievel jumpsuit unzipped,
- [“Birth Stories” by Sarah Harris Wallman](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/birth-stories-sarah-harris-wallman/) - By the time the EMTs arrived, Clea was propped on her ruined towels with the baby on her chest, the pulsing purple cord still running between them. She didn’t want to cut it. She’d read studies, not that she could quote them just then, but she snarled at the EMTs like a feral raccoon and
- ["The Road to Damascus" by Mike Broida](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-road-to-damascus/) - It was four days before Christmas, as cold and dark and dry at five o'clock as the world had ever been, out in the corn near the wild stretches of Wooster, Ohio. The town's lights blinked in the distance like an elusive mothership, calling Jordan onward. The rest of the car had fallen quiet—his friends,
- ["Out of the Fields" by Bryna Cofrin-Shaw](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/out-of-the-fields-by-bryna-cofrin-shaw/) - I don’t know where the name Lucy came from. I imagine it meant something to Isabelle’s mother; Lucy was her dog. I used to wonder why she didn’t take the dog with her. Sometimes my husband calls Lucy the name of his ex-wife when he doesn’t know I’m around. He sings it out softly when
- ["Spies" by Timothy Schirmer](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/spies-by-timothy-schirmer/) - I was nineteen when my mom remarried. It was the smallest wedding I’ve ever been to. They wanted it outside, in God’s country. Her God. The sky was clear and the air smelled of pine trees. The mountains were a red clay color and they surrounded us in elegant formations. The minister wore all black
- ["Heitor" by Chaya Bhuvaneswar](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction/heitor-by-chaya-bhuvaneswar/) - One October evening in the Year of Our Blessed Lord, fifteen hundred and forty-five, a male Indian slave once advertised as being in the most robust health, skin of his young back shining like sturdy striped mahogany from pale healing scars of past whippings, stood chained in the cool courtyard of the convent in Evora,
- ["Edged" by Casey Guerin](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/edged-by-casey-guerin/) - On the seventeenth lap Aisley’s toenail begins to bruise, a purpling she feels so deeply she can nearly see it through the mesh of her sneakers. On the twenty-third lap it cracks, softly, like an egg. She finishes her program, twenty five laps in total, then heads to the locker room showers where she unlaces
- ["Flight" by Jennifer Jacobson](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/flight-by-jennifer-jacobson/) - Maura starts at the top of the balcony, the highest point in the theater. Every night, before the stage manager calls places and the hawk handlers settle in, she touches the first seat in each row, marking her territory. She knows the number of steps from the last row to the edge of the balcony;
- ["Ebenezer, Ebenezer" by Ariel Chu](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/ebenezer-ebenezer-by-ariel-chu/) - Jenny’s six feet under, getting eaten by mushrooms. Three months before she died, she told our parents to scrap their funeral plans. She'd found a biodegradable shroud on the Internet, infused with fungus that could decompose flesh. She wanted to be buried in that thing, sans coffin, sans fanfare. "It looks like a friggin’ potato
- ["You-You" by Grayson Morley](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/you-you-by-grayson-morley/) - You walk into the Chortlin’ Hog. The tavern is filled with miscreants, the kind you expect to find in a town such as this. You are far from high society, here in the Harrowed Hills, which, per its name, is a pretty hardscrabble place. The most popular occupation here is Hog Farmer. You are not
- ["Trash" by Lindsay Reid Fitzgerald](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/trash-by-lindsay-reid-fitzgerald/) - Scotty’s got a hard-on for Fatass. It’s fucked and we know it, but we don’t ride him about it too hard. He hasn’t been himself since his mom found a lump in her tit and her hair fell out. He don’t know what end is up or down these days, and we get it. We’ve
- ["The Dumpling Makers" by Kristina Ten](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-dumpling-makers-by-kristina-ten/) - If you let you a leaky ceiling break you now, Nadia, then you deserve whatever dull, unexceptional plans this world has for you. That’s what Nadia told herself as she pulled the last glass from the cupboard and set it under the leak that had sprung overnight. Over the course of a week, her apartment
- ["The Art of Ending" by Olivia Parkes](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-art-of-ending-by-olivia-parkes/) - HEADSTONE Camille Claudel died three times. She slipped away first when her brother Paul signed the commitment papers. “I have fallen into a void,” she wrote to a friend, of her internment at the asylum, though her letters did not get out. Neither did Camille, though the sisters tried to release her to her family
- ["My History With Careless People, and Other Stories" by Christian Winn](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/my-history-with-careless-people-and-other-stories-by-christian-winn/) - Carrie was this fat chick who lived next door and whose husband I stole, sort of, for a little while, until later she stole him back. I never liked Carrie, nor she me, but her husband, Thom, this balding sporting goods salesman, I always thought he was cute. He had a charming, gap-toothed smile that
- ["Luces" by Ran O’Wain](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/new-voices-luces-ran-owain/) - The first time Luz saw the new neighbor, he and George were fucking, not making love, no, to make love one needed some semblance of foreplay, an act the two often neglected. Neither preferred doggy-style, but ever since Bastion Hill won an American Soap Award and George was promoted to head writer, Luz had refused
- ["The Visible Spectrum" by Carlee Jensen](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/visible-spectrum-carlee-jensen/) - Ingrid stood with her back turned on her mother and younger sister, her eyes fastened on the brilliant orange sunset swallowing the sky, and announced that she was planning to swim across the lake the next morning. Samantha, who had fixed her gaze on the pale streak of sour cream in her chili, surfaced at
- ["A History That Brings Me to You" by Katie M. Flynn](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/history-brings-katie-flynn/) - “Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled” (Zechariah 11:2). The Watson girl had only been missing a matter of minutes, yet she could feel the tension mounting, the disaster taking shape. Her cousins were calling her name loudly, angrily, like she should reveal herself, but there was no way
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- ["The High Points" by Craig Kenworthy](https://mastersreview.com/high-points-craig-kenworthy/) - It’s rude when people give you things you don’t want. Like a child, for instance. Sure, I told my sister that I would take care of her daughter if anything ever happened to her. But Elaine never smoked, always wore her seatbelt, and wore sensible shoes when crossing the street. What were the chances? And
- ["The Monsters" by Paul Crenshaw](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/monsters-paul-crenshaw/) - “They’re monsters,” Miles told me, but I didn’t believe him because no one believes in monsters, even when they’ve seen them before. We were getting ready for his first game. This was just after Miles’s father left. No note. Gave Miles his old baseball glove, but the webbing was torn out, which was Rick
- ["Last Bridge Burned" by Ron Rash](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction/featured-fiction-last-bridge-burned-ron-rash/) - When the woman knocked on the locked glass door a few minutes after midnight, Carlyle was startled because no car or truck lights had swept across the storefront. He’d taken the .38 from its place behind the counter. He did not go to the door but sidled to the window behind the register. The woman
- ["If I Could Have Anything, I’d Only Choose This" by Jill Rosenberg](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/anything-id-choose-jill-rosenberg/) - This is how it works: When I am with Helen, I can have Hopscotch and Butterscotch with me too, but I cannot acknowledge them when Helen is there. Helen is my real sister, and Butterscotch is my alternate sister. Hopscotch is the alternate me. When I say that I don’t acknowledge Hop and Butter, what
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- ["Private Affair" by D.S. Englander](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/private-affair-d-s-englander/) - A light breeze played through the windows of the Subaru, and it felt refreshing to Desalt, who was visibly perspiring behind the steering wheel. It was hot, hotter than was normal for May. He tried to inch a little closer to the gearshift, to escape the sun’s glare, but that didn’t do much. The whole
- ["The Reluctant Son of a Fake Hero" by Joe Dornich](https://mastersreview.com/reluctant-son-fake-hero-joe-dornich/) - At noon I climb out of the mouth of the Hollywood/Highland metro station just in time to see the 212 bus thunder past, and Frank’s cape billow in its wake. He’s striking the classic pose – chest out, hands fisted on his hips – and as much as I hate to admit it, he looks
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- ["A Man Stands Tall" by Gabriel Moseley](https://mastersreview.com/man-stands-tall-gabriel-moseley/) - I. By the time the boy neared home, the sun was already sinking toward the snow-dusted ridge of the Bitterroot Mountains. He walked through the meadow slowly, cradling his right hand with his left. The cameraman, dressed all in black, followed the boy like a distant shadow—always present, but unobtrusive. The sound of wood chopping
- ["Iron Boy Kills the Devil" by Sheldon Costa](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/iron-boy-kills-devil-sheldon-costa/) - At the junkyard, Iron Boy dreams of an afterlife for machines. He watches the heat shimmer over the heaps of trash and imagines the souls of all the gathered refuse ascending to the other side. He likes to think that in heaven, each piece of rubbish would find itself replenished, the blenders and refrigerators and
- ["A Pack a Day" by Betty Jo Buro](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/pack-day-betty-jo-buro/) - One When I tell my sisters I want to write about smoking, their memories arrive clothed in nostalgia, as if our childhood spent breathing secondhand smoke in a stuffy station wagon was somehow enchanted. Patty fondly recalls her own first cigarette, an illicit Viceroy she puffed while crouched behind a sand dune at Good Harbor
- ["Katie Flew Again Tonight" by Trent England](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/katie-flew-tonight-trent-england/) - Katie flew again tonight. She woke me up when she crawled into bed, and soon after she fell asleep, I quietly slipped out of the room. I saw evidence in our apartment of her flight: black yoga clothes shed on the floor made a trail down the hallway toward the living room window, where under
- ["Hunt and Catch" by Jac Jemc](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction/hunt-and-catch-by-jac-jemc/) - Emily pushed the keys at a steady rhythm. Having finished her work for the day, she spent her final three minutes typing a string of meaningless letters and numbers. She shut down her computer at exactly 5pm. She gathered her half-eaten salad from the fridge and tried not to make eye contact on her way
- ["Lions in the House" by Beejay Silcox](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/lions-in-the-house-by-beejay-silcox/) - There are lions in the house. Two, maybe three—it’s hard to tell. Filling the dark with their breathy territorial huffing, their stretched yawns and big-cat rumble. It’s simple physics, acoustic trickery—the zoo is directly across the park and the sound carries. But there’s nothing simple about lions in the house. When you leave the windows
- ["The Wheelchair" by Mahreen Sohail](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-wheelchair-by-mahreen-sohail/) - We bought the wheelchair first, my mother, my brother and I. We took our father to the grocery store. He asked us to stop near the tubs of pickled garlic, pickled mango, pickled chili, pickled olives. Wouldn’t it be lovely to be pickled he said, face laughing and cracked like a prune. This was the
- ["The Cock in Cadwalader Heights" by Ariel Delgado Dixon](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-cock-in-cadwalader-heights-by-ariel-delgado-dixon/) - In the abandoned rowhome behind our house, there lived a rooster that crowed every day at high noon. Though the phenomenon of the bird might have begun earlier, I only noticed it at the onset of that summer, as I was wandering away humid weekday afternoons while my mom worked. The noises of barn animals
- ["Balter Café" by Elle Flythe](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/balter-cafe-by-elle-flythe/) - The chairs outside the Balter Café are gold and black with a chevron pattern that rips apart when the earthquake hits. The street beneath them splits in two. Inside the café things are no better. Wires hang low and the glass from the broken windows comes to rest inside still faces. But neither the cracked
- ["Road Trip" by Rachel Attias](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/road-trip-by-rachel-attias/) - We drive across the country when college ends, just us girls. We keep the windows open and the music loud; our hair whips around our heads and our blood pumps to the bass beat. We are so young; this is our first real adventure, for some it’s our first time West of the Mississippi. We
- ["For Danny, Twelve Years Old" by Lucas Loredo](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/for-danny-twelve-years-old-by-lucas-loredo/) - Dear Danny, The news will be the liquid pop of a flashbulb in your brain; it will cause total erasure. You will dissociate from your body and see yourself from above. When two nurses in teal scrubs pass by the window, you will think: They are having a normal day, and I am not. You
- ["Longshore Drift" by Scott Broker](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/longshore-drift-by-scott-broker/) - On the way to visit our grandfather, my older sister Jackie predicted my death. “The cards don’t lie, boo,” she said, sliding the horseback skeleton across the tray table. “Do you want me to tell you how it’s going to happen?” Her tarot deck was new, a Christmas gift from our father, and in the
- ["Operation" by Scott Gloden](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/operation-by-scott-gloden/) - I was seven when my sister was taken to the hospital, screaming, her stomach swollen, like how the yard would get when we ran the sprinkler for too long and the grass turned into a water balloon. She was nine, and she needed a kidney transplant. After this need became understood, my father took me
- ["The Visitor" by Lydia Davis](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction/the-visitor-by-lydia-davis/) - Sometime in the early summer, a stranger will come and take up residence in our house. Although we have not met him, we know he will be bald, incontinent, speechless, and nearly completely unable to help himself. We don't know exactly how long he will stay, relying entirely on us for food, clothing, and shelter.
- ["White Out" by Caitlin O'Neil](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/white-out-by-caitlin-oneil/) - The snow had started the way it always did, quiet and perfect in the night. Three weeks later, it still hadn’t stopped. It wasn’t much, just an inch or two a day. But it was adding up. The governor had closed the roads so the big trucks could come through with supplies, but Tess snuck
- ["Malheur Refuge" by Rick Attig](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/malheur-refuge-by-rick-attig/) - Late at night, Lee sits on his unmade bed with a tumbler of melted ice and looks through a gap in the window blinds, searching the darkness for the flash of headlights. He’s still in his sweat-stained uniform, the patch with a leaping salmon and a fleeing duck high on the shoulder of his khaki
- ["Everything is Fine" by Alissa Johnson](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/everything-is-fine-by-alissa-johnson/) - If he had been walking the dog, she would not be lost. Paul was sure of it. But his wife had the leash in her hand, and when and a man and his dogs approached from the opposite direction—a Doberman mix and a poodle, he thought, though it was hard to tell in the dark—Poppy
- ["According to Their Kinds" by Kit Haggard](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/according-to-their-kinds-by-kit-haggard/) - It was the year the floods carried off the woodshed and the woodpile, when the electricity went out for several days and the basements of neighboring houses turned black with standing water—the surface broken only by a floating bucket, a half empty bottle of engine coolant like a rudderless craft—everything wet and seeping—and so, of
- ["Night Beast" by Ruth Joffre](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/night-beast-by-ruth-joffre/) - Somnambule, I called her. Somnambule pirouetting in the night. I shivered the first time I found her pressed against me in bed, her cold, insistent fingers working their way under my shirt. My brother had told me that she was a sleepwalker, that sometimes he'd wake up in the middle of the night and have
- ["Family, Family" by Jeannine Ouellette](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/family-family-by-jeannine-ouellette/) - The thing about Leo Whittaker is that although he was not liked, he was not unlikable, as some children certainly are. Grown-ups, especially teachers, won’t always acknowledge this, and I don’t particularly care to acknowledge it myself, truth be told. But it’s a fact—some children are simply foul. Not Leo, though. Not at all. Leo
- ["Good Creatures, Small Things" by Cate Fricke](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/good-creatures-small-things-by-cate-fricke/) - Pennsylvania, October 1895 Day 15 There is enough tea left in the can for three more cups. There is the end of a loaf of bread on the shelf, as big as two of Ida’s small fists, and one potato. Six matches. Eleven bullets. Ida doesn’t sleep in her own bed anymore, but in Momma
- ["My Sam and I" by Nick Fuller Googins](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/my-sam-and-i-by-nick-fuller-googins/) - T = 1- [f(n) + (o) + (w)] where T = time There’s My Sam, standing shirtless in the boxcar doorway, watching the forests and lakes shoot by. Hands on his hips, sunlight whitening his body. I call him the half-naked hobo king of Canada. No way, he shouts. Not Canada, just Ontario. Ruling
- ["The Drownings" by Brenda Peynado](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-drownings-by-brenda-peynado/) - The water glimmers in the corners of our eyes. Even if we’re not swimming, the pools are always within sight: in patios behind our houses, reflections on glass doors opening to the kitchens, water waving in the windows of our bedrooms. We all know someone who drowned. We all have our own close calls and
- ["Babyland" by Steve Edwards](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/babyland-by-steve-edwards-nv/) - At the end of every day, when Jesse has finished teaching his classes, and the babysitter’s been paid, and Grace has returned from work at the museum and changed into jeans and a sweater, and dinner’s been eaten and dishes piled in the sink, they load Baby Emma into her stroller and walk around the
- ["The Harshest Landscape We Know" by Lindsay Tigue](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-harshest-landscape-we-know-by-lindsay-tigue/) - January 24, 1984 Dear Robert Falcon Scott, I often imagine your reaction when you received Roald Amundsens’s telegraph: Beg leave inform you proceeding Antarctic. Amundsen. And just like that you were in a race for the pole. How concise news can be. I never pictured the South Pole as an actual place, but I’ve learned
- ["Rattlesnake Valley" by Sorrel Westbrook](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/rattlesnake-valley-by-sorrel-westbrook/) - To kill a rattlesnake, you need a shovel. That’s what my father, Joss, told me the night before we went out into the Buttermilks. He said to me, “Don’t worry about it being that sharp. You’re not doing surgery, girl,” and laughed that kind of dry laugh that doesn’t use much air. That was in
- ["Mix and Match" by Katherine Rooks](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/mix-and-match-by-katherine-rooks/) - I hear the distinct rustling of someone attempting to be quiet. I don’t need to see over the lumps of laundry padded around me to know that it’s Calvin; he’s only eleven, and at eleven it’s impossible to be quiet even when you’re trying so so hard and not even breathing. He’s prowling the perimeter
- ["New Shadows" by Kaj Tanaka](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/new-shadows-by-kaj-tanaka/) - Several of us have noticed that the shadows, of late, seem somehow greater—seem to be multiplying in size, quantity and level of darkness. Have you noticed the generally increasing darkness? We attribute that to the shadows. It has been a difficult conversation to broach for those of us who have noticed because we do not
- ["Babyland" by Steve Edwards](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/babyland-by-steve-edwards/) - At the end of every day, when Jesse has finished teaching his classes, and the babysitter’s been paid, and Grace has returned from work at the museum and changed into jeans and a sweater, and dinner’s been eaten and dishes piled in the sink, they load Baby Emma into her stroller and walk around the
- ["Room Tone" by Brian Evenson](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction/room-tone-by-brian-evenson/) - 1. At the last possible moment he found the perfect house. It was empty and spacious and hadn’t been updated since the seventies, which was exactly what Filip wanted. It was for sale, with the old couple who lived there now both in hospice and their children living on the other side of the country
- ["The Boomslang Coup" by Joel Hans](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-boomslang-coup-by-joel-hans/) - My brothers and sisters are always falling apart. They peel at their seams, are always needing more of my love, which keeps them alive. Once, my father said my kisses are made of magic—that they hold the sutures together—but I don’t know what to believe any more. I loop sutures through my siblings’ seams, silence
- ["Red" by Katie Knoll](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/red-by-katie-knoll/) - Antlered does of the genus Capreolus usually bear small, poorly developed, irregular "freak" antlers which remain for the most part permanently in velvet without being shed. -George Wislocki, "Journal of Mammalogy" Before, we were blue. Bluer than robins' eggs, bluer than the tiny veins in our wrists and some of our eyes. Even our skin
- ["Ledgers" by Claire Boyles](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/ledgers-by-claire-boyles/) - We let the dust settle for a month or two after Pop had his stroke, and then we sold the family ranch all in one piece to a cattle man from Montrose, Henson, whose name Pop didn’t recognize. I had been living on the Farallones, studying site fidelity of Ashy Storm-Petrels, birds most people probably
- ["The First Location" by Molly Reid](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-first-location-by-molly-reid/) - The girl had been in Shannon’s English class, indistinguishable before she went missing from the others. The ones chiseled from marble, spun from silk. They walked around campus like gods holding their power in check, gracious with omniscience. They sat beside her in lecture halls, in classrooms with tidy rows of desks, and mostly acted
- [Call for Readers](https://mastersreview.com/call-for-readers-fall2016/) - Do you have a passion for contemporary fiction and nonfiction? Are you looking to gain experience working for a literary magazine? Then consider applying to be a reader for The Masters Review this fall. This position involves a seven-month commitment with three to four hours of reading a week. Readers can work remotely and set
- ["Friendly Crossroads" by Lydia Conklin](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/friendly-crossroads-by-lydia-conklin/) - The youth group was on the way to a retreat west of Boston. Corey sat squeezed in the back of the station wagon, her elbows on her knees and her fingers pushing spirals into her temples. She watched Meredith Styles, the group’s guest, who was up front with Bill, the leader. Meredith Styles was a
- ["The Cultural Ambassador of North Beach" by Ezra Carlsen](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-cultural-ambassador-of-north-beach-by-ezra-carlsen/) - The Calliope, a clipper ship said to be a hundred and sixteen feet long and twenty-four feet abeam, is buried beneath my father’s bar, The Ann McKim. Little is known about the ship, but the historians I’ve spoken with believe the Calliope shared the same fate as the Euphemia or the William Gray: the crews,
- ["Living Things" by Landon Houle](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/living-things-by-landon-houle/) - Lewis and Mozelle were making finger whoopee again. That’s what Lewis told Bev, anyway. Bev didn’t know where he’d come up with this term, finger whoopee. Maybe a relic from his own youth. It was too sweet, after all, too innocent to have come from Natalie and the other girls. Bev was sure they would
- ["At The Dog Park" by Yasmina Madden](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/at-the-dog-park-by-yasmina-madden/) - At the dog park I pull in behind a gold SUV with a bumper sticker that reads: “Don’t let this fool you, my real treasure is in Heaven.” Additional stickers read: “The Spirit Moves Me” and “ReJOYce.” I know the woman who drives the car. She tells me her daughters don’t like her, but she
- [“Summer, 2002” by Nancy Ludmerer](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/summer-2002-by-nancy-ludmerer/) - I shouldn’t have been surprised when Eli told me he wanted to play football. He mentioned it over breakfast in early June, but I’d overheard him discussing it a dozen times with Toby, his best friend. I told him Jewish boys didn’t play football, that he would get hurt, that the risk of permanent injury
- ["The Kingdom of Amateur Gods" by Brad Eddy](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/kingdom-of-amateur-gods-by-brad-eddy/) - Jimmy and I climbed the rusted ladder and perched ourselves on the roof of the trailer. Our kingdom lay before us, mobile homes and overgrown yards, our subjects adrift, wandering for meaning. Fat Judy, still in her robe at 3:00 p.m., ate a frozen burrito on her porch. Donnie Hayes opened the hood of his
- ["A Rogue Planet" by Thomas Pierce](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction/a-rogue-planet-by-thomas-pierce/) - Are you watching this too? Do you see the face? How come we’ve never even heard of this planet until now? Can you believe this is really happening? When you first heard the news of a planet that’s come creeping into our solar system, a planet with a face, did you assume they meant that
- ["Creation Story" by Katie Chase](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction/creation-story-by-katie-chase/) - The last time the city burned, my brother didn't stay for cake. Soon as we finished dinner, he pushed his chair out from the table and came back smelling of cologne. “I'm going out,” he announced. Dad glanced at Mom, who tried to keep her face from falling. She'd already pushed the candles in. Black
- ["Miracle Factory" by Carmen Petaccio](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/miracle-factory-by-carmen-petaccio/) - Mom and Dad are giving marriage another go. No point asking why. Dad boxes up his janky suite at the La Quinta. Mom unearths the banished Dad photos from the crawl space and sprays their frames with Pledge and wipes. Then there’s that Pledge smell, all through the house. They call a family meeting in
- ["The Split" by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-split-by-bonnie-jo-stufflebeam/) - When Emma moved to Oregon with her girlfriend she left part of herself behind. Her parents inhabited a two-story on eight acres in Texas where Emma had lived for the whole of her life. Oregon was an adventure. After all, she couldn’t rely on family forever. Here was a chance at a new family, built
- [“A Particular Woman” by Molly Jean Bennett](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/a-particular-woman-by-molly-jean-bennett/) - A particular woman sat in the swing on her front porch and cataloged her body in bits and parts. She had been feeling out of sorts lately, and something less than solid. She ought to get herself down on paper, she thought. The moon, rising over the crumbling house across the street, appeared like a
- ["When You Lived Inside the Walls" by Krishan Coupland](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/when-you-lived-inside-the-walls-by-krishan-coupland/) - There are few at first. You hear them scuttling under the floorboards, pinpoint claws clicking wood. At night you think you can discern their squeaking—so high-pitched it is almost inaudible. It is a month before you actually see one. You come into the kitchen one night, empty glass in hand, and flick on the light.
- ["Linger Longer" by Vincent Masterson](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/linger-longer-by-vincent-masterson-2/) - I. Arrivals It was their first vacation together, a log-cabin weekend with Michael’s old friends from grad school, and Lori was determined not to ruin it. This was more her fear than his, and she had overcompensated with eager questions—Where was this Quad? Who’s Dupin? What’s absinthe?—her eyes wide and searching and wanting more. But
- ["The Erratic" by Christina Milletti](https://mastersreview.com/the-erratic-by-christina-milletti/) - Dilly was ten, or maybe eight, or possibly twelve years old the day she disappeared, for the last time, from her engineered neighborhood on Willow Park Lane. She no longer remembered when the final vanishing happened. Long ago, maybe yesterday, she sat alone in the backyard of her home where a large rock, a boulder
- ["Pool People" by Jen Neale](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/pool-people-by-jen-neale/) - One moment the pool water at Hillcrest Center was liquid, and the next it was solid. Not ice, but hard, crystalline, warm to the touch. The lifeguard, in the midst of chewing his ragged thumb moon, did not understand at first what had happened—from his perch on the tall chair, the surface of the indoor
- ["Animalizing" by Marisela Navarro](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/animalizing-by-marisela-navarro/) - A sea urchin embryo is a beautiful sight. It grows like a kaleidoscope. With the aid of a scanning electron microscope, I see everything: the cells are transparent, impartial. They are ready for my eye and my ideas about animalizing. I'd go into more detail, but I don't like to talk about sea urchin embryos.
- [Praise for The Masters Review](https://mastersreview.com/praise/) - Winner! INDIE FAB Silver Medal for Best Short Story Collection. Winner! The Oregon Literary Arts 2015 Fellowship, awarded to publishers and magazines who show a commitment to literary publishing. "I read your issues like clockwork! I’m a literary agent, and there’s such a great cast of emerging writers on this site that I’m always checking
- ["Sarajevo" by Samuel Jensen](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/sarajevo-by-samuel-jensen/) - It was so white you couldn’t believe it. Just an even keel, this infinite circle of snow radiating out into the distance from their shuttle. The only thing Sawyer had ever seen like it was the sky once flying into Dallas Love Field: the endless clouds had spread beneath her plane like pastureland, then swallowed
- ["Bay Rhum Christmas" by Frances Key Phillips](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/bay-rhum-christmas-by-frances-key-phillips/) - Bronwen isn’t greeted by anyone at the door, though she knows she can be seen through the house’s large front windows as she walks up the path. A carrier bag holding two boxes of gold-foil Christmas crackers swings from her forearm. She is hardly surprised at the oversight: Carys’ household always gives off a hectic
- ["A Suggestion" by Lee Conell](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/a-suggestion-by-lee-conell/) - One summer afternoon, in a bar in Hell’s Kitchen, I met a guy who looked pretty normal. I mean, he looked pretty much like me: receding hairline, dark eyes. But when I asked him what he did for a living, he said, “Don’t laugh, man. I’ll tell you what I do, but don’t laugh.” I
- ["That Was Me Once" by Megan Cummins](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/that-was-me-once-by-megan-cummins/) - Mara and I are trying to do normal things in the time I have left, so on Sunday afternoon we take Brian to lunch in town. Harper, Michigan is one of those places that for a long time could have been anywhere. There was a main street with a few dull shops and a Greek
- ["Illumination" by Denise Schiavone](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/illumination-by-denise-schiavone/) - When the phone rings at 8:43 a.m., Abby answers it with barely disguised irritation. No one ever calls this time of day except solicitors. Mitch always calls at bedtime—just after sunrise in Kabul, before the start of his platoon’s daily patrol. The connection this morning is crisp, without a trace of echo, and it takes
- ["The Restorative Unit" by Julia Elliott](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction/the-restorative-unit-by-julia-elliott/) - The actress gazes out at an ocean the color of Berry Blue Kool-Aid. The sea is thirty yards away, beyond the sprawl of a sugar-white beach. Everything looks cartoonish, saturated with artificial color—clouds, sky, sea, sand. Is it the procedure, she wonders, filling her with vibrancy already, restoring her eyesight, making her hardened lenses flexible
- ["Clean Hunters" by Lena Valencia](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/clean-hunters-by-lena-valencia/) - Emily saw her first ghost when she was ten years old. She was at a sleepover at Michelle Beach’s house in Englewood, rooting through Tupperware and yogurt containers in the fridge, searching for the saran-wrapped plate of leftover pizza that she’d watched Mrs. Beach put away earlier in the evening. The house was silent with
- ["The Lady Winchester Deciphers Her Labyrinth" by Adrian Van Young](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction/the-lady-winchester-deciphers-her-labyrinth-by-adrian-van-young/) - Before the great earthquake of 1906, twenty-three hours before it exactly, a quake which will, when it has passed, enact such a chaos of structural damage upon a house in San Jose that the house might as well not be standing at all, shattering ten of the seventeen chimneys, juddering three Tudor turrets to bricks,
- [Rachael Warecki: "Confounding Variables" and "The Fluid in Our Veins"](https://mastersreview.com/rachael-warecki-confounding-variables-and-the-fluid-in-our-veins/) - Confounding Variables I felt Natalie Hosay moving beneath me as I straddled her, her hips jerking against the seat of my jeans, and I wondered if this was how she had moved beneath my brother. Of course, I would never be able to know that—intercourse, as a scientific method, fails all three requirements of a
- ["10:25 EDT" by Rachael Warecki](https://mastersreview.com/1025-a-m-edt-by-rachael-warecki/) - I. The Minutes Before and After; the Minutes In-Between Although the call crackles over our scanners at 10:36 a.m., we know the trouble started earlier. Those of us reporting for the Intelligencer up in Lancaster are jaded enough to do the math, make an estimate based on what we’d gleaned from the local geography. 9-1-1
- ["Double Exposure" by Megan Giddings](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/double-exposure-by-megan-giddings/) - We were young and poor and the apartment was six hundred and fifty-five dollars a month with heat included. Yeah, the refrigerator and oven were small and outdated. But there was a large window made for growing plants and looking out into the park across the street when feeling wistful. I could already see myself
- ["Hildy" by Tom Howard](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/hildy-by-tom-howard/) - I’m on the pier with Hildy behind the Tilt-a-Whirl and the Himalaya, and all at once I get this feeling like the wind’s whipping over my grave. From the end of the pier you can see for miles, and the same few houses on each block are always lit, all day and all night long.
- ["The Golden Arowana" by William Pei Shih](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-golden-arowana-by-william-pei-shih/) - It is dead upon arrival. As soon as Jimmy is home, he tears the box open, cuts through the matching brown tape with the sharp edge of a key. Inside, the carcass. It is lying in a thin thread of water. The deflated plastic bag, like a balloon past its prime. Encasing all this, a
- ["Do You Believe?" by Tina Egnoski](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/do-you-believe-by-tina-egnoski/) - We’re on our bellies, slithering commando-style through the underbrush of Graham Park. My son, Wesley, has clipped a Nerf Vortex around his torso with an old belt and double-striped his cheeks with greasepaint. Very Army grunt. I’m packing my own plastic pistol, a bright orange two-barrel that fits snugly in my palm. Our foam bullets
- [Something’s Wrong in the Garden: the Uncanny and the Art of Writing by Marjorie Sandor - Preview](https://mastersreview.com/somethings-wrong-in-the-garden-the-uncanny-and-the-art-of-writing-by-marjorie-sandor-preview/) - It’s 1965. I’m eight years old, and my parents have gone out for the evening, leaving my older brothers in charge. This explains why I’m parked in front of the television set, watching a movie well beyond my tender years: The Innocents, based on Henry James’ unsettling ghost story, The Turn of the Screw. A
- ["The Uncanny Valley" by Matthew Pitt](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-uncanny-valley-by-matthew-pitt/) - Week Three Les can’t steer his stare away. Oh, he tries; tries his best to watch only Maura, and to imagine the bulge beneath his bride’s camisole as a fragile shivering form, but the ring piercing through another mother-to-be’s bellybutton keeps diverting him. Focus. As if each breath is crystallizing on a cold night. Don’t
- ["Lookout" by Kelly Luce](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction/lookout-by-kelly-luce/) - Sherina harvested the cash from the cards. She had a way of sliding her finger along the seam of an envelope and finding the weak spot where there was no glue. He liked watching her. “I can’t tell if I’m depressed or if this is the happiest day of my life,” she said. She was
- ["Shine" by Ron A. Austin](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/shine-by-ron-a-austin/) - Yell bit Mom on the shoulder so Mom finally kicked her punk-ass out. Mom made me put on rubber gloves and inspect the wound for signs of infection with a miniature flashlight and a magnifying glass. The wound was a perfect oval, as if Yell had attacked with a precision cutting instrument and not her
- [Our Secret Life in the Movies - by Michael McGriff and JM Tyree](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction/our-secret-life-in-the-movies-by-michael-mcgriff-and-jm-tyree/) - San Francisco film buffs Michael McGriff and JM Tyree set out to watch all 800 + films in the Criterion Collection in a single year. After each film, the writers penned a short story loosely inspired by the movie, which became Our Secret Life in the Movies, a collection produced by Austin publisher A Strange
- ["Trespassing" by Emily Wortman-Wunder](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/trespassing-by-emily-wortman-wunder/) - The smell of the creek catches her as she goes into the house with the crinkly bags from Target. What is that? Julia pauses, lifting her nose into the gathering dusk. Water. Damp and algae and mud, even here in the cold heart of November. She strings the bags onto one hand to better crane
- ["The Light of Jackie Onuma Kennedy" by Johnny Day](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-light-of-jackie-kennedy-by-johnny-day/) - 1 A new inscription appears, Jackie Onuma Kennedy says materializes, on the inside of the door of the fourth bathroom stall every Monday morning, and while no one has claimed to see The Fatidic Message in bloom, to see the jagged, heavy metal font etch itself onto the industrial khaki matte just above the sliding
- [Featured Fiction: "The Candelabra" by Ben Loory](https://mastersreview.com/featured-fiction/featured-fiction-the-candelabra-by-ben-loory/) - The grandmother starts staying up later and later, long after everyone else has gone to bed. She sits in the living room, in the dark, with her hands folded in her lap. One night the mother—her daughter—finds her there. She's on her way to the bathroom. Mother, she says, what are you doing? She reaches
- ["House Hunt" by Jessica Lee Richardson](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/house-hunt-by-jessica-lee-richardson/) - The eye green and uncommonly unspiked at the iris; the mane thick and piss-riddled color and scent; toe, a boulder’s girth; nail, a curved kerosene tooth; tooth, a blade. Blood. And yet, or when, should I say, once upon a time, we came to live together, a rhythm was established. This rhythm had danger not
- [The Boy and The Bear - By Blake Kimzey](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-boy-and-the-bear-by-blake-kimzey/) - The boy woke in the forest, covered in snow, and blinked at the nickel-sized flurries falling on his face. He looked closely at his forearms and hands: dark black hair, brittle as icicles, and claws that shone like dull bone. He lay under the hangover of a jagged stand of rocks near the banks of
- [Word List](https://mastersreview.com/word-list/) - Tartle - The act of hesitating while introducing someone because you’ve forgotten their name. (Scottish) Prozvonit - This word means to call a mobile phone and let it ring once so that the other person will call back, saving the first caller money. (Czech) Cafune - The act of tenderly running one’s fingers through someone’s
- ["Someone To Listen" by Phil Quam](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/someone-to-listen-by-phil-quam/) - Good rivers, like good lives, are unfinished business. - Christopher Camuto McNab’s cabin sat above the Shenandoah River, atop cut bank along the south fork that had been carved out over time by flood and drought. If everything was quiet enough on the porch, you heard the water making its run. But any
- ["A Thing of Little Consequence" by Torrey Crim](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/a-thing-of-little-consequence-by-torrey-crim/) - I was, at that time in my life, working at a restaurant in Manhattan, which I hated. It paid decent money, which was hard to come by then, and at the least it allowed me to sleep in, or get up early and have the day to myself, and that was worth something. I was
- ["Calculus BC: Final Exam" by Abigail Hodge](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/calculus-bc-final-exam-by-abigail-hodge/) - Calculus BC: Final Exam (500 points) A. Bathroom stall, six minutes until calculus. He uses his dad's credit card to cut neat white lines on the copy of The Two Towers he stole from the library this morning. Don't worry, he'll give it back. He only has a few chapters left. A one dollar bill
- [Letter From The Editor](https://mastersreview.com/from-the-editor/) - January 1, 2015 Dear Readers, There have been some changes implemented this year to improve our ability to publish the best writers and to fully serve our goals once the book has been published. The first is opening submissions to all emerging writers. This allows us to support a community of new writers by showcasing
- ["Tierkling" by Justine McNulty](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/tierkling-by-justine-mcnulty/) - Galactic Mountain had always been there, and in our minds it always would be, the way it had been then. Its neon lights were a beacon to train our bikes toward, its flashing sign our refuge. We would lean our bikes in a tangled pile of metal against the brick building, crowding into the entryway
- ["Here on Out" by Jesse Hassenger](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/here-on-out-by-jesse-hassenger/) - I check into the hotel late, and the guy at the desk is asleep. When I peek over the counter, I see the gun resting next to his roller chair. I feel bad for waking him, but he should be alert, keeping watch for the Enthusiasts. Otherwise, go empty: an empty desk at least has
- ["In Ribbons" by Paul McQuade](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/in-ribbons-by-paul-mcquade/) - ‘It’s fox-work,’ Hiro’s grandmother says, her eyes gleaming like jaspers, her thin fingers winding a needle through thinner cloth, closing a rift in father’s shirt. Each week grandma washes the clothes so hard her knuckles redden, but still some specks of coal-dust twine themselves into the weave. ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ says his mother. ‘It was
- [An Unfortunate Interview - A Discussion With Lemony Snicket](https://mastersreview.com/an-unfortunate-interview-a-discussion-with-lemony-snicket/) - If you are interested in interviews where people say smart things and cover interesting topics, then you've come to the wrong place. You don't want to read this interview -- you don't. It might be the most terrible interview you've ever read. An enormous thanks to Daniel Handler, AKA Lemony Snicket, for speaking with us
- [An Unfortunate Interview - part 2](https://mastersreview.com/an-unfortunate-interview-part-2/) - How did you decided to change the novel you were working on when it wasn’t for children or about children? What sparked the change was that in desperation my agent was giving The Basic Eight to some children’s book editors. And YA was not in the place that it is today, but my agent was
- [An Unfortunate Interview - part 3](https://mastersreview.com/an-unfortunate-interview-part-3/) - You’ve said before that you’re more interested in stories that ask questions than try to provide answers. If you could summarize A Series of Unfortunate Events by the question or questions that you’re asking what would that be? Oh goodness. What is happening? Why is it happening? And what can we do about it? Well
- [An Unfortunate Interview - part 1](https://mastersreview.com/an-unfortunate-interview-part-1/) - As a publication that focuses on new and emerging writers, our readership is always interested in hearing how the writers that they admire got their start. Can you talk about your beginning? Specifically The Basic Eight and the start of The Lemony Snicket books? I had just graduated from college and stayed on campus for
- ["The Punk's Bride" by Kate Bernheimer](https://mastersreview.com/the-punks-bride-by-kate-bernheimer-full/) - There was once a woman and her daughter and the daughter kept a beautiful garden with cabbages, daisies, etc. The daughter was in her early twenties and lived at home. She was a secretary and couldn’t afford her own place, and she didn’t want to move in with some friends who had asked her. Their
- ["The Punk's Bride" by Kate Bernheimer](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-punks-bride-by-kate-bernheimer/) - Kate Bernheimer is the contemporary master of the fairy tale. We are thrilled to feature this dark October story from her. This tale, an imitation of "The Hare's Bride," sent a shiver up our spines. Scroll through if you dare. > About the Story: “The
- [Same Language Translations - Book Review: How a Mother Weaned Her Girl from Fairy Tales by Kate Bernheimer](https://mastersreview.com/same-language-translations-book-review-how-a-mother-weaned-her-girl-from-fairy-tales-by-kate-bernheimer/) - No contemporary author knows more about the fairy tale than Kate Bernheimer. Her scholarship and fiction both work to promote public understanding of this often-misrepresented genre. Bernheimer is a professor at the University of Arizona, and founder of the Fairy Tale Review. She has edited several anthologies of fiction and criticism in which major contemporary
- ["Other Dangers" by Ben Hoffman](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/other-dangers-by-ben-hoffman/) - Don’t you know how easy it is to visit someone in a nursing home? We told the man at the front desk the truth, or a version: she had been our teacher, and we were eager to see her before she passed. We thought he’d say, Must have been some teacher. But we could have
- [What Happened to Eloise - by Manuel Gonzales](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/what-happened-to-eloise-by-manuel-gonzales/) - At first we assumed she was the only one, the young woman with a thick smear of blood on her lips. We assumed that we’d found this one young woman, feral, maybe, but alone, definitely alone on this barren strip of rock and crevasse in the middle of the Arctic Sea. We were looking for
- ["Midlife Crisis" by Angie Pelekidis](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/midlife-crisis-by-angie-pelekidis/) - One day, Anne’s husband, Dan, decides to start wearing diapers. He is forty-nine years old and has never had any incontinence issues, or signs of incipient senility. His father, however, died five months earlier, not long after suffering a super-nova stroke that obliterated a large section of his brain. Dan Sr. spent the last few
- [O Fortuna - by J.T. Townley](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/o-fortuna-by-jt-townley/) - That was when the complaints began. For a time, it was mostly the regulars, who were always carping about something. Weather’s lousy, said Mr. Chan. What’s that smell? asked Mrs. Zhou. White woman’s bad luck, said Mr. Han. We brought them more dumplings and fried rice and Tsingtao, on the house, and pretended not to
- [Twelve in the Black - by John Thornton Williams](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/twelve-in-the-black-by-john-thornton-williams/) - My mother’s eyesight is going. You can tell by the way she butchers my hair, what’s left of it. I sit on a kitchen stool with a cape snapped around my neck, draped over my knees, and she talks about her overweight husky and the state of her kittens—how the mama cat wants to eat
- [October Contest](https://mastersreview.com/october-contest/) - TEXT
- [The Mothers - by Amy Scharmann](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-mothers-by-amy-scharmann/) - Lizzie called to let me know she was in labor and asked if I’d drive out to California to help. “Don’t bring the boys,” she said. “It would just be too much for me right now.” She almost whispered it, in her usual trance of apathy. She told me the baby would be there by
- [Pete Macaroni - by Justin Thurman](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/pete-macaroni-by-justin-thurman/) - I am a man at home folding his wife’s delicates. Russell is my five-year-old son and he has a thick black mustache. Three weeks since my mother-in-law’s funeral. Five weeks since I was fired. Russell’s blighted the living room with the spy kit’s guts: a code-breaking book, a fake passport, a folding wallet-sized installation that
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- [Instruments - by Zana Previti](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/instruments-by-zana-previti/) - Gosso drives the Zamboni and sells surgical instruments from a JanSport backpack. He’s been working at the rink since before I started coming there; it has become a ritual with the hockey players, to buy scalpels and suction tubes and anoscopes after losses. They buy more from him when they’ve played badly, as penance. They
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- [Summer Workshop - Instructor Info](https://mastersreview.com/summer-workshop-instructor-info/) - Mission The Masters Review Summer Workshop aims to connect emerging writers with experts in the field. This workshop will help authors get stories and essays publication ready before many literary magazines reopen submissions in the fall. By pairing each student with an experienced instructor, we hope to give participants not only thorough edits on a
- [Wasted Wishes - by Tara Campbell](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/wasted-wishes-by-tara-campbell/) - His eyes always look so tired now. He seems too young to have eyes that weary; but then, I have no idea how old he really is. He tells me tales of long ago, of his life among pharaohs and kings. If this is true, I ask, then how did he wind up here, telling
- [The Orchard - by Matthew McKenzie Davis](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-orchard-by-matthew-mckenzie-davis/) - At the edge of the orchard, Sonny asked Jason to stop the truck so they could examine the gutted remains of his house. The roof had collapsed, and what had been the living room and kitchen were now piles of cinder and charred lumber. Sonny tried the drawers in the roll-top desk by the front
- [Goose - by Theodora Ziolkowski](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/goose-by-theodora-ziolkowski/) - The morning you meet them, you nick the back of your hand with your spade. You freeze, catch your breath. You are in your garden, on your knees, your skirt caked in soil, when the idea passes through you like shadows in a river. From now on, you will change the way you tell your
- [Unabomber for President - by Logan Murphy](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/unabomber-for-president-by-logan-murphy/) - An icosahedron is a type of polyhedron made up of twenty identical equilateral triangular faces, forming thirty edges and twelve vertices along their paths of intersection. The particular icosahedron in my hand was fabricated from a process of plastic injection molding, with green swirling resin patterns in its subsurface and golden numbers indented just into
- [Vegetables - By John Oliver Hodges](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/vegetables-by-john-oliver-hodges/) - Chelsea dressed the part of the adoring wife, her cheap muslin dress hippyish for Cornice who loved hippyish. When hippyish girls walked by, his heart tumbled after, his vision reaching into the hollows of ankle, the dirtier the better, caressing bared shoulder or nape. Cornice loved bandanas draped over the head, the no-bra look of
- [Outside The Window, The Savage Rain - by E.C. Belli](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/outside-the-window-the-savage-rain-by-e-c-belli/) - The first meeting they discussed the schedule. Once a week wouldn’t work. Anything could happen in between, and they had material to cover. Someone in the back, I think it was Vida, suggested three meetings a week. But there were other obligations. They had to see everyone beforehand; they couldn’t just disappear for hours on
- [Program Profile: Savannah College of Art and Design, MFA](https://mastersreview.com/program-profile-savannah-college-of-art-and-design-mfa/) - A big thanks to Dean of SCAD's School of Liberal Arts, Beth Concepción, for answering a few questions about what makes SCAD's MFA program so special. Although SCAD has a strong focus in nonfiction, it fosters education across all genres. Take a look at what she has to say. Thank you, SCAD! SCAD is primarily focused
- [Program Profile: West Virginia Wesleyan MFA](https://mastersreview.com/program-profile-west-virginia-wesleyan-mfa/) - Jessie van Eerden is the Director of WV Wesleyan's low-residency MFA program. With twice yearly meetings at a campus nestled in central Appalachia (or a substitute low-residency available in Ireland) the program " welcomes and fosters writing that explores place and identity." It is an intimate program and one that mimics a real writer's life.
- [This Occipital Sorrow - Book Review: Sleep Donation by Karen Russell](https://mastersreview.com/this-occipital-sorrow-book-review-sleep-donation-by-karen-russell/) - In Karen Russell’s e-novella Sleep Donation, the inaugural title for Atavist Books, the reader enters a world in which our dreams are no longer private. Insomnia is an epidemic, and no one knows the cause. Every day, more people lose their ability to sleep. Healthy sleepers are asked to literally give their dreams away, to
- [Program Profile: Western Washington University MFA](https://mastersreview.com/program-profile-western-washington-university-mfa/) - We spoke with Western Washington University Professor Kelly Magee about some of the standout elements to their MFA program. There was a lot to share as this is one special school. We love what she had to say about breaking genre boundaries. Students, check it out! Western Washington University's MFA program is new to the
- [Stay - by Zachary Amendt](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/stay-by-zachary-amendt/) - As soon as Aldo came home, he checked the hygrometer. “It’s humid downstairs,” he said. “I know. It beeped,” Marti said. “It’ll mold. You don’t want that.” Marti didn’t want any of it. Sometimes she thought Aldo had married her for her inheritance of framed jerseys, pennants, signed baseballs that she wasn’t allowed to touch.
- [MFA Program Profile - North Carolina State University](https://mastersreview.com/mfa-program-profile-north-carolina-state-university/) - North Carolina State University is known for being extremely selective, producing high quality writers, and has been among the top-ranked MFA programs since its inception. Editor Arielle Yarwood asked what they look for in applications, advice for current MFA students, and for some insight into what makes North Carolina State University's program so special. This
- [Program Profile - Iowa State University](https://mastersreview.com/program-profile-iowa-state-university/) - Iowa State has a pretty unique MFA program. Their website states, "Iowa State University’s three-year MFA program in Creative Writing and Environment emphasizes study in creative writing -- poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and drama -- that encourages writers to identify and explore in their stories and lyric impressions the complex influences of place, the natural world,
- [The Brothers Wham! - by Megan Giddings](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-brothers-wham-by-meggan-giddings/) - The Voice of Fortune It’s easy to assume that when people hear George Michael sing and sigh, “that’s a voice that can raise the dead,” they’re just complimenting him. It’s not a compliment. It’s true. I experienced it. His voice is an alarm clock urging all dead within hearing distance to rise. It was a
- [Cousin - by Rolli](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/cousin-by-rolli/) - Though it should not be possible, there is a secret in my heart. Even when what I call a heart... is pure circuitry. Electricity. It is incorrect, and yet -- it is there. I have fewer duties in the evening. They run down, like a pocket watch. My Master, after I bring in his evening
- [A River, Breaking - By  Brianne Kohl](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/a-river-breaking-by-brianne-kohl/) - The Cheechako "The ice is rotten there," my father-in-law said to me, pointing out across the frozen river. His hands were bare, gloves tucked away in the pockets of his open parka. "What do you mean, rotten?" I asked. I still had my gloves on. My borrowed anorak was zipped up to my throat. It
- [whiskey over barbed wire - By Kiik AK](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/whiskey-over-barbed-wire-by-kiik-ak/) - The doctor told Kane Araki that it happened sometimes, in extreme circumstances of weather or diet, a Japanese man or woman might spontaneously sprout a set of wings. He had heard of three or four cases from his colleagues in Japan. A woman from west Osaka had saved her village from drought when she’d seeded
- [Life After Men - By Dale Bridges](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/life-after-men-by-dale-bridges/) - Danny’s partially rotten head makes a totally grosso crunching noise when I smash it with my $2500 Gucci handbag. He falls to the sidewalk and sort of flops around helplessly while I stand over him, hands on hips, and glare. For a second, his spasms remind me of the last time we frogged, almost two
- [Whatever it Takes - by Liz Dolan](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/whatever-it-takes-by-liz-dolan/) - Today I saw the man who hurt me. He was standing in front of the deli drinking a can of beer. He was short and round like a barrel, dark-haired and dark-eyed. I was walking to the red house with my father to pick up his railroad check. He knows everybody in the neighborhood and
- [Plenty of Room With Nowhere To Go - By Nicholas Teeter](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/plenty-of-room-with-nowhere-to-go-by-nicholas-teeter/) - July came and I had no job. I couldn’t hold anything steady and writing didn’t pay much. I was fired a few months ago for showing up drunk but I wasn’t actually drunk I just smelled like booze. That was when I realized I walk into bars a lot to write stories. I decided that
- [The Funeral - By Rinat Harel](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-funeral-by-rinalt-harel/) - Clad in black, we headed to the graveyard. A dark swarm carrying a fair lady. Evening was approaching. With the sunset at our back, our procession advanced through the cemetery grounds. Weeping willows bowed their crowns before us. On our way we paid our respects to some old friends: Woolf, Borges, Proust, Carol-Oats, Coelho, Morrison.
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- [NUT Junction - By Davis Slater](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/nut-junction-by-davis-slater/) - There's a place in southeast Missouri where nobody walks. It's too far from anywhere you want to be on foot, in an overgrown mess out by the big flood channel, so it's heaven for cottonmouths and copperheads and more than a couple rattlers, but that ain't why. County roads N, U, and T meet right
- [Killing Jessica - By Brian Foster](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/killing-jessica-by-brian-foster/) - The romantics call it an ebb and flow, suggesting that life comes and goes rather smoothly. Peacefully is the implication. With such a phrase at hand one can imagine a beach with the tide pulling at twelve-year-old toes as sand castles dissolve beneath gentle waves. Your pocket full of rattling sand dollars and your mother
- [Roadside Cotton - By Alayna Palmer Hanneken](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/roadside-cotton-by-alayna-palmer-hanneken/) - For as far back into his thirteen years as Tommy can remember, Old Man Johnson’s house has terrified him. The blinds rustle without a breeze. Coyote howls echo from the back. The gray paint on the weather-beaten paneling has begun to chip. Time has yellowed the ancient white door, and a rusted brass knocker hangs
- [The Writer Who Slept for a Hundred Years: A True Story - Hunter Liguore](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/the-writer-who-slept/) - On February 18, 2013, President’s Day, Hypatia L., a forty-year-old writer from Wakefield, Massachusetts, settled down to take an afternoon nap and didn’t wake up for a very long time. She had spent the earlier part of the day in her usual manner, scoping markets for her unpublished novel, checking her inbox for acceptance letters
- [Patron of the Arts - By Kate Finlinson](https://mastersreview.com/new-voices/patron-of-the-arts/) - From his seat on the front row of the mezzanine, R watched the conductor gesture to begin the concerto. On the stage below, the polished piano overwhelmed the harp, the tuba, and the bass drum, all at rest. Eventually clarinetists would lift their reeds, violinists would nod into their strings, and the score would call
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