Ploughshares Spring 2014

by Ploughshares (Editor), Gregory Maguire, Jayne Anne Phillips

The Fall 2003 issue of Ploughshares, guest-edited by Alice Hoffman. Ploughshares, a journal of new writing, is guest-edited serially by prominent writers who explore different personal visions, aesthetics, and literary circles.

Guest-edited by Alice Hoffman, author of Practical Magic, The Dovekeepers, and many other acclaimed works of fiction, this all-fiction Fall 2000 issue of Ploughshares contains stories by notable authors like Gregory Maguire, Jayne Anne Phillips, Elizabeth Berg, and Grace Paley. Of the works in this issue, Hoffman says in her Introduction, "That, of course, is what great fiction does: it opens a door you never even knew was there, it reminds you that the world isn't always what you had assumed it to be, and that it is our job, as writers of fiction, to report from a front no one has ever visited before."

Full Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION
Alice Hoffman

EDITOR PROFILE
Maryanne O'Hara

FICTION

"The Party," by Elizabeth Berg
"The Bad Shepherd," by Peter Ho Davies
"In the Garden," by Kim Edwards
"Train to Chinko," by Karl Harshbarger
"The Firebird," by Elizabeth L. Hodges
"Double Whammy," by Perri Klass
"Precision Marching at the Orphanage, 1890," by Gregory Maguire
"Child Widow," by Alexandra Marshall
"Witness," by Tom Martin
"I Am Not Your Mother," by Alice Mattison
"Intervention," by Jill McCorkle
"Rear View," by Antonya Nelson
"Reading in His Wake," by Pamela Painter
"Justice—A Beginning," by Grace Paley
"The Bad Thing," by Jayne Anne Phillips
"Fast Sunday," by Sue Standing
"A Flower for Ginette," by Susan Vreeland

EDITORS' SHELF

Genres: Short Stories, Poetry

216 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Meghan McGregor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my second read. It was good to read again but I’m not going to hang onto the book.

Some of the stories are fantastic and I wish they were longer novels. As it stands, they all seem too short or I just didn’t like them in the first place. The writing is good overall. I’d give every story at least 3 stars. The rest are a 4. I only liked one of the poems.

[Melina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Place holder for Duhamel’s In Which, in which I found the book bland.

[A-ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess while reading this, I wasn't thinking it was very good, but looking back at all the works I liked in it, I found some real treasures. Like the other reviewers, I was as immediately taken by the charms of "The Rink Girl" as Walt. It captured teenage love so well. Jean Thompson seems to have a love for character-driven stories as shown by Dan Chanon's "What Happened to Us?" (with the troubled foster brother), Elizabeth Evans's "The Sky in the Glass-Topped Table (with the predatory boyfriend), Jennifer Haigh's "Sublimation" (with the mother, her two sons, and granddaughter), Robert Hellenga "A Christmas Letter" (with the two lovers), Elizabeth McCracken's "Hungry" (with the grandmother), and Donna Trump's "Seizure" (with the brain-damaged father). The plots of most of these never really take off, but the people in them will likely stick with me for a while. I liked her taste in poetry as well. "Chicken Brick'n" by James Kimbrell and the hilarious "At Kohl's Department Store" by Karyna McGlynn were both really fun.

[S]

Magnificent, as always. As usual, Kim Chinquee's story stands out above the rest. With prose by Mark Brazaitis, Dan Chaon, Kim Chinquee, Stephen Dau, John Domini, Elizabeth Evans, Jennifer Haigh, Robert Hellenga, Jesse Lee Kercheval, Elizabeth McCracken, Peter Rock, and Donna Trump. Poetry by Erin Belieu, Malachi Black, Jae Choi, Alice Derry, Denise Duhamel, Rebecca Morgan Frank, Rick Hilles, James Kimbrell, Kent Leatham, Karyna McGlynn, Campbell McGrath, Sarah Rose Nordgren, Tatiana Orono, Ben Purkert, Tony Sanders, Jacob Sunderlin, Ronald Wallace, Jonathan Wells, and Mike White.

[Susan Emmet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful anthology of poetry and short fiction.
Especially liked "The Rink Girl," "Go-Between," "Hungry."
And the poetry is just amazing.
Can't write more now.
Just another fine edition of Ploughshares.

[Chrissy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I only read "The Rink Girl" by Mark Brazaitis, which was transporting, and left me, to use one of his phrases, "sweetly disoriented". I will forever be haunted by the last sentence. I will be looking for more of his stories.

[Carly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic work, start to finish. The fiction in particular was all incredibly good. This issue was guest-edited by Jean Thompson, who has been called the "American Alice Munro." I haven't read any of her work, but I plan to soon. I like her tastes.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really excellent issue. Made it through all the fiction very quickly, loved the stories by Elizabeth McCracken and Jennifer Haigh.

[Vin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kudos to Jean Thompson (and all the writers of course) for a near-perfect reading experience.

[Lea Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many great stories in this edition. Sad that it took me so long to grab this off my to-read pile!

[Hayden Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

only read jill mccorkle, "intervention" (pp. 128-144), for a screenwriting class.