F(r)iction Series, Issue 12, Winter 2018

by Phillip Lopate, Melanie Finn, Devin Kelly

Featuring poetry by Joe Dunthorne, Devin Kelly, Torrin A. Greathouse, and Levi Andalou; short fiction from Melanie Finn, Jennifer Pullen, Walter Thompson, Michael Harris Cohen, Jenna-Marie Warnecke, Sam Simas, and Krista Ahlberg; graphic short story by Harry Bogosian; Pioneering Writer feature with Phillip Lopate; Breaking Ground debut author feature with Daisy Johnson; and a community feature with PEN America Prison Writing Program.

119 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2018

About the author

Phillip Lopate is the author of three personal essay collections, two novels, two poetry collections, a memoir of his teaching experiences, and a collection of his movie criticism. He has edited the following anthologies, and his essays, fiction, poetry, film and architectural criticism have appeared in The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Essays, The Paris Review, Harper's, Vogue, Esquire, New York Times, Harvard Educational Review, Conde Nast Traveler, and many other periodicals and anthologies. He has been awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, a New York Public Library Center for Scholars and Writers Fellowship, two National Endowment for the Arts grants, and two New York Foundation for the Arts grants. After working with children for twelve years as a writer in the schools, he taught creative writing and literature at Fordham, Cooper Union, University of Houston, and New York University. He currently holds the John Cranford Adams Chair at Hofstra University, and also teaches in the MFA graduate programs at Columbia, the New School and Bennington.

Reviews

[Marisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Usually while reading literary journals or anthologies, my enthusiasm for any given volume is based around a few standout pieces. This is one of those rare journals where even with the pieces that weren't to my taste, it was impossible to deny how well-written they were. And also, interrogating matters of taste was basically the theme of Issue 12, so having a couple of pieces not jam with my tastes was totally on point. Every piece was enjoyable, or at the very least, an experience. The level of craft in evidence here was amazing when I went back to read more carefully. I have several new writers and artists whose work I'll be following after finishing Issue 12, and I'll definitely be reading more from the F(r)iction Series in the future.

[Sally the Salamander · Rating 5 out of 5]

F(r)iction pretty consistently knocks it out of the park, and this issue is no exception. This issue is themed around the uncomfortable and taboo, and many of the pieces in this issue are uncomfortable indeed. I find that the weakest pieces in these issues tend to be the poetry, but that's mostly because I can't stand a lot of modern poetry. Recommended if you can stomach reading stories about abuse, identity struggles, and the like.

Delightfully weird and touching.

[Nikita · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was going to give this issue 4 stars until I got to the very last story Come See the Bears by Krista Ahlberg, which blew me away. Authentic and intimate, like a close friend, it weaves its magic in your mind until you can no longer tell where the narrator ends and you begin.