"The Burn Pile"

                                                                    by Helen Silverstein

This short story explores the complex reasoning keeping a woman in an abusive relationship, touching on themes such as the moments that are "good," the years of effort put in, and the unknown that comes with a decision to leave.

                                                                            "Morning"

                                                                    by Helen Silvertein

The theme of this short story is the poignancy of the value of "a morning to herself," for a wife and mother who routinely sacrifices her needs for the family she loves.

                                                                        "Deadwood" 

                                                                    by Helen Silverstein

A flash fiction piece depicting the motion of anger.

                                                                            "Pearl" 

                                                                    by Helen Silverstein

An excerpt from the novel Of Roses and Ugly Quilts which explores the tough choices and limited options women of color had in protecting themselves and their children in the Jim Crow south.

                                                            Helen's Latest Read:

                                                                "Moscow" by Steve Almond

Note:  Steve is a wonderful writer and an avid Obama supporter....which makes him very special in my "book."  Below is an analysis of one of my favorite Steve stories.  Check out his website www.stevealmond.com for many more books and intriguing information.  Also, look for his work in anthologies. 

One of my current favorites is The Flash, edited by Peter Wild, with proceeds going to Amnesty International (www.amnestyUSA.org).  Steve also edited a new volume of on-line fiction titled, Best of the Web 2008 (Publisher:  Leslie Nathan).   I just purchased that and can't wait to dig in!

“Moscow,” by Steve Almond in New Sudden Fiction, edited by Shapard and Thomas

In this brief story (two and one half pages), Almond writes of issues of longing, sexuality, relationship, memory and fantasy, juxtaposing what seems to be factual with what may or may not be a dream world.  For the purposes of this annotation, I am examining the first full paragraph on page 342, which consists of three complete sentences and a sentence fragment.

• “He desired in her this wondrous capacity, no hint of which she had shown him previously, that she would someday grow so accustomed to him, so unembarrassed by her own physicality, that she would forget, and then remember, her own nakedness, that just such a cycle might mark their days together.”

This gem of a sentence, written from a close third point of view, implies that the protagonist has encountered something new, “No hint of which she had shown previously,” and something valuable, “he desired in her this wondrous capacity.”  He then suggests his yearning that such a “capacity” mark a long-term relationship with his comments, “that such a cycle might mark their days together,” as she has become “accustomed to him.”  He then introduces a second theme, the marvel of being “unembarrassed” by one’s own physicality.

• “Hearing her words, he felt transported above shame, above lust and privation.” 

                 In this short sentence, he indicates that this woman assists him in overcoming his own bevy of sexual issues.  The use of the word “transported” emphasizes the importance of this experience.   He has been lifted out of his everyday self and introduces the idea of movement as more metaphysical or spiritual than physical.

• “If the moment could be clung to, sustained like a perfect note.”

 Now the protagonist indicates he knows this is a special, but temporary feeling.  He wishes (“if only”) this feeling could last, undercutting the earlier sentence in which he indicated he saw this moment as a point of growth in a long- term relationship - a new level of sexual ease that might well “mark their days together.”

• “Perhaps Moscow was such a place.”

 Now we learn that the protagonist is hoping the impossible, sustaining “a perfect note,” may yet be possible in another world: “Moscow.”