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The Nitty Gritty: Talking with Cathy Ulrich about Small Burning Things & the writing life.
By Charlotte Hamrick Cathy Ulrich is a well-known name in the Flash Fiction world whose debut collection, Ghosts of You, was released by Okay Donkey Press in 2019 to rave reviews. Her latest collection, Small Burning Things, was recently released by Okay Donkey to the delight of her many fans. I talked to Cathy about…
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Clarity
Fiction by James Callan Lying there in the tall grass, not a scrap of clothing to cover his bare body, the bug bites bloomed over Jim’s exposed flesh in scattered, scarlet constellations. He had sprinted across the emerald fields of soy, September sunshine on his back, and collapsed, heaving, laughing, delighted while in the arms…
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Standing Up, Standing By
A Review of Dawn Major’s The Bystanders by Jon Sokol The bystander effect is a theory describing a syndrome where normally decent people display apathy toward an injustice being perpetrated in front of them, especially in the presence of other people. Their thinking is that surely someone will do something. The unfortunate result is that…
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At Such High Temps
Fiction by Jennifer Fliss We’re looking at a field of charred tree trunks. Ghostly, blackened tall things reach into the sky trying to find the light. They’re not all dead, though some have fallen. Many have fallen, but quite a few are still standing. “The lodgepole pine needs fire,” the guide says. “At searing temperatures,…
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Healthy Habits: Intentional Steps Required
By Valerie Peralta When I started chronicling my journey toward healthier habits in Reckon Review, the stakes were high. I had eaten myself to high cholesterol and the largest pants size I had ever needed. Never one to embrace the phrase “it is what it is,” I did not want to take a spate of…
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Me and My Boy at Pep’s Point
Fiction by Russell Hehn When I awake from my occasional horror and stare myself down in the mirror of my medicine cabinet, in my underwear, calming my boiling bones with tepid water from the bathroom sink, my mind heads on down Highway 49 where I rode in SUVs and minivans with graham crackers and gummi…
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A Family Far Afield
A Review of Michelle Dowd’s Forager: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult by Marlana Botnick Fireman Harsh but preparatory, bohemian but doctrinal. Michelle Dowd’s recently published memoir details her experience growing up in a family cult called The Field, and we discover that aspects of life which might seem at odds are actually far…
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Country Craft: Hello, darling.
By Stuart Phillips Our home in the country came complete with grapevines, gnarled roots thick enough you needed two hands to encircle them. These vines had seen things. However, fifteen years of neglect had left them exhausted and sprawling across a rickety system of rusted metal poles. They were, to put it mildly, unkempt. I…
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Heatwave
Nonfiction by Elizabeth Enochs The heat index is 113 when I take my lunch break and even on full blast my car’s AC is no match, and it’s not like I’m unaccustomed to heat — southeast Missouri rarely does “mild;” summers swelter and winters bite — but I’m thinking of those who don’t have AC,…