New Story in Grist: The Journal for Writers

I just got my contributor’s copies of the University of Tennessee’s Grist: The Journal for Writers, Issue 3, and it is a lovely, good-looking volume. Lots of good stuff in there that I can’t wait to dig into.

I’ve got a story in this issue, which you can buy here and/or read online here. It’s a bit different for me–it’s straight realism, and rather long. But the protagonist, the voice, is one of my favorites.

Here’s a bit of the story:

When I come home, Aunt Mina is in the kitchen, drinking a Diet Coke and gossiping with Larceny. I slide past her to get to the fridge and grab a Coke for myself, and when I crack it open, I notice she’s just staring at me. In this really intent, focused, batshit kind of way.

I have to admit, Aunt Mina terrifies me. She’s the craziest old lady I know. I try to run past, but she grabs my arm and holds me there, smoking with her free hand and looking not exactly at me but sort of past me, her eyes a little bit unfocused. She blows smoke out of her nostrils, which makes me cough, and she slowly shakes her head in this way that reminds me of one of the sea turtles at the zoo.

Aunt Mina has had a tragic life. She smokes long, thin cigarettes, and wears tons of jewelry, so much that she sort of clanks and jangles when she moves. She owns her own business, out of her home. It’s a small room with green curtains and a super old computer and printer and a whole bunch of ashtrays. If you blow, dust comes up all around you, like a filthy snow globe.

Read the rest here.