What We’re Talking About in Issue 0404 (June 2020)
The complete table of contents
as it appears in the June 2020 issue of Blank Spaces.
from the editor — Happy Sumontuwedthursatday
shameless — Levies by Ellis Scott gives the reader an intimate glimpse inside the hospital room of someone wrestling with an illness that separates them from the ones they love the most.
— In Ghosts of Women Past, Mary Clare Terrill shares excerpts from her grandmother’s journal and the many ways her influence is still felt years later.
—Leslie Hill invites us into a vulnerable exploration of the dating world as we watch her share a glass of wine with a neighbour and then dissect the experience through a personal autopsy in Date Night.
red solo cup — In her poems Star-crossed, Shipwrecked, and Sun-kissed, Penelope Woodcroft is brooding and romantic as she explores the theme of star-crossed lovers.
— Evan J brings a powerful voice of social awareness to his poems, Bear Paw and Beast, and It’s No Pleasure in Life, or How to View the Kids at Night as he explores and exposes some issues facing the people of northern Canada.
— In Exit Stage Right, A Year for the Locals, Wally B, Bert Hunt, Crushed Can et al., and The Succession of Miss Fanny, Andrea Martineau garners inspiration from her hometown of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan: a prairie tourist town with a scandalous bootlegging past.
flash fiction — In Sirens, Amy Leblanc plays with mythology and warnings in her short, haunting piece.
— Through The 280th Ski Run, Charlotte Sherry-Gilmour puts us on the slopes with an Olympic hopeful where the rush is visceral and the ending twist is anything but expected.
— House Monster by Theodora Mitrakos may have you rethinking what’s really going bump in the night as she drops the reader into the centre of a tense and sinister situation.
different strokes — In her ongoing collection, Circles, Port Perry artist Meredith Bingham takes the simple form of a circle and makes it the theme of everything she paints, proving that nothing is as straightforward as it first seems.
fiction feature(s) — In his short story, Victoria’s Plankton Elevator, Jozef Leyden invites us on a train ride from Montreal to Toronto where the company and conversation is anything but expected or boring.
— The Other Ramadan Story by Sadi Muktadir asks us to observe as Ramadan traditions are examined through the lens of a conflicted protagonist who is forced to confront his own hypocrisies and prejudices in search of harmony.
more than words — In her photographic series, Rust and Rot, Molly Steels captured the paradox between nature and trash when she stumbled upon rusted waste while hiking in Saint John, New Brunswick.
story matters — Mitchell Toews delivers a delightful explanation of what it means to be a writer in his humorous essay, My Life as a Corkscrew.
make art not war — Ontario seamstress Anna Luckai has combined a love for ethically sourced material and her desire to use the gifts nature presents to create her romantic collection of hand-dyed and hand-sewn undergarments. Her collection, Sanctuary Innerwear, is a celebration of the land she lives on and her passion for creation.
between the lines — Gail M. Murray brings us a review of The Painted Girls by best-selling Canadian author, Cathy Marie Buchanan.
write prompt challenge winner — Cheryl Skory Suma rose to the top with her unique contest entry, Floccinaucinihilipilification, a story that brings “a haunting depiction of how words can shape a person’s self image yet also offers a glimpse of the indomitable spirit of youth.”
final word — Black Worm, by Holly Ducarte is a poignant short story that explores the pains of poverty, the dream of what it means to truly be a family, and a satirical look at the price of the writing life.
