"Smoke and Pathos" by Garth Pettersen — Our December 2016 Gold Medal Winne
Garth is our second place winner from the contest posted in our December,2016 issue!
Meet Garth
Garth Pettersen is a Canadian writer living in the Fraser Valley near Vancouver, BC. He has a Bachelor's Degree in History and a background in Education (History, English, Theatre). Garth taught Writing and English at Western Canada College once upon a time and has written children's stories, a YA novel, adult short stories, and an historical novel. His short stories have appeared in journals such as The Spadina Literary Review, The Opening Line Literary 'Zine, and Dark Gothic Resurrected Magazine, and in anthologies published by Main Street Rag, Zimbell House, Centum Press, and Horrified Press.
Smoke and Pathos
an excerpt from the winning story by Garth Pettersen
The light of his laptop caught the rising cigarette smoke from his exhalation. The wisps shone white and ethereal against the blackness before they vanished into the night. The computer screen illuminated him, as if he were an actor and the device a lone footlight celebrating his solo performance of despondency and pathos. Isn't that what he was doing here? Playing out the part of a young man wallowing in self-pity? Or was it self-loathing? Was it both? …
To catch the rest of this story, get yourself a copy of the March 2017 issue.
44 pages, cover art by Allen Forrest
Featuring the work of Nancy Allan, Brian C. Austin, Jennifer Ellis, Allen Forrest, James Langford, Jennifer Lavallee, Hannibal Lecture, Gail M. Murray, Amy Pepin, Garth Pettersen, Tsara Shelton, J. J. Steinfeld, Nick Vanderzwet, Janet Youngdahl
