The Man in the Parallel Universe

“The man in the parallel universe loves me. He’s tall and grey-haired and handsome still and looks just like Murtagh, but he’s not like him at all. He makes different decisions and chooses different things. And he doesn’t have Murtagh’s dilated eyes.”

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The October 2016 edition of Long Story, Short Journal is by award winning Irish writer Dolores Walshe. 'The Man in the Parallel Universe' is a portrait of a wife of a Vietnam veteran, who is soon to be a widow, but grieving a man she lost long ago. This tale is not only an exploration of grief, but of survival, and the moments of compassion that sustain us. READ 'THE MAN IN THE PARALLEL UNIVERSE'.

Volcanoes! by Hubert Vigilla

This thing is Greg all over. He read a Greek mythology book and the assignment was to make a board game, so here’s our beat-up Fireball Island from the garage with “Olympus! The Game!” written on one side in white out. He’s hot-glued some of his action figures at the corners. Superman (minus the cape) is Zeus, I think. I can’t really figure out the rest so I ask.

     “Dad,” he says and rolls his eyes. “That’s Batman, Wolverine, and Spider-Man.”

     “But which Greek gods are they?”

     “They’re just Batman, Wolverine, and Spider-Man.”

     “That doesn’t make any sense.”

     He points at a sticky note that reads, “This is very creative, Greg!” A-minus, smiley face. Greg beams and presses his tongue through the gap where a baby tooth used to be.

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Photo © Kerry Sellers

The September 2016 edition of Long Story, Short Journal is 'Volcanoes!' by Hubert Vigilla. This story invites readers into a stay-at-home father's fantasy world, where tomorrow's lunch is left going stale on the counter while a rumbling volcano is growing in the garage. READ 'VOLCANOES!'

Housebroken by Evelyn Walsh

The night of the robbery Ruth had gone to bed early with The Housebreaker of Shady Hill. She was stunned by this coincidence; it was her opening line in class the next day. “We were robbed last night, and guess what I was reading.” The kids hooted and crowed in jolly disbelief, or rather the kids who had actually read the story fell about laughing and the others quickly caught on. Ruth laughed along with them. She supposed she should be more upset. 

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Photo © Aurélie Bellacicco. 

The August 2016 edition of Long Story, Short Journal is 'Housebroken' by Evelyn Walsh, with a photo by Aurélie Bellacicco. Evelyn Walsh, the 2015 winner of the Seán Ó Faoláin International short story competition, often scrutinises the drama of everyday life in her work. Home, neighbourhood and the workplace are observed with a literary lense, and her characters' lives are relayed with wit, compassion and an unrelenting honesty.  READ 'HOUSEBROKEN'. 

The Landlord's Daughter by Guy Ware

"He had often wondered at the time how Mr and Mrs P – who were both large and soft and spread themselves widely – could have produced so slight a daughter, a girl whose skeleton one could always sense, just below the surface. He had pondered childhood illnesses, consumption even, before reminding himself it was the twentieth century."

Photo © Sacha Lenz

July 2016's edition of Long Story, Short Journal is by writer Guy Ware, whose debut novel The Fat of Fed Beasts was declared "brilliant" by Nick Lezard in the Guardian. This month's short story, 'The Landlord's Daughter', confronts the fragility of memory and the vulnerability of the individual facing the classic question: how well one can truly know another human being? READ 'THE LANDLORD'S DAUGHTER'.  

Laureate by Andrew Meehan

"This week, I have at last found some work—chauffeuring dignitaries to and from a gathering of Nobel-prize winners at the old university in Heidelberg. This particular Laureate resembles a handsome pope. He looks seventy and he looks virile, the kind of man who would attempt intercourse with a tree from a high-speed train."

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Photo © Raul Lieberwirth.

Take a hallucinatory chauffeured tour of Heidelberg to dive bars, academic luncheons, and the homes of unmentionable historical figures in Andrew Meehan's 'Laureate'. The protagonist has a voice you won't soon forget. Read the June 2016 edition of Long Story, Short Journal: Laureate. Photo by German photographer Raul Lieberwirth. 

'No Wake' by Jenna Isherwood

“On the drive down to Joe’s, Kelly has chided me for being a tourist because I suggested paying for a boat trip, as if her two years in Florida have made her a local. I got the idea of manatee spotting from the dog-eared cartoon sea cow dangling from Kelly’s rear-view mirror, its air-freshening chemicals long-since expended.”

Endangered sea creatures and endangered friendships feature in May 2016's edition of Long Story, Short Journal: 'No Wake' by Jenna Isherwood. A visit to Florida swampland searching for the vulnerable that lives just beneath the surface makes for perfect early summer reading.  Photo by Bob Miller. READ 'NO WAKE'.

Love Child by Mary Morrissy

We are delighted to present Mary Morrissy’s ‘Love Child’ as the April 2016 edition of Long Story, Short Journal. Mary Morrissy is an award winning Irish novelist (The Hennessy Award, Lannan Foundation award) and short story writer. ‘Love Child’ is one of the stories from her newly launched short story collection Prosperity Drive. Also featured int his issue is a photograph from Craig Niederberger. READ 'LOVE CHILD'.

The Great Example

A young Nigerian boy who has survived a harrowing journey to Ireland meets an uncle who helps him navigate his new life in 'The Great Example' . In this consciousness-raising tale, Mark Tuthill introduces readers to the loneliest of modern voices, that of a refugee in a strange land. Accompanying photo by South African photographer Les Jacobs. READ 'THE GREAT EXAMPLE'.

Mandy Taggart's 'Pride'

“Across the road, Laverty’s shop lies shuttered behind steel. Closed two years now, the neighbour told her, after Laverty retired and the sons weren’t interested. Some resourceful vandal has covered the spray-painted obscenities across the shutters with neat squares of white, each one topped with a smiling face in acid yellow. A van swishes past, and Laura feels something in the air shoot free, like the blockage in a straw. When she looks again at the opposite pavement, Laverty’s lion is waiting for her.”

What do you do when a lion follows you home? February 2016's edition of Long Story, Short Journal unique short story, 'Pride', answers the question. Author Mandy Taggart, previous winner of the Michael McLaverty Short Story Award, gives readers a window on a life marked in equal measures by vulnerability and strength. Accompanying photo by American photographer Austin Granger. READ 'PRIDE'. 

The Dead Soldier's Sister

“The prospect of entering this shrine had thrilled David for days. The soldier had died two years before in Lebanon, in March of 1994, and David wondered if the walls and the furniture had absorbed the grief and changed somehow, melted or sagged. ”

January 2016's edition examines the deteriorating effect that a state of perpetual war has on an individual. Set in Israel, 'The Dead Soldier's Sister' follows a young student tasked with making a memorial movie about an alumnus of his high school who was killed in combat, and ends up on a psychological path reminiscent of Heart of Darkness. Author Yaron Kaver's work offers complexity where pundits offer platitudes. READ 'THE DEAD SOLDIER'S SISTER'.

Motorcycle is the Best Sauce by Richard Roche

“Turning the hob to a lower heat, Simon gave the contents of the pan a cursory stir, inhaled deeply, then stepped into the dining room to inspect the soundproofing again. Satisfied that the double-glazed windows were all closed and locked, he glanced nervously into the street below. Still. Lifeless. Perfect.”

The December 2015 edition of Long Story, Short Journal is a unique offering from writer and academic Dr Richard Roche. 'Motorcycle is the Best Sauce' invites the reader into the world of a sufferer of auditory synaesthesia, who is making great efforts to move through isolation towards a more connected life.  Photograph by Mark Guider. READ 'MOTORCYCLE IS THE BEST SAUCE'.

Gyurd by Shane Strachan

“It had been nearly six years since Diane had last seen the Lerwick postmark on a letter addressed to her. When she picked the letter up off her welcome mat she felt her body stiffen and her hand grip tight on the cream envelope. In a daze, she walked through her lobby to the kitchen and put her mail down on the table next to the other envelopes she’d been given throughout the week: her birthday cards. She started opening them. Most so far had ‘40’ on the front but some gave her other names like ‘Cousin’ and ‘Friend’. She knew fine well what the one in the cream envelope would name her.”

The November 2015 edition of Long Story, Short Journal is an image from German photographer Alina Hartwig and a story, 'Gyurd', from Scottish writer Shane Strachan. 'Gyurd' is a Shetlandic Scots word meaning 'gift', referring to the many offerings, complex in their attachments and consequences, which are given within the tale. READ SHANE STRACHAN'S 'GYURD'.