Makeup Tips for the Mature Woman by Rhoda Greaves

“Jude removes the filmy plastic and hanger. She holds the new dress against her bare skin and kicks a leg out in front of her. Positions the dress against it to get a feel of how it might hang. It doesn’t work like she expects it to. The arc of her dimpled thigh is exposed: raw sausage.”

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February 2017 brings us Rhoda Greaves's unique short story, 'Makeup Tips for the Mature Woman'. Against a backdrop of editorial advice for aging gracefully, this story's heroine grapples with grief, aging and identity with human awkwardness and vulnerable dignity, leading her to an unpredictable and transcendent encounter with youth. READ 'MAKEUP TIPS FOR THE MATURE WOMAN'.

Geographies of the Heart by Caitlin Hamilton Summie

The night our grandfather died was a night without stars, the snow falling in endless repeat, first veiling the moon, the constellations, then the sharp edges of buildings – our whole world. Toward the end, when my grandfather seemed only to be lingering of his own will, I stood outside the main entrance of the hospital, looking for headlights; stunned by the deep and unsettling quiet of St Paul under snow and then by the long keening wail of a siren inching toward Emergency, the neon lights there obscured by snow and ice and hope.

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January 2017's wintry offering is Caitlin Hamilton Summie's beautifully composed 'Geographies of the Heart'. Readers will find themselves within snowstorms, observing not only grief and loss, but also a thawing of what was once frozen, with the promise of new growth. READ 'GEOGRAPHIES OF THE HEART'. Story selected by guest editor Madeleine D'Arcy.

Home Help

As soon as Carol stepped into Mary’s flat, the heat enveloped her like an over-enthusiastic relative. She should be used to it by now. She’d learnt early on not to open a window to feel the light breeze cooling her scarlet cheeks; Mary had let it be known.

     ‘Only me,’ she called out.

November 2014's edition of Long Story, Short Journal is James Wall's beautiful tale 'Home Help', with a photo by Dino Jasarevic. 'Home Help' places readers in the hands of Carol, the caretaker of an elderly woman living in residential facility. Readers are asked to consider what constitutes family, who is responsible for the lonely, and to what extent we are existing 'alone together'. CLICK HERE TO READ 'HOME HELP'.

Sundown

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Photo © Ola Zackrisson

Angela wondered how far from home Pearl actually was, and what kind of trouble she’d found. Accustomed to shielding her mother from Pearl’s problems, Angela shoved this fear to the back of her mind and steeled herself for this encounter, not sure what she’d find: a self-pitying decline or a ramped-up snit.

 'Sundown' is the story of a woman struggling to keep contacts with both her estranged daughter, and her mother who is unhappy with life in a nursing home. It is an exploration of grief, punctuated by moments of transcendent beauty, encouraging the reader to find solace in patience and hope. Writer Jan English Leary's short-story collection manuscript, Frequent Losers, was named a finalist in the Flannery O’Connor Award. CLICK HERE TO READ 'SUNDOWN'.   

The Starter

Photo © Chris Weeks

' ... my Dad would say Detroit was no place for a guy starting out. Even if he didn’t know the first thing about it, he would say things like that. And it was alright, far as places go; made me think about how the apocalypse might leave things, with maybe a few more automobiles lying around.'

December's story is by emerging writer and Trinity College Dublin graduate Naoimh O'Connor. Taking place along the docks of Detroit, The Starter is a tale of transition, loss, growth and the art of baking sourdough bread.