Come Home, Son by Donal Moloney

"With these paintings, it’s vital that I don’t go on autopilot. Either they are imagined stroke for stroke or they are bogus gestures. This morning I set up the fruit and the lights, I mixed the paints, but soon my mind wandered."

Image via Pixabay

As constellations shift in the heavens a vulnerable son leaves home, his father observing both from a distance, waiting for a chance at reconnection in Donal Moloney's 'Come Home, Son'. Story selection by guest editor Madeleine D'Arcy. READ 'COME HOME, SON'. 

Small Rebellions by Claire Hennessy

“It’s inevitable that the bed feels too empty, that the television blasts through the walls along with Conor’s laughter, that she ends up knotting her dressing-gown around her waist and curling up next to him on the couch. Inevitable that his hands undo that knot, his fingers sliding against bare skin, and that when his tongue works its magic between her thighs it’s impossible to remember that the walls are paper-thin. ”

Photo © Marianna Santikou

The October 2015 edition of Long Story, Short Journal by Irish writer Claire Hennessy is a reminder of the importance, even now, of Virginia Woolf's dictum: "A woman must have money and a room of her own..." if she is to be an artist. 'Small Rebellions' is the portrait of a talented young woman struggling against the tide of duty, obligation, and everyday minutiae, which is dragging her away from her own work inch by inch. Also featured in this edition is Marianna Santikou's photo 'Missed Opportunity'. READ 'SMALL REBELLIONS'.

Tiny Dancer by Lisa Lang

Photo © Alan McCord

"From her window she watched the street. There were people in good coats – with no pilling, no unflattering bulk – walking with clear purpose, cyclists gliding by. It was late afternoon, night was falling, and the alien, blue-rinsed light settled on her like a kind of despair. She had a sense of being adrift on a vast, indifferent ocean. Whether she ate her dinner or not, went to sleep or stayed awake all night, or even stopped existing, who was to know?" 

Long Story, Short Journal's June 2015 edition is 'Tiny Dancer' : an examination of the solitude required for artistry, detailed in a portrait of a young dancer who is living away from home for the first time. Author Lisa Lang is the recipient of The Australian/Vogel Literary Award for her début novel Utopian Man.  CLICK HERE TO READ 'TINY DANCER'. 

Ezekiel Rising

When Jessie and Little Owen Stucker passed him by Orville Qualls was out in the yard playing in the snow like a kid. Little Owen reminded himself to call Bobby Willis as soon as he got home, but otherwise they thought nothing of it. It was Orville's way. A little touched they said but forgivable as he was old and had never been known to harm a soul and half the population of West Sisters, Indiana had work by his hand on their walls or if they felt themselves of a more sophisticated nature, packed away in a basement, garage or attic—or maybe offered up as gift to one of the local collectors of Orville Qualls of which there were more than you might imagine, especially since that article in the Indianapolis Star calling him a genuine folk artist and a primitive genius on the order of Grandma Moses and Elias Hicks.

'Ezekiel Rising' is the portrait of an artist whose spiritual practice is not only his creativity, but also the sacrifice of giving his work away. This tale uniquely pairs a requiem for a beloved animal and a sharp satire of the art world. As the character Orville Qualls weathers winter, loss, and lazy consumption by arts audiences, the reader warms to him and the astonishing beauty he creates from pain. Author Jacob Russell is not only a writer, but an artist as well.  CLICK HERE TO READ 'EZEKIEL RISING'.