The Monk of Zege

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Photo © Tommy Pedersen

As he was waiting to hear the knock again, it daunted him, a thought he explored timidly so many times before, but was not quite courageous enough to say it out loud, to himself or the other monks in the peninsula. What if it was his Lord, finally coming to see him?

October 2014's edition of Long Story, Short Journal is 'The Monk of Zege' by Mahtem Shifferaw, a writer and cultural activist who grew up in Eritrea and Ethiopia. In her tale, we are invited into the life of a hermit monk who dwells both within crisis and extraordinary beauty. Zege's landscape is teeming with wildlife which encroaches upon the monk's solitude--particularly his wounded companion, a vervet monkey. Photo by Tommy Pedersen. READ 'THE MONK OF ZEGE'.

Resurrection

Photo © Peter Neske

"It was the morning of the last day of February when the man at the other end of the phone told Miriam her husband was dead. 'There’s no comfortable way for me to put this or for you to hear it,' he said. 'Your husband’s body was found yesterday afternoon. No matter how I say it, it doesn’t make it any easier for you. I’m sorry to be the one.'"

'Resurrection' is a story by John MacKenna, who the Guardian has declared "a consummately skilled author". This is a wintry story examining the roles of innocence and experience when questions of faith test a family who has suddenly been subjected to a deep loss. CLICK HERE TO READ 'RESURRECTION'.