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'. 

'Entrusted' by Fiona Whyte

Something had caught hold of her at the grave, had reached inside her and awoken a tremendous urge to go home once more. Now nothing would do to set it aright other than to head out at once for Ballinlough before it was too late. Mary Frances accompanied her, muttering all the while that Annie wouldn’t appreciate unexpected visitors.

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The March 2017 edition of Long Story, Short Journal is 'Entrusted' by Irish writer Fiona Whyte. Just in time for St. Patrick's Day, we have a tale of two countries -- of the Irish who travelled to America for work, adventure or escape -- and the inevitable impact such a distance would have on a family. READ 'ENTRUSTED' BY FIONA WHYTE.

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.

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'. 

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'.

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'.

In My Father's House by Jane Hammons

 It is summer and in the shallow valley bordering the Lincoln National Forest where my father lives, the light fades slowly. His house is made from fake adobe bricks. They were not molded by native hands from the ancient clay of the earth; they were not fired individually in round earthen ovens. He bought them at Capitan Lumber and Hardware, but still they are the dusty color of real adobe. Smooth and irregular, their corners are rounded like the edges of the earth. Pap, my grandfather, helped him build this house so that he could move out of the trailer parked behind the Win-Place-Show Laundromat near Ruidoso Downs Racetrack. This is my first visit to the new house, the only home my father has owned since he and my mother divorced more than 20 years ago.

'In My Father's House' by Californian writer Jane Hammons is the April 2015 edition of Long Story, Short Journal. The story takes readers on a Greyhound Bus to the desert home of a family who lives beyond gypsum sands, bat-filled caverns and nuclear weapon testing grounds. Despite radiation, separation, and illness, this is a tale of love and thriving. READ 'IN MY FATHER'S HOUSE'.

Sheela-na-Gig by Susan Burke-Trehy

She settled into her seat near the back of the bus, grateful that her dishevelled appearance would discourage the other passengers from sitting close to her. She had, in the last few weeks taken to dressing in dungarees, fleeces and wellies. Added to this were a few well chosen gardening titles from the library and a straw basket so that she just about passed for an organic farmer-type, the kind that would not look out of place on a bus bound for West Cork. As she peered out of the grimy bus window, she allowed the last glimpses of Cork to slip out of sight, pushing away any feelings of regret or fear. All is as it should be, she whispered under her breath...

The March 2015 edition of Long Story, Short Journal leads readers into the darker heart of spring with emerging writer Susan Burke-Trehy's 'Sheela-na-Gig'; photo by Alan McCord. Rose Hawthorn is on the verge of a new life, returning to her childhood home to settle an old debt in a tale that merges a contemporary narrative of estrangement with an undercurrent of Irish mythology. CLICK HERE TO READ 'SHEELA-NA-GIG'. 

An Optical Illusion

Photo © Alina Hartwig

He should have had the decency to die while they were still married, Anna thought. He should have widowed her. There was dignity in that.

January 2015's edition of Long Story, Short Journal is Eimear Ryan's 'Optical Illusion', a tale of woman who must carefully navigate her ex-husband's funeral--a return to a once familiar setting, now made strange. Eimear Ryan is an up-and-coming Irish writer, featured alongside the likes of Pat McCabe, Mary Costello and Colin Barrett in Faber's Town and Country anthology of new Irish writing. CLICK HERE TO READ OPTICAL ILLUSION.

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'.