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.

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'.

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'.

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.

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'.   

A Good Funeral

Luke’s father lies in a hospital bed in a private room. Luke stands at the foot of the bed, holding a bunch of oriental lilies he bought at Cork airport. Their scent is muted in the antiseptic hospital air. His brother Terence and Terence’s wife Una sit at the old man’s bedside in a silence broken by the click of the morphine pump, then a clatter of crockery and muffled voices from the corridor outside. The old man seems dead already, until suddenly his blue eyes flicker open. ‘If you’ve come to get something out of me, forget it,’ he manages to say.

'A Good Funeral' tells the story of a bittersweet homecoming for Luke, an Irishman who left his small town at a young age to live in London. When he returns, he takes stock of how much, and how little, has changed--and learns the unknown influence he had on another young man who lived in the same town. A new offering from Hennessy Award winner Madeleine D'Arcy, with all of her characteristic humour, warmth and emotional wisdom. CLICK HERE TO READ 'A GOOD FUNERAL'.