Welcome to issue 115. We begin with David Hutto’s Thunder North, which takes us into a chicken factory in Florida. Our protagonist is stuck working there and it’s a delight following his thoughts on it all.

Next up is Saltwater by Argentinian author Ana Montes, translated by Sam Simon, set on the beach of Cariló, where a disturbed mother and her eleven-year-old daughter are attempting a vacation. Montes writes with grace and assurance.

In a memoir essay, Taiwanese-based writer L. Acadia offers a smart inversion of the familiar outsider narrative. Rather than writing from an American perspective about another culture, she explores how she is herself interpreted—and misinterpreted—by her new community.

In non-fiction, two pieces feature this issue. In one, TBR web tech and design editor Garry Smout went online in search of a comic strip character he loved as a lad—and found her. In Revisiting The Ballad of Halo Jones, we glimpse the world of 2000 AD comics and follow characters like Halo as they make the leap into graphic novels; while Ru Marshall offers an excerpt of his new book, American Trickster: The Hidden Lives of Carlos Castaneda.  This perfectly self-contained piece, The Fellini Project, recounts the extraordinary encounter between the renowned director and Castaneda as they meet in L.A. with the idea of making a film of The Teachings of Don Juan.

Following our comic strip thread, we’re pleased to have an interview with UK’s Mick Mercer, a comics aficionado and reviewer. Garry Smout asks the questions.

In our picks from back issues—From a young college student back in 2003, we received a short story, Where You Can’t Go Again which impressed us all. That writer was Nick Antosca, who went on to great things and is currently the showrunner for the Cape Fear TV series.  We’re also pleased to feature, from Issue 107, NoseDive On Eagle’s Nest Ridge by Diggory Dunn.  The story appears in his novel A Fine Husband, an ambitious work in which maximalist prose is pushed to comic extremes with striking effect. If you enjoy the story, don’t miss the newly released novel.

The quiz this issue is on Comics and the Graphic Novel. Answer correctly and you’re in the running to win a 30-euro (or equivalent) gift certificate from Amazon. For answers to last issue’s quiz, Pop Music in Literature. click here. Our winner for that quiz is Harper Newsom.

Our book review this issue is The Final Cut by Don Winslow, his latest collection of short stories.  A previous collection, Broken, contained the novella Crime 101, recently made into a film. (See Broken review here)

Our next issue is due out next fall. To be notified when new issues are available, just follow one of the social media links in the column to the right or email us to subscribe (gratis, of course).

Jill Adams, editor
Michael Garry Smout, tech and design
assistant editor: Diggory Dunn

Readers: Ron Bevacqua, Diggory Dunn, Elizabeth Dzhiganyan, Jamie Kahn, Melissa Moschitto, Roxanne Rowles, and Elizabeth Wittenberg,

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