Editor’s note

I’ll start off this column by offering congratulations to the winners of this year’s short story contest: First place goes to Avery Other for “Smiling Fish”; second place, to Natalie Bucsko for “Missing Ingredients,” and third place, to Mizuki Yamagen for “A Fine Line in the Sand.” Honorable Mentions go to Mounir Derdak for “Delivering a New Perspective,” Larry Ivkovich for “The Singer from Akrotiri,” Avery Other for “Peaches,” and Jess Simms for “The Fish Man of Mahoney Creek.”

Our featured story in this issue is Kilmeny MacMichael’s “By Any Other Name,” about thorny resistance in the face of oppression. Our featured poetry is by Jennifer Wang, who in “Adventuring While Depressed and Anxious” dreams of seeing the world but worries about changing it.

Also in this issue you’ll find “Just by Watching,” a tale about the value of observation by Branden Barrows. Jamie Brown’s “Over Mesquite” roasts love over the coals. Memories and their shifting details are at play in Andrew Rucker Jones’ “Blurred Details.” And Jeannett de Beauvoir offers a different kind of memory lane to walk down with “Looking Up My Ex on Google.”

For this issue’s interview, Janet Robertson talked with author Peter J Barbour, who is also a member of the Bethlehem Writers Group. Pete’s book Fifteen Keys was just published by BWG. In Literary Learnings, Debra H. Goldstein explains what makes Edith Wharton’s novella Ethan Frome such a powerful story.

We at the Roundtable hope you enjoy this issue. Here’s to a relaxing rest of summer!