Editor’s note
Hello, readers!
The trees have begun to turn on their fall colors, brushing the hillsides with golds and coppers, so it must be time for the Autumn issue of the Bethlehem Roundtable. It’s also the issue you’ve been waiting for: the second installment of our group story, A Fish Out of Water.
In the first installment, we learned that the Jersey Shore was home to a small colony of merfolk who had taken up living on the land. When Clam Shack server Gloria accompanies the merman Hudson into the sea, that act severs a treaty between the merfolk and the creatures of the deep. Read on to find out the consequences.
In this issue, we are also announcing the judge for our 2024 short story contest: best-selling author Marlo Berliner.
Also in this issue is an interview with Yasmin Angoe, author of the Nena Knight thriller series. Courtney Annicchiarico shares her love of books and reading in Literary Learnings.
Featured story
A Fish Out of Water
I finished swallowing half a large tuna hooked by a fisherman near the big drop-off and a few other fish who thought they’d scarf a free meal off the bits. Didn’t live to be fifty seasons and the largest of the Great White Clan by chomping the whole tuna and getting snagged as well.
I fell into an easy glide to let the tuna settle when my laterals itched – again. Reorienting my direction to pinpoint its source, the overpowering stench of land persons interfered. There. Same frequency as before. I swam toward it as fast as my size allowed until reaching the place where the decapus, Bruno, lurked. The itching stopped when I arrived. Nothing. No sign of the multi-armed, boneless bottom dweller either. Without the presence of residual traces to follow, another false alarm. Third day in row.
Also in this issue
Interview with author Yasman Angoe
Part 2 of A Fish Out of Water by Christopher D. Ochs
Part 3 of A Fish Out of Water by Dianna Sinovic
Part 4 of A Fish Out of Water by Debra Goldstein
Literary Learnings by Courtney Annicchiarico
Betty’s Tips and Mixed-Up Words