Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love. Mother Teresa Short Story Fest 2023 will be held this year in Baltimore, Maryland, with some events streamed live for online viewers. If you are an author or vendor who would like to participate, please complete and submit an application to join us. What To Read Hollowed by Lucy Zhang Hollowed is an interesting collection of short stories that reminds me of a number of pregnancy-related zines. But in this set, the protagonist does not give birth. It’s just one of myriad reasons she always feels empty ..read more

My old grandmother always used to say, Summer friends will melt away like summer snows, but winter friends are friends forever. A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin What To Read The Christmas Chronicles by Tim Slover In The Christmas Chronicles, an 8-part audiobook podcast series, author Tim Slover imaginatively reveals the “true and complete history” of Santa as an otherwise routine shopping trip for pine boughs turns into the start of an unforgettable adventure. Black Enough Edited by Ibi Zoboi Many of these stories read like the memories of Generation X grown ups remini ..read more

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations. – Oscar Wilde What to Read Call a Body Home by Michael Alessi Can love for home be joyous and sad simultaneously? The stories in Call a Body Home read like memories, the secrets your mother might share with you at the end of the day after a funeral or a holiday meal, when everybody’s finally gone home and it no longer matters whether anyone knows what happened. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw The title of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies suggests stories of women shouting for the gospel, may ..read more

By Olive Dausinas As August skims away into September, so does the summer inevitably fade. With vacations ending and people heading back to school, perhaps it would make sense to look at a recently released graphic novel about school. And with a social climate not so conducive to the rights of transgender people, Crystal Frasier’s Cheer Up! is a tale about gender identity, sexuality, and how cisgender people can look at trans people. Annie is the smartest girl in the senior class at her high school, with no one coming close to her grades. The only problem is her anti-social nature, brought up ..read more

Reviewed by Meghan Vermeer Weather, by Jenny Offill, is written from the perspective of Lizzie, a librarian who stumbled upon her career. Rather than focusing on one particular conflict, the novel is written in a free form, stream of consciousness style. Several conflicts are discussed periodically: her relationships with her husband and son, her addict brother who becomes a father, and most prominently, her own fear of the apocalyptic future. All of these conflicts are made worse by Lizzie’s new side hustle—answering letters in a Q&A style for a doomsday podcast. Anxiety is a huge theme ..read more

Reviewed by Meghan Vermeer WARNING: Please be advised, this honest review critiques creative work containing adult sexual content. Wow. I could just stop the review there because this book is that good. Like its title, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong is absolutely gorgeous. I don’t think I have ever read a book with more poetic prose. It is truly well done, so let’s talk about it! On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a semi-autobiographical novel, narrated by a Vietnamese American man. It is framed as a letter to his mother, who cannot read and will likely never read th ..read more

Review by Donna Ledbetter In Born Into This, a short story collection reminiscent of the work of black American author Edward P. Jones, Aboriginal Australian-born writer Adam Thompson presents stories about Aboriginal life as clear as the intimate snapshots of life in black America that Jones delivers so well. A hallmark of Jones’s work is his focus on the black working and middle classes in Washington, DC, which is where he grew up and derives much of his inspiration. While Jones’s stories are colored by American racism, the plots are less about white supremacy and more about how, in spite o ..read more

By Olive Dausinas June is Pride Month, the perfect time to take a look at stories revolving exclusively around LGBT characters. As time progresses, more stories are released covering more and more territory and telling stories that have yet to be told. The month had not even yet really begun before I picked up a book I had been highly anticipating: a love story between a human and a selkie. Morgan wants nothing more than to be able to leave the small island in which she lives, where she plays a role that is the opposite of who she is. Her parents are divorced, her younger brother lashes out a ..read more

By Olive Dausinas Myth and legend has always helped to further modern day fiction. Perhaps one of the most influential canons was that of Arthurian legend. The stories of King Arthur, the man who united Britain with the help of his Knights of the Round Table. Stories were told of he who drew the sword from the stone. A hero. But perhaps the once and future king is not all he is said to be. Once and Future shows the future of Britain, the one of the modern day. With so many stories and differing tales of King Arthur, it can be hard to keep one’s head on straight when thinking about its canon ..read more

Review by Donna Ledbetter In a short story collection reminiscent of the work of black American author Edward P. Jones, Aboriginal Australian-born writer Adam Thompson presents stories about Aboriginal life as clear as the intimate snapshots of life in black America that Jones delivers so well. A hallmark of Jones’s work is his focus on the black working and middle classes in Washington, DC, which is where he grew up and derives much of his inspiration. While Jones’s stories are colored by American racism, the plots are less about white supremacy and more about how, in spite of the backdrop o ..read more