Issue 16

Issue 16 – Spring 2018

Hooray for our alums:

Mike Embry
Mike, a former Trajectory contributor, has a new novel out from Wings Press, the latest in his John Ross (Baby) Boomer Lit series. Mike’s book, Darkness Beyond The Light, is a focused, honest, fast-paced look at the drug problem so many American families face today. Warning: Mike’s look at how drugs, specifically heroin, are devastating families, emotionally and financially, may well hit home with you, and hit home hard. I’ve contended for years that there are damn few of us who don’t have at least one family member with substance abuse issues, or that we know someone who does.

Dana Stamps, II
Just out from Evening Street Press, comes Dana’s latest collection of poems – Sandbox Blues. A frequent contributor to Trajectory, Dana takes a close look at his younger days in his latest collection. Some will make you smile and some will make you mad and some will make you sad, but they all will make you think. eveningstreetpress.com

t. kilgore splake
If you’re a fan of railroad stations of yesteryear and old trains and sepia-tinted photographs – and I love them all – then t.’s latest is a book you won’t want to miss. Depot focuses on the history of the railroad station of Calumet, Michigan, but for those of us of a certain age (does the word ripe strike a familiar note?) the photos and descriptions bring back memories of the railroad stations in our own towns (Crane, Missouri and Williamsburg, Kentucky, in my case). This slim volume, available from the Calumet Art Center Press, is chock full of interesting memories of life in a bygone era along with wonderful old train and railroad station photos to treasure.

Brian Daldorph
Edad de Hielo, Ice Age is Brian’s elegant, precise, poetic look back at his father’s good life and then his long, bitter battle with Alzheimer’s. Each poem paints a picture of a good man, a good man visited by a personal tragedy that many of us may someday share. Love shows in Brian’s lines, and so does the pain. As Brian points out, Alzheimer’s is a battle many of us will fight, and it’s an enemy without mercy. A heart wrenching work of beauty, Ice Age comes to us via Irrupciones Press in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Marianna Hofer
On my To-Read list is The Weight of the Minolta in Her Hand from Marianna Hofer. You may be familiar with her work from previous issues of Trajectory. Marianna’s chapbook is available from Finishing Line Press.

Terry Foody
An enthusiastic supporter of Trajectory, Terry Foody has just released The Cherokee and the Newsman. This volume tells the story of Sequoia, inventor of the Cherokee alphabet and Howard Gratz, editor of the Kentucky Gazette. terryfoody.com

Chris Helvey (blush, blush)
Hot off the presses at Livingston Press (University of West Alabama), the latest from yours truly. Snapshot tells the tale of Fast Eddie Burke who, as it says on the back cover, “knows what it’s like to work your soul away” at the bottom of the notorious Black Jack Mine No. 3. So when Turp Lawson asks if he can join the drinking party Eddie and a couple of other miners hold each Friday night, Eddie doesn’t object. What he’s forgotten is that no good deed ever goes unpunished, and when recently divorced Eddie meets Turp’s restless wife he know he’s in for more trouble than he can handle.”

Tip: Check out Livingston Press’ publications for some interesting reads, as well as their Tartt First Fiction Contest. Remember, it’s organizations like Livingston Press, and (blush, again) Trajectory, that give most of us our earliest publishing credits. Resolve to pick out a couple of small or university presses (you pick the presses) and support them financially, either with a subscription, a gift subscription, or simply a direct monetary gift. Keep the small presses going – they are doing some fine literary work, and some truly important work.

I think you will really enjoy Issue 16. It’s a pleasant blend of fiction, including a new story from Willy, who won our Grit Lit Contest a few years ago, a pair of CNF pieces – from Michael Kroll and George Koschel, plenty of poems, of course, and even a work of Literary Criticism, “Of On The Road,” written by Kenneth E. Weber, Jr.

By the way, I’m launching my in-development author website. Check out chrishelvey.com and let me know what you think.

Now, I’d better let you get to reading.

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