The Literary Issue

The Brits used to be proud of the saying, “The sun never sets on the British Empire.” Those days are long gone, thankfully, but the phrase came to mind when considering the writers featured in this new issue. Our writers this time hail from Canada, Ireland, Israel, Puerto Rico, and Australia, in addition to the continental United States. Instead of being united by subjugation, these talented people are connected by a passion for writing. So you might say the sun never sets on great storytelling.

There is movement, however glacial, toward this form of unification. It’s mostly visual and digital, but the core of it is the human need to tell and to hear stories. It is what connects us and what helps break down barriers between us. Perhaps the truth of that lies within the fact that despite our many technological advancements, so many people still take joy in writing and reading the old-fashioned way, in a simple book with words on pages.

We hope you enjoy this one.

– Joe, Zac, Renee, Marci, David, Zoë, Ronak, Lauren, Ai, and Tommy

Table of Contents (click the links for stories and excerpts)

Hunting Crows Year-Round, Phillip Scott Mandel
Love Drips and Gathers, Fiachra Kelleher
A Room for Your Name, Rolando André López Torres
Patrimony, Dave Karrel
The Leaf Queen, Carolyn Fay
Barbed Wire Fence, Carl Meuser
The Edge of Elsewhere, Margaret Irish
No One Looks Up, Julia L. Offen
Kisses, Lilian Cohen
Molyneaux’s Problem, Kate Krautkramer
The Hey, Emilee Prado
Make Up the Difference, Henry Presente
About the Cover
Issue 6 Contributors

If you like what you see here, please consider purchasing a copy of the issue using the sidebar to the right. A pdf is a mere $3, and a print copy is $10.99.

The Literary Issue

Is getting by in life the same as finding meaning in life? It may sound like a strange question, but once you’ve read the stories and essays in this issue we hope you’ll see a connection. Some of the people you’ll meet are dealing with family, birdwatching, and interpreting dreams. There are also stories about less traditional lives, such as people making lives out of discards, engaging in prostitution, pursuing murder for money, and enduring the long-term effects of gun violence.

The value of literature, and often its attraction for readers, is that it allows us to see meaning in the decisions characters make—big or small. Sometimes they work out, other times they result in an existence that has them questioning how they got there. Ultimately, literature reminds us that meaning lies in the life you lead, not in how you spin it for the public forum. We may go viral and be famous for fifteen minutes, but when that moment passes, then what? Who are you really?

As we head into another holiday season we hope this issue offers an opportunity to reflect on how we spend our time, and where we find that meaning.

Wishing you a happy and thoughtful holiday,

– Joe, Zac, Renee, and the Orca staff

Table of Contents (click the links for stories and excerpts)

About the Cover Artist
Found Love, Brendan McLaughlin
Angel, Michele Suzann
Double Cleanser, Maria Picone
Turned Eye, Pavle Radonic
To the Newly Wounded by Gunshot, Stephanie E. Dickinson
Landline, Erica Edwards
Museum of Extinction, Bill Capossere
His Own Cool World of Toads, 1947, John Brantingham
Willpower, Erica Henry
Gastromythology; In the Mothers’ Room, Jessica Manack
Marrow, Stephanie Sushko
Smart Girls Die Fast, Joanne Rush
Doreen Dreams of Cars, Cadence Mandybura
Seeing Starlings, Chris Arthur
Hard Boiled, Heather Bartos
El Paso, Anisa Marmura
Contributors

Please consider purchasing a copy of the full issue. A pdf is a mere $4, and is available in our bookstore. A print copy is $11.99 on Amazon.

Editor’s Note: We have not Americanized spellings and grammar native to other English-speaking countries, but have left them in their original form in order to fully convey the voices of our authors.