New World Writing Quarterly

We’re pleased to have our Associate Editor Kim Chinquee select­ing and edit­ing the Fall 2015 issue of New World Writing. Kim has already tak­en sev­er­al pieces and will be read­ing through the mid­dle of December at least, so keep the work com­ing. –more

I Wanted To Sit Closer

 
On a cold morn­ing in January, my father showed up on our front porch. He said he was in town for a hair­cut; there was a salon he and his sec­ond wife went to in Bucktown, a neigh­bor­hood that hadn’t flood­ed. My hus­band and son and I had just returned to New Orleans to live togeth­er again under one roof.

We are pleased to report that Kim Chinquee, author of Oh, Baby and Pretty, and par­tic­u­lar­ly well known for her exquis­ite flash fic­tions, will be edit­ing the Fall 2015 issue of NWW. We –more

Egret

Frank took up golf when he and his wife moved to Lost Lakes Preserve three months ago. He hadn’t bro­ken nine­ty, and today looked like the day. He’d cov­ered the front nine in 44, chipped in for birdie on 11, and holed a thir­ty-foot­er for anoth­er birdie on 14. Standing now on the 16^th tee, he knew he had only to bogey his way in for an 89—a small thing, maybe, but he under­stood that the small suc­cess­es were the only ones left to him. Last year he’d final­ly been pro­mot­ed to pres­i­dent of his ad firm after being bypassed again and again for younger can­di­dates with new ideas, or old­er can­di­dates with more expe­ri­ence, or stronger lead­ers, or bet­ter con­sen­sus builders—always some­one else. Now he’d final­ly reached the top of his small region­al agency, and there was nowhere else to go unless he was will­ing to sidle his way into one of the nation­als, which would also mean a tem­po­rary step back­ward for the promise of some­thing bet­ter. At 58, he’d keep the sure thing, espe­cial­ly when the sure thing had giv­en him and Jeanne the means to build their dream house on one of the last remain­ing golf course lots at Lost Lakes.

The Night Witches

Months before the fire—the big one that cuts up through the homes in our hills like a plane through a flock of doves—I see Rochelle in the street. It’s a Sunday. She has her hand in some guy’s pock­et. Her hair is paler than I remem­ber it, and it hangs down around her face like she still cuts it her­self. She is tanned, bro­ken-in, like she’s been liv­ing out­doors all these years.

So Long

Ana grinned as she walked toward him, weav­ing her way through the heavy traf­fic of Canal Street. Michael smiled and pre­tend­ed to look some­thing up on his phone. It was late May but Manhattan felt like a desert that day; blind­ing sun­light and a dry, brit­tle kind of heat.

Porcelain

She, who nev­er asks for any­thing, point­ed to the dis­play case and said, “I want this.”  It was a porce­lain Christmas fig­urine, noth­ing short of a glazed mon­u­ment.  As a cen­ter­piece, it would over­take most of a din­ner table.  Santa Claus was sculpt­ed into a Mexican cow­boy, with spurred boots, som­brero, and a black mus­tache.  Mexican Santa sat high on a blan­ket sad­dle and held the reins of a red-nosed bur­ro, lift­ed onto its hind legs, tri­umphant­ly car­ry­ing them to the North Pole.  Like all Santas, his cheeks were rud­dy and his smile jovial.  Cargo hung off the burro’s flank, bulging with dolls and oth­er children’s toys.   My father bought it for my moth­er imme­di­ate­ly, because she had asked.

Future Mistakes

Raisa Kolbe cast a wor­ried stare through the glass par­ti­tion at the only swad­dled new­born not cry­ing.  Baby Boy Arturo’s eyes focused on the ceil­ing as if he were send­ing up his prayers before the inevitable hap­pened.  Raisa tapped on the glass in an attempt to rouse him but only suc­ceed­ed in gar­ner­ing the atten­tion of the nurse.

Raisa point­ed to the baby and mouthed, “Is he okay?”

A spe­cial issue edit­ed by James Whorton, the Summer 2015 num­ber begins now. Please stay tuned. We will be post­ing this issue between July and October 2015.

Let’s hear it for Dylan Smeak!  Maron Tate! Paige Clark! Three new and splen­did pieces added to this Endless Spring issue of NWW.

Up today we have three new sto­ries–Emily Eckart, Anna Hagen, and Karen Wunsch. More to come.

Curated/edited by Jared Hegwood, the Spring num­ber starts now, includ­ing work from Andy Plattner, Alex Higley, Erin Armstrong, Nellie Aberdeen, Paul Luikart, P.J.Underwood, and Tracie Dawson, among oth­ers. Please stayed tuned.

We’ve expand­ed our hold­ings for the win­ter issue, adding new work by Andrew Rhodes, Ellis Purdie, Fortunato –more

We have begun to assem­ble the Winter 2015 issue under the watch­ful eye of Associate Editor Elizabeth Wagner. We will be read­ing and adding work for this issue through March 2015, so please keep us in mind for your sub­mis­sions. Click –more

We’ve expand­ed the fall issue and will con­tin­ue adding mate­r­i­al through December 2014. The issue is select­ed and edit­ed by Pia Ehrhardt, author of Famous Fathers (MacAdam/Cage, 2007). Her work has also appeared in Narrative –more

We’ve added new things for the sum­mer issue. JoAnna Novak’s won­der­ful “Five Minutes with the Baby,” Zvezdana Rashkovich’s “How to Love a Man in Cairo,” and Richard Lange’s “Instinctive Drowning Response.”

A gallery of images by the French illus­tra­tor Chloe Poizat.

Click Summer 2014 or use the main menu. Note that we con­tin­ue to read new mate­r­i­al for the issue–fiction, poet­ry, non­fic­tion, any­thing else, what­ev­er you have, short –more