A Stellar Lit Mag Deserving of a Wider Audience
Emrys Journal is published by the Emrys Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping artists by nurturing creativity, expanding the impact of the literary arts, and collaborating across a variety of art forms. Active in Upstate South Carolina, the Emrys Foundation hosts lectures, readings, and professional instruction for writers at any stage of their careers. Published annually in the spring, Emrys Journal accepts fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction submissions for a $3 fee. Simultaneous submissions are accepted. The journal holds annual prizes in all three genre categories, offering a $250 award to each winner.
This issue marks Katie Burgess’ first appearance as Editor. In her note to readers, she explains her decision to hold open submissions rather than setting a theme. In spite of this choice, a common thread did emerge in the form of stitches, ropes, and strings. As Burgess writes, “We’re all, in one way or another, tangled up in forces beyond our control; some are puppet strings, and some are lifelines.”
“Whose Heart I Long to Stop with the Click of a Revolver” by Rivers Solomon, the Fiction Award winner this year, is pitch perfect, on par with the finest short story writing produced in this country. In the piece, Jo, a woman armed with a (possibly) Civil War-era revolver, is reuniting with an estranged daughter who’s rejected her previous identity, including her birth name, choosing instead to be called Luciana, a “girl version of Lucifer.” Jo is a fascinating character, trying to come to grips with the past, to survive in the present, and to untangle the wreckage she’s made of motherhood. This story is a north star for all writers, evidence of storytelling at its finest, of fiction done exceedingly well.
“The Cornish Cross” by Steve Lambert is another startlingly good bit of prose. Centered around of the children of a family of “lazy-ass goddamn bus dwelling lowlifes,” as a neighbor describes them, the story focuses on the downright meanness of men, of a son becoming as cruel as a father, of death coming for the undeserving. Though the protagonist does suffer from the wanton and petty cruelties of those around her, she holds out hope for a younger brother, Tadpole, her only true ally and quite possibly a future tormentor.
The creative nonfiction featured in the pages of Emrys is strong as well, exploring familial relationships, friendship, diagnosis, loss, and escape. “The Little Fugitive” by Daniella Linares describes the author’s treacherous trek to a boat that will spirit her family, and others, away from Cuba. In “Mystery Writer,” JL Schneider discovers new aspects of his father while sorting through the objects left behind, yet he cannot find his most vital manuscript.
While the poetry laced throughout this issue is good, it does largely take a backseat to the prose. An exception is “Your Daughter Begins the Poem of Her Life” by Katharyn Howd Machan, which elegantly arranges the struggles of both mother and daughter between beautifully sad metaphors, ending with a blunt observation that is touching and devastating all at once.
Despite a generally strong showing, some pieces do fall flat: “Swallowing the Crown” by Luke Muyskens, a tale about an Iowan pickle eating champion and the woman who vows to take him down (she has sedatives and a cattle prod), drags from one sarcastic paragraph to the next. Ultimately, it’s an original piece let down by tone. Earlier, “For Arnau, on His 30th Birthday,” a poem by Gaylord Brewer, tackles age in trite if earnest terms.
Jennifer Schomburg Kanke’s interview with the poet Kathryn Nuernberger is both frustrating and fun, as the subject dances around answers, swaddling her responses in some high-level snark. Nuernberger engages much better with her interviewer when the discussion switches from craft to personhood, delving into her management of T-Rex-impersonating chickens and her daughter’s creative rationale for purchasing toys swathed in patriarchal pink, among other subjects.
The second interview, featuring novelist Joshilyn Jackson, focuses strongly on the author’s Christian identity and faith-infused writing. Despite her dedication, Jackson has not been embraced by certain evangelical groups whose strict rules exclude her. “I write about poverty, exploitation, how we treat The Other, and what forms identity, because these things are central to my faith,” Jackson says. “It takes me to some gritty places, and the kinds of characters that attract me would never say, ‘Oh, shucksy-darn, let’s not have weird intercourse or shoot anyone.’” It’s a refreshing interview, thanks to Jackson’s willingness to engage earnestly with each question, blending humor and criticism into a charming collection of responses.
The stories, poems, and interviews that make up Emrys don’t simply float through the air; they are collected, printed. Volume Thirty-Four is handsomely bound and arranged, and though the contributors’ names are set in a faux-cursive font that just creeps over the readability line, the journal as a whole is contemporary and welcoming. In this volume, prose does seem to have the upper hand, but writers of all stripes would do well to find their work in these pages. Emrys Journal is a wonderful piece of the literary landscape, and though the foundation’s footprint is local, the stories and poems found within its pages deserve a much wider audience.
