Short Stories

Short stories from west side neighborhoods of Chicago. "The force of each writer's vision and language carries you into the living rooms and kitchens where the real folk of the West Side go about the business of living. 'West Side Stories' presents the everyday, the brutal, the glorious."

A Anthology of short stories, edited by Abigail Beckel and Kathleen Rooney

Journal of international poems, essays, interviews, critical essays, fiction, plus reviews and notes, published quarterly

Urbesque is a collection of short (in the sense that most, though not all, of the pieces are shorter than forty pages) fiction (because they are untrue except, of course, for the parts that are). The characters who populate these stories do not travel to India or hang out with matadors. They do, however, go to job fairs, make furniture, leave their swords in the lockers at work, write letters to the objects that surround them and take pictures of it all, years after the fact, to remind them not to forget. If, one day, a copy of Urbesque should appear unannounced on your doorstep, looking a little worse for wear, with whiskey on its breath, invite it in. Make room for it on your couch or bookshelf. Or, better yet, read it. - Abstract from Green Lantern website

This is the third volume of comics put out by Matt Fagan, also the author of Meniscus. Love follows the relationship between Pokie (a fun loving punk rocker) and his boyfriend of 8 years, Jack (the more realistic, down to earth musician). Experiencing the normal ups and downs of life, they help each other celebrate the good times, and fight through the rough ones. But of course ridiculous adventures always seem to just sort of happen in this world of theirs, and although there was some crazy stuff in the two previous issues, I think this most recent release brings about the strangest accounts. I mean, when your neighbors turn out to be aliens, there&rsquo;s weird shit going on. So, if you&rsquo;re looking for that feel-good zine of the month, try Love. It&rsquo;s got cool characters, peculiar sub-plots, and occasional man on man action. Half size, 44 pages. <br />

Short stories about love, sex and bike messenging in Chicago.