Black Warrior Review

Most of these stories and poems in Black Warrior Review (issue 41.1) are atmospheric stories with a magical realism bent. Unless that is your style, I wouldn't recommend submitting to them.

"Rejas" by Brenda Peynado is possibly the best story. A young Dominican Republic woman returns to her homeland where she no longer feels at home.

The bars or "rejas" keep the criminals from entering residences but they also keep people from understanding one another.

Black Warrior Review, 41.1

In M H Rowe's "The Dead Crystal Palace" a boy's father, in a magical realist style, moves to a crystal palace. He waves a scepter acting the part of the tyrant. His infidelity caused the divorce. He seems powerful but the last scene demonstrates his impotence.

In "Sail, Su Corazon," a young man records his final, delusional  thoughts on a faltering ship.

 The last narrative poem, "Shadow Memories From Desire: A Haunting," is dense, atmospheric and strangely captivating. A child who can see a ghost is also the object of her benefactor's desire. 

Black Warrior Review is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Writer's Digest has named BWR as one of the literary journals that matter.

Evil Eye: Four Novellas of Love Gone Wrong by Joyce Carol Oates

The opening novella, "Evil Eye," is a powerful story about a woman who could be on the verge of losing her mind. In a fit of despair, she has married an older man who crushes what is left of her spirit. One of the man's ex-wives tries to warn her to no avail.

The best novella is "So Near Anytime Always." Not only is this a great title, but it perfectly captures what Oates does so well. A highly-vulnerable girl wrongly believes a predator loves her.

Desmond appears charming at first. He is the dapper "boyfriend" that she has always dreamed about. Lizbeth believes a boyfriend as a "passport" to a new country.

Readers, however, can sense something wrong from the beginning. This is how Lizbeth meets Desmond: she looks up from her homework to see a boy staring intensely at her. Whether she realized it or not, he stalks her from that moment onward.

He appears well-educated, rich, and polite but becomes increasingly controlling. Desmond's true character quickly reveals itself after a disastrous violin lesson.  

"The Execution" is less satisfying because the narrator, Bart, is so unlikeable.  In chilling details, "The Execution" depicts an entitled college-aged kid who decides to murder his parents. Nothing unfolds as he plans.

The last novella, "The Flatbed," captures the feelings of a repressed woman. She suffered sexual abuse at the hands of a relative. Perhaps no other author captures the victim's viewpoint as well as Oates. 

Like all the novellas in this collection, "The Flatbed" ends on just the right ironic note. Has her fiance' revenge upon her perpetrator freed Cecilia from her damaging past? Or has she just traded one secret for another?