Cultivating a community of writers, artists, and readers across the Delaware Valley FALL / 2018 / FREE FEATURING THE MARGUERITE MCGLINN PRIZE FOR FICTION WINNING STORIES LESLIE LAUREN GREEN / SUGAR MOUNTAIN STACY AUSTIN EGAN / WINDMILLS, THE BOYS LAURA FARNSWORTH Publisher/Editorial Director Carla Spataro Publisher/Executive Director Christine Weiser Managing Editor Yalonda Rice Fiction Editor Mitchell Sommers Assistant Fiction Editor CONTENTS Shelley Schenk Creative Nonfiction Editor THE MARGUERITE MCGLINN PRIZE FOR FICTION IS A NATIONAL SHORT FICTION Adriana Lecuona CONTEST MADE POSSIBLE BY THE GENEROUS SUPPORT OF THE MCGLINN AND Poetry Editor Courtney Bambrick HANSMA FAMILIES. CONGRATULATIONS TO THIS YEAR’S WINNERS! Poetry Assistant Editor Nicole Mancuso MARGUERITE MCGLINN WINNING STORIES Art Editor Pam McLean-Parker 4 LESLIE (first place) ................................................................................................................................................LAUREN GREEN Art Director 12 SUGAR MOUNTAIN (second place) ..........................................................................................................STACY AUSTIN EGAN Derek Carnegie Marketing Assistant WINDMILLS, THE BOYS (third place) .....................................................................................................LAURA FARNSWORTH 22 Dom Saunders Event Director FEATURES Lena Van SOME THOUGHTS ON THE FICKLENESS OF PUBLISHING ........................................CARLA SPATARO Board of Directors Contest Readers 3 Concha Alborg Jacqueline Massaro Jacqueline Hopkins Phoebe LaMont 26 CLARION STREET non( fiction) ...................................................................................................................NANCY FARRELL Alex Husted Eli Tomaszewski Daniel Johns David Kozinski Madeleine Keogh Nathan Trenda POETRY Patricia Thorell Basia Wilson Emily Wolfe 11 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN WAS RIGHT ..................................................................................................KASEY EDISON Katie Ionata Deborah Off Brittany Leonard YOUR LUCKY LIFE .........................................................................................................................................KEN FIFER 11 Emily Eckart 19 IN THE MORNING / HYPNAGOGIA ................................................................................................ROBYN CAMPBELL Officers President: Alex Husted 20 BORIS THE COCKATOO / WHEN THE MUSIC ENDS ........................................................BARBARA DANIELS Vice President: Mitchell Sommers Treasurer: Patricia Thorell 25 WHEN I LOOK LIKE MY FATHER IT MAKES MY MOTHER CRY ................................LORRAINE RICE Fiction Board Addison Namnoum Jenna Geisinger Aidan O'Brien Jon Busch ART Aimee LaBrie Kate Blakinger Valley Forge 1 by Anne Leith View From the Pond at Dawn by Bill Sweeney Alex Brubaker Kate Centofanti Leith spends her time painting nature and places, both in Bill Sweeney lives in The Chadds Ford area of Pennsylvania Alexandra Karpa Kathleen Furin the plein air tradition and in the studio. With an MFA from and had been painting since 1981. His work has been Ally Evans Kerry Young the University of Pennsylvania and an MA in Contemporary exhibited in juried shows at The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Alyssa Persons Keysha Whitaker Art History, she credits other artists as her teachers and West Chester University, Widener University, the Wayne Arts Amanda Knight Surie Kristin Moyer inspiration. She also works like a fiend to achieve the same Center and the Community Art Center in Wallingford. He Andrew Linton Lena Van COVER top-level results in her own paintings. Leith is a professor of art 17 has won awards in the Philadelphia Watercolor International Brian Ellis Leslie McRobbie in several colleges and art centers in the Philadelphia area Exhibit of Works on Paper, The Artist’s Equity Members’ Brianna Garber Mary Jo Melone and creates video documentaries and oral histories. Exhibitions, and several art centers’ membership exhibits. Brittany Korn Melissa Foster www.anneleith.com. Carolina Ortiz Michele Lombardo Che Yeun Nathan Long Chelsea Covington Maass Owen Hamill Fall Woods, 2015 by Anne Leith Dead Lake 2 by Karen Love Cooler Cierra Miller Rosanna Duffy Karen Love Cooler is an award-winning Philadelphia artist. Clare Haggerty Sara Asikainen She creates art in many media including painting, sculpture, Daniel Huppman mixed media, printmaking and photography. A founding Sharon White Daniel Pontius member of The Montgomery County Guild of Professional Tiara DeGuzman Darrah M. Hewlett Artists, Karen has maintained a studio practice since Tracey M. Romero 5 21 graduating from The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Elizabeth Green Victoria Calhoun Her “Dead Lake” series documents the demise of cypress trees Emily Eckhart Vivienne Mah in the Florida Panhandle while asserting that though natural cycles occur in nature, Erik F. Cwik Walt Maguiure we must protect our resources. Visit www.karenlovecooler.com. Ilene Rush Drying Sea by Demetra Tassiou Mini Moo by Rachel beltz Creative NonFiction Board Tassiou was born and raised in Greece and educated in the Rachel Beltz is a young artist on a mission to make people Andrea Vinci USA. With an MFA in Printmaking from the University of stop and appreciate the little, beautiful details of everyday Brittany Leonard Pennsylvania, Tassiou’s work has appeared in many group life. Using watercolors, she creates photo-realistic miniature Deborah Off and solo shows in the USA and internationally and has paintings. Squeezing in each and every detail, the majority Elaine Paliatsas-Haughey received numerous awards. In her work in this issue, Tassiou’s of Beltz’s work can roughly fit under a United States Quarter. Jacqueline Massaro 7 focus ranges from natural elements and saving the oceans 27 Rachel Mamola to recent civil wars, religious conflicts and the economic Sarah Wecht reasons of migrations and the plight of people displaced in Will Marschewski these trying times. Visit www.demetratassiou.com. Instagram: demetra.tassiou. Poetry Board Peter Baroth Donna Keegan David Kozinski Migration by Demetra Tassiou Deb Burnham Liz Chang Shira Moolten Blythe Davenport Thomas Jay Rush Liz Dolan Maria Thiaw Pat Green Basia Wilson Vernita Hall 13 21 Kathryn Ionata Philadelphia Stories, founded in 2004, is a non-profit literary magazine that publishes the finest literary fiction, poetry, and art from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, SUPPORT PROVIDED IN PART and Delaware and distributes free of charge to a wide demographic throughout the region. The mission of Philadelphia Stories is to cultivate a community of BY THE PHILADELPHIA writers, artists, and readers in the Greater Philadelphia Area. Philadelphia Stories is a 501c3. To support Philadelphia Stories and the local arts, please visit CULTURAL FUND. www.philadelphiastories.org to become a member today! Some Thoughts on the Fickleness of Publishing Carla Spataro – Editorial Director, Philadelphia Stories & PS Books Every year I have the honor of choosing the finalists for the But there’s no reason to believe the others might not have, too. Marguerite McGlinn Prize for Fiction. I’ve been doing this as long The longer I do this, from both sides, as an editor and a writ- as we’ve been running the contest, and despite the fact that it er, the more I understand that what really counts is persever- Contest Readers Jacqueline Massaro always seems to fall during my vacation, it’s something that I al- ance—believing in your work enough to keep sending it out. You Phoebe LaMont Eli Tomaszewski ways look forward to. If nothing else, it is a purposeful reminder never know when something you’ve written will strike just the David Kozinski of how capricious the publishing process is. right chord with an editor. Nathan Trenda Basia Wilson I usually get a lengthy list of stories to read. Sometimes it’s as I hope that you enjoy reading this year’s winners as much as I Emily Wolfe Katie Ionata few as 60, this year there were 130 semi-finalists, plus the addi- did. One author had two stories make the cut—a first for us. And Deborah Off tional 25 that I screened in the first round. What’s important for another first was a husband and wife both making the final batch. Brittany Leonard Emily Eckart writers to remember is that in these kinds of situations, the reader Here are few comments from our judge Dan Chaon about each is not looking to give you the benefit of the doubt. They’re look- of the winning stories: ing for reasons to reject you. Nothing makes me happier than to open a story that is not formatted as required. I get to reject that 1. “Leslie” is a lovely and understated story that reminded piece without having to read it at all. There were 14 such stories me a bit of the great Ann Beattie. I was struck by the intriguing Jenna Geisinger Jon Busch this year. Were they any good? I don’t know. I didn’t read them. dramatic premise, and impressed by the finely calibrated, vivid Kate Blakinger I know there are authors out there who think these kinds of scenes. There's a tenderness in the characterization, a generos- Kate Centofanti Kathleen Furin things don’t matter, that an editor, or agent, or contest judge ity of spirit that moved me. Kerry Young Keysha Whitaker will make an exception for them, because their work is so good. Kristin Moyer I think most of us wish we had that kind of time to be generous, 2. “Sugar Mountain” The complex, dark power struggle be- Lena Van Leslie McRobbie but when I