The recitation of Kaddish stopped the rain. Continue reading
Category Archives: Original Fiction
Bloom Creative Writing: An After Dinner Mint
The deal had been struck not only for them, but for the sake of everyone, the whole family. Lisa and Mart were sitting in Lisa’s living room on the sofa, drinking Campari and Soda, an old tradition, and having one of those bitterly truthful talks that are one part booze, two parts bravado, and eighteen parts terror. Continue reading
Bloom Creative Writing: We Are Not Having This Conversation, by Michael Horton
“This morning on her way home from church (Val is the only one of us who goes), she stopped at the kids’ new house.” Continue reading
Bloom Creative Writing: Speaking Ill of the Dead
These days, I only come to the café alone. I do not lie to myself about what this café means. I know it is simply a familiar shell into which, like the hermit crab that I have become, I scurry, knowing full well it is a home borrowed from someone else’s past. Continue reading
Bloom Creative Writing: “Necessity” by Mary Cuffe Perez
Slates come off every spring, he tells his son. Ice works up under them all winter so a strong wind can kick them lose. Keep an eye out, he said, and the barn doors, tell the girl who feeds the horses to close them tight or the wind will tear them off. His son nods. She’s still coming, every day, that girl who said she would? His son nods but doesn’t look at him. He is older somehow, the top of his head a pink bowl. He asks his son again, feeling that old necessity working its way into his blood, drumming his heart faster than it should go. Check the fences by the road. Continue reading
Bloom Creative Writing: “Smoke Without a Fire,” by Teboho Mohlomi
The smoke filled the hut. Thick, blue. Continue reading
From Self-Published to Small Press Novelist: Q&A with Elie Axelroth
I wouldn’t say self-publishing made it easier to find a publisher. I think I was clearer about what I wanted—which was to grow as a writer and if possible, to do less of the marketing and not pay for the upfront costs like editing and proofreading. I’d actually been offered a book contract from another small publisher earlier on, but it was clear the editing would be minimal, and with some regret I turned down the offer. That was clearly the right choice for me. Continue reading
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