From Anna Zarra Aldrich The theme for this year’s Long River Review was “next, not now.” Throughout the course of this semester we discovered the various meanings of “next” and found that each of our definitions differed slightly, which is part of the beauty of working with a large editorial staff. For me, next was… More A Letter from the Editor: “Next not now”
By Ryan Amato Staying home all day, avoiding contact with others, having less obligations than usual: This is the writer’s dream. Or, at least, it should be. For some reason, the idea of sitting down to write something just hasn’t crossed my mind, despite having nothing but free time to write. Instead of finishing that… More Why I now have all the free time to write, yet I don’t do it
By Natalie Baliker Shopping for books is an experience almost as satisfying as sitting down to read them. I tend to visit at least one bookstore every place I visit, but I’ve come to notice that no two are alike. No, we’re not discussing Barnes & Noble, where every store is a near-perfect copy. Oh… More The Best Places to Acquire Books
And the 10 That You Should be Following Based on Your Aesthetic! By Jennie Fetzer In an internet-obsessed world of Kardashians and #Sponsored content, it might seem hard to imagine another kind of social media influencer- one who inspires you to do the exact opposite of scrolling through your feed and pick up a book?… More What’s a Literary Instagram Anyways?
Sometimes to see, you need to listen first. For almost all of the projects I would create before 2016, I ran into a wall over and over again: For some reason, I couldn’t visualize anything about my stories the way I needed to. It wasn’t because I didn’t have a vivid imagination or that my… More Writing With Sound: Making playlists for your stories
The Jennie Hackman Memorial Prize for Fiction, Third Place (2017) I don’t take the school bus, I don’t drive, and because mom doesn’t get home from work until four most of the time, I don’t ask her for a ride. But if I take the 509 toward Whitney Avenue at 6:15, I usually get to… More Constance By Jeremiah Dennehy (2017)
From out in the outfield dirt, the crack of the bat was the only indicator a ball was rising up before dive bombing, back through the crepuscular sky. Jimmy turned and chased the echo of the sound. Go foul… Go foul… The ball, draped in a cloak of clouds, seemed to carry by a will… More Erythrophobia By Jameson Croteau (2017)
Long River Graduate Writing Award, Winner (2017) “Petra, she say there be bones,” my grandmother told me, pointing beyond me to the old castle on top of the hill. The frame of the old, Slavic structure was about as beautiful as a decaying tooth with jagged corners. A revolting brownness permeated the place. Even so,… More Crumbling Walls By Kristina Reardon (2017)
The Jennie Hackman Memorial Prize for Fiction, Second Place (2017) The girl I was seeing had this dog, a real fluffy fucker, whose name was Angus. It was her boyfriend’s dog. She was taking care of Angus because his owner was studying abroad in New Zealand for the semester. I was, finally, over my ex.… More Angus By Sten Spinella (2017)
When I was seven, we made poetry books in school. I wrote two poems about my childhood dog, one about my grandpa, and one about 9/11. The rest were gibberish. On the cover, I drew broken hearts, storm clouds, a syringe, and my mom crying in the den. My dog and grandpa had just died.… More The Road to Hell By August Jones (2017)