Braided Storylines

Just added to STORYGLOSSIA Issue 20 is "Don't Tell Your Mother" by Marcela Fuentes. Usually, I have a strong bias against stories that begin with a dream—it is such an overdone opening—but I was drawn into this story by the precise details and the tension of the interaction between father and daughter. As you'll see when you read the story, this dream (memory) scene foreshadows both action and subtext in the scenes ahead, and in doing so deepens the connection between the memory scenes (shown in italics) and the present (at least in story time) action. These two stories are braided together as they alternate and mingle their meaning. Such two-tracking creates a powerful blended story full of evocative imagery, menace, rage, and gritty heartbreak.

Marcela Fuentes is a writer living in south Texas. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and Central Michigan University. She teaches writing and literature at Southwest Texas Junior College. Her work has appeared in the Indiana Review and is forthcoming in the anthology Best Stories from the Southwest 2007. She will be an MFA candidate at the Iowa Writers' Workshop this August 2007. Please wish her luck. Marcela can be reached at marcelisima at gmail dot com.

And don't forget, the STORYGLOSSIA Fiction Prize 2007 contest is now open for submissions. First prize is $1000. Deadline for entries is July 15, 2007.