March 12th – The Time Machine – T. J. Cooper

This story can be found in the first issue of Electric Literature. It is a first person narrated study in jealousy that features a great use of texts within the story. Lists, letters and text messages ground the reader firmly in the narrator’s mindset. An engaging, emotional story that is another good example of varying structure to control the pace of the reader’s progress.

March 13th – Mean Picking – David Gaffney

Another short short from Aromabingo. Great premise, a family that doesn’t age. The family’s condition even affects those around them, friends and family within the community. It’s an interesting look at what might happen to a man who gets stuck, like a skipping record, at age thirty-five. I did feel that the story was a little too short though. I wanted to see more of this family and their struggle to rejoin the human race than the three pages offered.