Facebook In & As Literature

Volume 12 Issue 4 of Iron Horse Literary Review (published six times a year) is “The Facebook Issue” (which, by the way, you can “like” on their website). Editor Leslie Jill Patterson writes: “When we opened our call for submissions to the Iron Horse Facebook issue, most of the manuscripts we received focused upon the ironies of Facebook – a social networking Web site that so many writers both love and hate. One of the reasons I like FB is that it somehow encourages all of my friends, not just the writers I know, to tell stories and pay attention to language. I like the way we narrate on FB, the way our words surprise and entertain, as if we’re at a huge dinner party and each of us is vying to be the most interesting guest.”

Patterson goes on with comments such as “Do ‘friends’ honestly care…” and “But maybe we’re not supposed to stay in touch with our pasts.” and “But the truth is, no one is honest on FB. Not that we lie outright.” and discusses the contributions to this collection that explore each of these and more issues related to this form of hyper-social networking.

Contributors include (poetry) Robert Fanning, Laura McCullough, Juliana Gray, Steve Langan, Tamiko Beyer, Jennifer A. Luebbers, Randall BrowN; (fiction) Mike Land AND Shane Castle; (nonfiction) Mike Hampton, Katie Schneider, and Dinty W. Moore.