Glimmer Train Stories – Winter 2003

If the measure of a great record is the ability to play it straight through without skipping a track, the same rule can be applied to lit mags. Even the most highly-regarded among them are spotty, at times, best when read non-linearly, piecemeal. Not so with Glimmer Train, one of the most consistently edited journals out there.

If the measure of a great record is the ability to play it straight through without skipping a track, the same rule can be applied to lit mags. Even the most highly-regarded among them are spotty, at times, best when read non-linearly, piecemeal. Not so with Glimmer Train, one of the most consistently edited journals out there. Story after story, the writing is both engaging and intelligent, tempting the reader to tuck in tight and keep the light on for one more piece. If pressed to name them, I’d declare the standouts of this issue to be Brad Barkley’s “Those Imagined Lives,” and Lydia E. Copeland’s “Theodore and Nan.” The former, a quirky tale concerning the elusiveness of Happy-Ever-After, is true to life while remaining thoroughly unique. The latter, winner of the Short Story Award for New Writers, is unabashedly written—you can sense the author’s joy for her art in every paragraph. Glimmer Train #49 is dedicated to the newly-late George Plimpton, and it’s safe to say that it does due justice to a once-magnificent man of letters. [Glimmer Train, 1211 NW Glisan Street, Suite 207, Portland, Oregon 97209-3054. E-mail: [email protected]. Single issue $11. http://www.glimmertrain.com/] – SRP