For the thirtieth issue, McSweeney's returns to the look of the first three issues with a densely texted cover that celebrates Obama being elected President. The story I particularly remember is Wells Tower's rewrite of his story of a dysfunctional sibling weekend, "Retreat" that was in McSweeney's 23. The original was great and this version is even better. ( )

Wells Tower's retelling of "Retreat" was interestingly done, and Michael Cera's "Pinecone" was surprisingly good. ( )

This is called McSweeney's "Forge-Ahead/Throwback" Issue, but there's not a single story I'd throw back.

McSweeney's generally produces beautiful, cleverly-packaged works the artistic presentation of which occasionally overshadows the actual writing. That's certainly not the case here. I enjoyed every story. They are well developed, well structured and the characters are fully-drawn.

The authors and stories are:

Bill Cotter- Pfaff II

Nick Ekkixogloy- Stowaways

Kevin Moffett- Further Interpretation of Real Life Events

Etgar Keret-Bad Karma

Shelly Oria- The Beginning of a Plan

Michael Cera- Pinecone (Canadian perhaps best known as an actor and this solid story about an aging actor may be a way of facing some of his own fears, although I hope not!)

Carson Mell-Diamond Aces (a real heartbreaker. Excellent characters)

Matei Visniec-Madness

J. Malcolm Garcia-Cuts

Catherine Bussinger- Foothill Boulevard (a dangerous and brave story. A standout)

Wells Tower-Retreat

As an extra bonus, in the teeny-tiny front page print, generally reserved for the titlepage junk like publishing date and copyright information, and continuing on the back page, is a wonderful essay by Wells Tower about his story. He rewrote a previous story, which was written from the perspective of another character. Don't miss that.

These are clever stories, but they never sacrifice humanity, and I do so appreciate that. I also loved the line drawing scattered throughout, although I can't find the name of the artist. ( )

Another McSweeney's under the belt. The typical strange collection of eclectic short stories but not as random as some other McSweeney's collections that I have read. My favorites in issue # 30 were the following:

Kevin Moffet's Further Interpretations of Real-Life Events - an amusing story about competing with your father in writing short stories. Quite funny.

Pinecone by Michael Cera - mostly interested to see what Mr. Cera was capable of outside of the film industry. This story had to do with a washed up film star trying to cheer himself up. Is this the future for you Mr. Cera? Perhaps a reaccuring nightmare? Don't worry, you got it made.

Diamond Aces by Carson Mell - another father/son story with a decrepit strip club as the setting. Also, dad is paid to give advice to down and out strip club owners. Not funny really, but certainly intriguing.

Foothill Boulevard by Catherine Businger - I loved this story because I know exactly what neighborhood she is talking about, plus most cities have neighborhoods like the one she is describing. I love the house as a character, even if she maybe wasn't going for that. I very much wanted the house to get better, to be completed.

Retreat by Wells Tower - Another great story about siblings from Wells Tower. This one was probably my favorite story out of the whole issue and so funny. Reading this one out loud really had my wife cracking up. I look forward to reading more by him.

Welp, there you have it. My highlights for this issue. The other stories were good too, and there weren't any particularly disappointing ones. As always, I look forward to reading the next issue. ( )

Not their best but still very entertaining. The story by Michael Cera was good enough that I forgot it was written by him about halfway through. ( )