Glimmer Train Stories, #85

Although I was not familiar with "Glimmer Train," I picked this issue up at my local bookstore to give it a try. I was really surprised at how consistently good the stories are in this journal (or this issue, anyway). My favorites were "Angstschweiss," by Susan Messer about a grown son who goes to visit is father in a nursing home after the latter had his leg amputated. The disquieting feeling between the two men, who never were adept at physically showing love, was so well done. Also, now that the father is ailing, how they both accept that they need each other's help, and how they go about that, was very real and in many ways, beautiful. I also loved the story "Hole in the Sand" by Edward Hardy about couple of families vacationing on show more Block Island and the one Dad keeps forcing himself to enjoy the vacation, but he cannot stop the obsession with his job and his overall negative thoughts about life around him. It is suprising how this plays out when an unruly naked 5-year-old boy comes and destroys the sand castle he and his kids are building. A very interesting perspective on what work is, vacation, enjoying (or not) family time and the "Zen remote." I highly recommend this issue for anyone looking for new, different and interesting short stories (and authors) to explore. show less