Studio Archives – Page 3 of 4

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Good With Boys

by Kristen Iskandrian

July 9, 2021

Posted on July 9, 2021 (July 8, 2021) by Zack Ravas

I was going to sleep in a museum—with any luck, next to Esau Abraham, a boy so gorgeously Jewish he held the entire Old Testament in his name, in the perfect contours of his face. I had this theory about boys, that if they just got close enough to me, and sort of focused in,

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Chorizo

by Jaime Cortez

June 30, 2021

Posted on June 30, 2021 (June 29, 2021) by Zack Ravas

The dogs are melting. Lobo is lying on the porch with his pink tongue hanging out. Chiquita is hiding under the car with her ears down. Everybody is hiding from the sun except for me. I’m riding my bicycle, so I can feel some wind when I pedal. It’s not working too good. Past the

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Shop Talk: Michael Jaime-Becerra

by ZYZZYVA

June 15, 2021

Posted on June 15, 2021 (June 14, 2021) by ZYZZYVA

Michael Jaime-Becerra’s story “Omar, March 1987,” about a boy named Omar who discovers his mother’s affair while skateboarding in the neighborhood, originally appeared in Issue 102. The story evokes the sights and sounds of Omar’s streets, its homes and storefronts, with these details grounding the story as Jaime-Becerra builds to Omar’s emotional devastation. It can be read in its entirety in Issue 102.

Michael Jaime-Becerra currently teaches creative writing at University of California, Riverside. His story collection, Every Night Is Ladies’ Night, was named one of the best of the year by The Washington Post and the San Francisco Chronicle. It was awarded a California Book Award, the Silver Medal for a First Work of Fiction. He spoke to Managing Editor Oscar Villalon about “Omar, March 1987” and his use of distinct sensory details.

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The Wedding Visitor

by Elizabeth Spencer

June 8, 2021

Posted on June 8, 2021 (June 8, 2021) by Zack Ravas

It seemed a good thing to do and because he hadn’t come there in so long, he went slowly. Approaching the house from the road before it spiraled up the drive, he sat for a while and gave it a long look. Like many Southern houses, the original structure was almost lost among the many

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The Almeda Fire: Rogue Valley, Oregon

by Octavio Solis

May 30, 2021

Posted on May 30, 2021 (May 30, 2021) by Zack Ravas

Driving down Pioneer Road to Colver Road in Phoenix, Oregon (12/18/20). Credit: Otavio Solis As the weather report had promised, the morning was clear and blustery, the aspens outside clicking their leaves like maracas. I slurped the dregs of milk from my bowl of cereal, stepped outside to head to my studio, winked into the

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Shop Talk: Kate Reed Petty

by ZYZZYVA

May 11, 2021

Posted on May 11, 2021 (May 11, 2021) by ZYZZYVA

Kate Reed Petty’s story “Mr. Pink,” about a disgraced screenwriter’s attempt to manage the online response to his public scandal, is featured in Issue 120. With its focus on social media platforms like Twitter and the way we use film to help interpret our experiences, “Mr. Pink” was perfectly suited for inclusion in The Technology Issue.

Kate Reed Petty’s first novel, True Story, was published by Viking in 2020. Her fiction has appeared in Electric Literature, American Short Fiction, and elsewhere. She spoke to Editorial Assistant Zack Ravas about “Mr. Pink” and the themes prevalent in her work.

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In the Black, With Jessica

by Christian Kiefer

April 20, 2021

Posted on April 20, 2021 (April 19, 2021) by Zack Ravas

The sound of a car gearing up the ashen road. Chuck thought at first that it had to be someone from Cal Fire or another crew but then the radio crackled and Bob told him it was a civilian. “Copy,” he said, and then, after releasing the button: “Fuck.” No part of him that was

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Paragraphs on Ice: Episode 2

by ZYZZYVA

April 13, 2021

Posted on April 13, 2021 (April 15, 2021) by ZYZZYVA

Paragraphs on Ice: Andrew Sean Greer & Daniel Handler

How do certain sentences work on us as readers? What can we say about the beauty found in select pieces of prose? Daniel Handler and Andrew Sean Greer—best-selling authors and friends—take you along with them as they delightfully explore their favorite passages of writing in their video series for ZYZZYVA Studio.

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Three Windows Onto Rome

by Kirstin Valdez Quade

April 6, 2021

Posted on April 6, 2021 (April 5, 2021) by Zack Ravas

Santi Quattro Coronoti On the right wall of the basilica is a fragment of a fresco of San Bartolomeo. He’s a bearded old man, mouth obscured by damage, his eyes suspicious. His own wrinkled pelt is thrown over his shoulder like a traveling cloak. No longer the cheerful dandy, dressed in white with swinging purple

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A Curse on Chavez Ravine

by Lou Mathews

March 23, 2021

Posted on March 23, 2021 (March 22, 2021) by Zack Ravas

I’m reading in the newspaper today and I see that Peter O’Malley wants to build a new football stadium, next to Dodger Stadium. Some of the neighbors are upset. ¡Que surprise! Some of them have been upset since the first O’Malley built the first stadium. That one was Walter. A big, smart, mean Irishman from

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Ramiro

by Patricia Engel

March 16, 2021

Posted on March 16, 2021 (March 15, 2021) by Zack Ravas

Ramiro will tell you himself he was just another slum kid from El Cartucho. He lived in a one-room apartment with his mother and another family of seven who let them take up a corner. They’d come from Pereira with Ramiro’s father when Ramiro was just beginning to walk, but his father got stabbed beneath

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Locking Down with the Family You’ve Just Eviscerated in a Novel

by Julian Tepper

March 9, 2021

Posted on March 9, 2021 (March 8, 2021) by Zack Ravas

On March 13, 2020, I was in Los Angeles, having flown there from New York for the launch of my latest novel. The event would take place at Book Soup on Sunset Boulevard, and we—my father, four brothers and stepmother, all locals, as well as my mother and son, who had come out west for

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