The Chamber Four Fiction Anthology [Anthology]

312 Pages·2016·0.79 MB·English

The Chamber Four
Fiction Anthology
Outstanding Stories from the Web 2009/2010
Edited by Michael Beeman, Sean Clark, Eric Markowsky,
Marcos Velasquez, and Nico Vreeland
Cover designed and illustrated by Mike Annear
Published by Chamber Four LLC
Cambridge, MA
2010
visit chamberfour.com/anthology
for links to the magazines these stories appear in,
interviews with authors,
and more
Published by Chamber Four LLC, 2010
Direct inquiries to:
[email protected]
The Chamber Four Fiction Anthology. “Introduction,”
copyright © 2010 by Chamber Four.
“Liz Phair and the Most Perfect Sentence,” by Andrea
Uptmor. First published in Hot Metal Bridge, Spring 2010.
Copyright © 2010 by Andrea Uptmor. Republished by per-
mission of the author.
“Eupcaccia,” by Angie Lee. First published in Witness,
Volume XXIII, 2010. Copyright © 2010 by Angie Lee. Re-
published by permission of the author.
“Watchers,” by Scott Cheshire. First published in AGNI,
2009. Copyright © 2009 by Scott Cheshire. Republished by
permission of the author.
“How to Assemble a Portal to Another World,” by Alanna
Peterson. First published in failbetter.com, Issue 33, 2009.
Copyright © 2009 by Alanna Peterson. Republished by per-
mission of the author.
“Seven Little Stories About Sex,” by Eric Freeze. First
published in Boston Review, March/April 2010. Copyright ©
2010 by Eric Freeze. Republished by permission of the au-
thor.
“Men Alone,” by Steve Almond. First published in
Drunken Boat, #11, 2010. Copyright © 2010 by Steve Al-
mond. Republished by permission of the author.
“For the Sake of the Children,” by Sarah Salway. First
published in Night Train, Issue 9.1, 2009. Copyright © 2009
by Sarah Salway. Republished by permission of the author.
“Semolinian Equinox,” by Svetlana Lavochkina. First
published in Eclectica Magazine, Jan/Feb 2009. Copyright
© 2009 by Svetlana Lavochkina. Republished by permission
of the author.
“The Girl In The Glass,” by Valerie O'Riordan. First pub-
lished in PANK, Issue 4.08, August 2009. Copyright © 2009
by Valerie O’Riordan. Republished by permission of the au-
thor.
“Peacocks,” by L.E. Miller. First published in Ascent,
March 2010. Copyright © 2010 by L.E. Miller. Republished
by permission of the author.
“The Naturalists,” by B.J. Hollars. First published in sto-
rySouth, Issue 29, Spring 2010. Copyright © 2010 by B.J.
Hollars. Republished by permission of the author.
“The Affliction,” by C. Dale Young. First published in
Guernica, February 2010. Copyright © 2010 by C. Dale
Young. Republished by permission of the author.
“Bad Cheetah,” by Andy Henion. First published in
Word Riot, April 2010. Copyright © 2010 by Andy Henion.
Republished by permission of the author.
“Nothings,” by Aaron Block. First published in Alice Blue
Review, Issue 11, 2010. Copyright © 2010 by Aaron Block.
Republished by permission of the author.
“Dragon,” by Steve Frederick. First published in Night
Train, Issue 10.1, 2010. Copyright © 2010 by Steve Freder-
ick. Republished by permission of the author.
“On Castles,” by Trevor J. Houser. First published in Sto-
ryQuarterly, November 2009. Copyright © 2009 by Trevor
J. Houser. Republished by permission of the author.
“Black Night Ranch,” by Roy Giles. First published in
Eclectica Magazine, April/May 2010. Copyright © 2010 by
Roy Giles. Republished by permission of the author.
“The Eskimo Keeps Her Promise,” by Emily Ruskovich.
First published in Inkwell, Spring 2009. Copyright © 2009
by Emily Ruskovich. Republished by permission of the au-
thor.
“Helping Hands,” by David Peak. First published in
PANK, Issue 4.10, October 2009. Copyright © 2009 by
David Peak. Republished by permission of the author.
“The Next Thing on Benefit,” by Castle Freeman, Jr. First
published in The New England Review, Volume 31, Number
1, 2010. Copyright © 2010 by Castle Freeman, Jr. Repub-
lished by permission of the author.
“The Night Dentist,” by Ron MacLean. First published in
DrunkenBoat, #11, 2010. Copyright © 2010 by Ron
MacLean. Republished by permission of the author.
“Pool,” by Corey Campbell. First published in
Anderbo.com, 2008. Copyright © 2008 by Corey Campbell.
Republished by permission of the author.
“Everything is Breakable with a Big Enough Stone,” by
Taryn Bowe. First published in Boston Review,
January/February 2010. Copyright © 2010 by Taryn Bowe.
Republished by permission of the author.
“The Abjection,” by Michael Mejia. First published in
AGNI, Issue 69, 2009. Copyright © 2009 by Michael Mejia.
Republished by permission of the author.
“American Subsidiary,” by William Pierce. First pub-
lished in Granta, Issue 106, 2009. Copyright © 2009 by
William Pierce. Republished by permission of the author.
All rights reserved by individual copyright holders. No
part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted without
prior written permission of the copyright owner. Chamber
Four LLC is not authorized to grant permission for further
uses of copyrighted selections republished in this ebook
without permission of their owners. Permission must be ob-
tained from the individual copyright owners as identified
herein.
Published as an ebook in the United States of America.
ChamberFour.com
ISBN 978-0-9829327-0-4
Table of Contents
_______________
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Liz Phair
and the Most Perfect Sentence . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
by Andrea Uptmor
from Hot Metal Bridge
Eupcaccia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
by Angie Lee
from Witness
Watchers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
by Scott Cheshire
from AGNI
How to Assemble
a Portal to Another World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
by Alanna Peterson
from failbetter.com
Seven Little Stories About Sex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
by Eric Freeze
from Boston Review
Men Alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
by Steve Almond
from Drunken Boat
For the Sake of the Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
by Sarah Salway
from Night Train
Semolinian Equinox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
by Svetlana Lavochkina
from Eclectica Magazine
The Girl In The Glass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
by Valerie O’Riordan
from PANK
Peacocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
by L.E. Miller
from Ascent
The Naturalists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
by B.J. Hollars
from storySouth
The Affliction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
by C. Dale Young
from Guernica
Bad Cheetah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
by Andy Henion
from Word Riot
Nothings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
by Aaron Block
from Alice Blue Review
Dragon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
by Steve Frederick
from Night Train
On Castles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
by Trevor J. Houser
from StoryQuarterly
Black Night Ranch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
by Roy Giles
from Eclectica Magazine
The Eskimo Keeps Her Promise . . . . . . . . . . . 213
by Emily Ruskovich
from Inkwell
Helping Hands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
by David Peak
from PANK
The Next Thing on Benefit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
by Castle Freeman, Jr.
from The New England Review
The Night Dentist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
by Ron MacLean
from Drunken Boat
Pool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
by Corey Campbell
from Anderbo.com
Everything is Breakable
with a Big Enough Stone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
by Taryn Bowe
from Boston Review
The Abjection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
by Michael Mejia
from AGNI