Issue 61

A painting of a woman in a dress
Cover Art by Evelyn Tan

As we close out 2022, Vestal Review is trying to see some light at the end. This issue has fifteen illuminating stories and an author interview:

§       a hare along for the ride
Æ’       an oddly happy terminal patient
¤       three women who traffic in flesh
†       two brothers in front of one screen
â—       what happens in the ER
‡       video gaming that camouflages a lot of things
‚        something caught in the hedge
☜      unsuspected progeny
☒      a dancing dog who gets all the attention
⌂       inhabiting a former church
☎     the young taking care of the old
✎     what a husband recalls of his wife
✒     grandfather and grandchild alone in a boat
✹      making it easy or hard
≠     a confession that comes out of nowhere
âž³     Q&A with Melissa Llanes Brownlee

As always, we’re grateful to our writers, our submitters, our readers, and our staff, a hugely diverse bunch and, as in all magazines, a set of circles with some overlap. We hope everyone enjoys the issue, and we’ll see you again in 2023.

David Galef
Editor in Chief
Vestal Review

Table of Contents

Stories

Hedge Porn by James Roderick Burns

Reunion Tower by Alvaro de Araujo

I’m Not Confessing Anything by Tommy Dean

Schooling by Claire Griffiths

This Used to Be a Church by Blair Hurley

Stars and Algae by Lori Kilpatrick

Butchering Women by Skyler Melnick

It Could Be Easy or Tough by Shrutidhora P Mohor

The Emergency by Frances Ogamba

The Park by Marlene Olin

Arena Mode by Maria S. Picone

Flash in the Pan by Niles Reddick

Pretty Doe by Julia Ruth Smith

An Ending for Susan by Dylan Taylor

Last Time by Douglas A. Wright

Interviews

Melissa Llanes Brownlee, interviewed by Mandira Pattnaik

Vestal Review