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
ƒ an oddly happy terminal patient
¤ three women who traffic in flesh
† two brothers in front of one screen
● 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
➳ 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
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