LitMag Wave: Redivider, Vol. 7 No. 1

I spent this evening with the latest issue of Redivider, a publication of Emerson College. There are several things about the issue that I like, but the highlight was "Wodwo," a short piece by Dan Chaon. It has a Twilight Zone feel to it: Kate is driving in the dark and hits a deer. She goes through all of the emotions one feels in that situation (I've been there), and then she gets out of the car to inspect the damage. Big mistake. Kate! Don't get out of the car! Actually, it isn't completely clear what happens, because the story has an appropriately open ending, but the title of the story might suggest the direction the author wants us to go. I had to look it up: Wodwo, the wild man of the woods. Or deer, in this case.

Two other stories in the issue were also interesting reads, but similar in subject matter: "The House on Whaler Bay" by Carolyn Watson and "Excavation" by Tom Barlow. They both involve older relatives living in squalor, the first a pair of elderly aunts who don't take care of themselves and the second a senile father who seems to have a hording disorder. And these were all the more interesting because twice in the last 24 hours E.L. Doctorow's book Homer and Langley came up in conversation, and that's also about a couple of horders.

Although it has nothing to do with this issue, in looking at the magazine's website I noticed their special online feature, the Contributor Focus, which includes extra information and interviews with some contributors, the first being with Kevin Wilson, whom the magazine calls "ruthlessly likeable"--I love that description of Kevin, and it's spot on. Nice interview by James Scott, also a nice guy.