The Undercurrent: Reviews, Craft Advice, Perspective

The Sounding Board

The Gift

Erin Winseman -
For my first birthday with you, you gift me The Prophet by Khalil Gibran. You know I’m a poet and have been reading each...

Craft & Career

Notes From a Veteran Querier

Deborah Norkin -
If you’ve written a book and want to publish through a traditional publisher, you’ll need a literary agent and to get one, you’ll need...

Reviews

Some Girls Have All the Luck, Some Girls Have All the Pain

Anna Mantzaris -
The week I read Emily May’s essay collection Some Girls, I visit the Wayne Thiebaud exhibit “Art Comes From Art” at the Legion of...

Zest!

Tupperware

Mariam Vahradyan -
There are three houses. One, two, three. All next to each other in one straight line. A mini neighborhood just for us, just for...

In Sickness and In Health

The Art of Letting Go

Rosie Sultan -
I followed our moving van over Boston's Tobin Bridge from Gloucester, Massachusetts. I was newly divorced; my four-year-old boy was belted into his car...

Generations

Dinner Party

Daphne Biener -
“Dinner at 7?” Kristin texts and out of habit I find the thumbs-up emoji and hit send. But then it’s 6:50 and Acadia calls...

Essay & Memoir

Without a Trace: A Life with Oil

Cathy Schen -
1. My father was an oil man whose career coincided with the rise of oil and the beginning of its decline. I grew up in...

When Another Brick Clicks Into Place

Quintin Collins -

My First Breath of America

Dr. Jamal Ali Hussein -

Slick

Emma Weiss -

Some Girls Have All the Luck, Some Girls Have All the Pain

Anna Mantzaris -

Fiction

Serena and Judy Go Bowling

Eugene Stein -
I. Judy had broken up with her girlfriend and Serena had agreed to go drinking with her, to commiserate. Judy envisioned a tearful, sloppy bender...

Mărțișor

Carrie Messenger -

The Essentials

Anita Harag -

Happy Friday

Abhijith Ravinutala -

Night Flight to L.A.

Kent Shell -

Poetry

Animation

Beth Williams -
Mornings, I wring out my dreams, hang them on the clothesline to dry. When no one is watching, I suck what’s gathered from the bottom edge. Oh, the taste...

Midnight Run by the River Lune @ 21

Susan Rich -

In Our Image

Lenora Steele -

Early Onset Dementia

Lana Ayers -

Death of a Heifer

Seth Kleinschmidt -
Pangyrus 12 cover
ON SALE NOW

Advice

Advice

Notes From a Veteran Querier

Deborah Norkin -
If you’ve written a book and want to publish through a traditional publisher, you’ll need a literary agent and to get one, you’ll need...

Further Reading