failbetter.com has their Winter 2011 issue up and available. You can read fiction from Caren Beilin, Jimmy Chen, and Alexandra Chasin. Also featured: a story called “The Snowstorm as Romantic Accumulation,” written by Ryan Call and Christy Call, a brother and sister. The piece is an excerpt from their ongoing field guide to North American weather. I’m always intrigued by collaborations – especially in something as personal and finicky as fiction. The Calls’ approach to the story has several elements that draw me in: elemental musing, family, a dash of mystery. Their story begins:
A snowstorm consists of an almost infinite number of memories crystallized in the below-freezing environment of the upper atmosphere where an abundance of moisture is present. At the core of every ice crystal is a nucleus of familial history, whether shared or individual, upon which moisture condenses and freezes into a cold, hard, impenetrable shell.
The issue also features interviews with Jane Smiley and Ben Greenman. Happy reading!
