By Lookout Staff

October 13, 2022 -- Childhood memories and their lasting emotions imbue the stories published in the fall 2022 issue of Santa Monica College's (SMC) literary review.

The issue -- which celebrates Santa Monica Review's 34th year -- features ten original stories anchored by "masterful fictions with long timelines and long memories," according to the magazine's editor.

A launch party for the issue featuring author readings will be held from 5 to 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 30, in The Edye at the SMC Performing Arts Center at the corner of 11th Street and Santa Monica Boulevard.

“There’s a lot of sobering telling of childhood experiences, of loss and disappointment, but always with insight, however difficult,” Review editor Andrew Tonkovich, who will emcee the event, said if the stories.

"It’s heavy on what one contributor’s story identifies as ‘collective trauma,’" Tonkovich said. “This issue is rich in big ideas, dramatic moments, and brave writing.”

One of the stories explores "the commodification of knowledge in a reliably dystopic corporate future," another "charts the distribution of emotional justice by a self-aware teenage girl."

Cover art by Janice Shapiro (Courtesy Santa Monica College review)

Yet another "reconstructs and reconsiders the varieties of accountability and betrayal to which kids are subject vis a vis slasher movie culture and confused adults." The stories feature social satire and comic tales, as well as "an all too real, moving, and loving journey of unlikely discovery" spurred by an absent father's death. Anchoring the volume are longer works by Gregory Spatz ("What Could Be Saved") and James Morrison ("Said and Done"). "Spatz tells the story of a one-time teenage Kabbalistic seer trying as adult graduate student to reconcile the mystical, the virtual, and the language used to apprehend history and love," according to promotion for the issue.

Morrison "shares a brilliantly honest fictional decades-long autobiography of an alternative news weekly arts critic who witnesses, then laments, the corporate takeover of his magazine."

The tale has "a revenge-story twist and sardonic, witty, politically sharp observation throughout," according to the promotion.

The celebration features a welcome by Leland Cheuk ("No Good Very Bad Asian") and readings by Josh Emmons ("A Moral Tale"), James Morrison ("Said and Done"), Yxta Maya Murray ("Art Is Everything") and SMR founder Jim Krusoe ("The Sleep Garden").

The publication costs $7 per issue or $12 for the two issues each year.

Tickets for the launch party cost $10 and are available through Brownpapertickets.com. Refreshments will be served, and books will be available for purchase and author signing.

Abundant free parking available on premises. Seating is on a first-arrival basis.

The only nationally distributed literary magazine published by a U.S. community college, the bi-annual Review showcases the work of established authors and emerging writers with a focus on narratives of the West Coast.

More information is available at the Santa Monica Review website or by calling 949-235-8193. All events are subject to change or cancellation without notice.