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Issue 1 of Orchid: A Literary Review is no longer for sale. The premier issue of the journal contained sixteen short stories, two novel excerpts, two poems and two interviews.
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FICTION
(Title, Author, and first sentence of story)
“Once the Dogs Are Sleeping” by Jonis Agee—Soon as I get my life out of Public Storage,” he said as the deputy took him to the front door.
“The God of Gestures” by Jonis Agee—Somewhere in the middle of my last marriage I stopped believing in psychology.
“As Long As It’s Healthy” by Michelle Brooks—The night that Melody and Mark see a middle-aged Mexican prostitute smoke a cigarette with her vagina in front of a bunch of drunk frat boys from Texas Tech, Melody asks Mark to marry her.
“Deciding What To Keep” by Garnett Kilberg Cohen—All your life, you hear the saying: you can’t take it with you.
“1.” by Stephen Dixon—He said “HI, how are you, I’ve seen you so many times on the block, at Fairway, I’m always running in to you, so I thought I’d say hello,” and stuck out his hand and gave his name: Lewis. Guy seemed nice, nice smile, not a crunchy or flabby handshake, nice appearance, intelligent face, maybe
“The Girl Who Almost Died” by Pamela Johnston (novel excerpt from ”Bachlorette City”)—Tom was tall and thin and not particularly handsome, but that didn’t matter—I was short, not petite, with plain brown hair and light blue eyes.
“Bull Session” by Nathan Leslie—We’re sitting on a ledge overlooking the county dump.
“The Professor In Question” by E. J. Levy—He is a man of considerable position and imposing charm, with Old World manners and New World smarts, his lexicon borrowed equally from Latin and street slang, one of a breed of mid-century men made men by war as the nation was made an empire, literary men of a certain generation, though they do not think themselves such, as party to a ideology or an age; they think themselves fortune’s favored, lucky, at least he does, the professor in question, who hopes on the whole his luck will hold.
“Roof of the World” by Guo Liang—Lin Chuan got a call at work from Wu Mei, the first call from her since he fled Beijing three years ago.
“Supermarket” by Corey Mesler—Robert Caldwell was a man like a lot of us, who did not enjoy random human encounters, who, indeed, avoided them at all costs.
“Doctor Golf” by Daniel Mueller (novel excerpt from ”Par”)—On Christmas Eve day, Phelps charges seven sets of Calloway X-14 irons and seven sets of Arrowtech titanium-plated woods and hands the boy behind the register the keys to his BMW.
“The Immolation” by Viet Nguyen—The day after the funeral, Loc and I rode our ten-speeds toward the reservoir, each of us steering with one hand and swinging baseball bats with the other.
“Souvenirs” by Tanja Pajevic—"Fuck your dead mother in the grave!"
“How To Be A Player” by Alison Umminger—Start from an in-between position, a position of hurt.
“Odds and Ends” by Debbie Lee Wesselmann—In the morning, he likes whole wheat toast, a teaspoon of blackberry jelly on each slice.
“Main Event” by Gary D. Wilson—I hadn’t been out to visit him in a couple of months and was just beginning to think I should go when Emma, the woman the family had hired to take care of him, called and told me he’d been asking about me and wanting to know where the hell I was.
“The Temperature of Desire” by Monica Wood—On the afternoon in question, we had been on strike for nine months and counting.
“Street Music” by Stanley N. Wright—Ringmasta Busta Rymes—known to most as B-Ryme—has a heart full of music, a head full of verse, and a belly full of nothing.
POEMS
“A Transplanted Banana Tree” by Virgil Suarez
“Township” by Darcie Dennigan
INTERVIEWS
Interviews of Janet Burroway and Alyce Miller by Keith Hood
“If a one-paragraph or one-page piece is effective in whatever it does, bravo.”—Janet Burroway
“Not having books is sort of like not owning a refrigerator or a bathtub or not having a front door.”—Alyce Miller
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