“Hush Arbor” is in fron//tera

The copy of fron//tera containing my story “Hush Arbor” arrived yesterday. It’s a lovely edition containing stories and poems in both English and Spanish as well as color photos, artwork, and even graphic stories. One of the stories (not by me) is even set not very far from my home in the the Kansas City suburbs.

“Hush Arbor” is a story with two characters from my One-Match Fire universe. It may even have a supernatural element. I’m sorry there’s no online edition I can link you to.

“Hush Arbor” approaches

Over the weekend I received an email with the proof pages for my story “Hush Arbor.” It will be published in the bilingual journal fron//tera in July. I don’t often get to review the proofs for my stories, though this did happen with my very first piece all those long years ago, and I think I may have expected this process to be the norm. In any case, I read my story closely (and the table of contents, my bio, and the journal’s cover) and found no errors. I was also able to review the proof of the entire issue via Google Drive. I learned that I was mistaken in my understanding of how the journal works. I had though that my story was to be translated and appear in both English and Spanish, but that’s not the case. Rather, there will be stories and poems in English alongside others that will be in Spanish. Just as well since I don’t know how I would have proofed my story in a different language.

“Hush Arbor” features one of the characters from my One-Match Fire universe and another character who comes along after that novel has ended. Of course the cabin and the woods feature in it too. But I’ve added a new twist in this story by introducing the suggestion of something supernatural. Is it “real” or is it part of a child’s imagination? (I make a similar suggestion of the supernatural in my story “Magic for Beantown,” which may or may not have a leprechaun in it.)

Also featured in “Hush Arbor” are marbles in the gravel around the cabin.

fron//tera is expected to appear in July, and it’s a print-only edition, so I won’t be able to share the story with you. I’ve written about it on the humble blog here and here.

“Hush Arbor” revisited

Last summer I had submitted my story “Hush Arbor” to a print journal named fron//tera, and it was accepted for publication. The forecasted publication date was for October of 2020, but we all know what 2020 was like. That date came and went, but the journal did not. I had researched it online, and they had a few good-looking issues listed, but they did not respond to my emails. Worse, Duotrope, that great listing of journals and publishers, had dropped fron//tera‘s listing altogether.

But yesterday I received an email from the publishers saying that while the issue was delayed, it was still going to happen, likely in the spring of this year. They even sent a mock up of the cover, which looks nice. (Though my efforts to post a copy of it here are mysteriously unsuccessful.)

fron//tera is bilingual, English and Spanish. (It’s published out of Madrid and Portland.) As far as I can recall, I’ve never had one of my stories translated to another language.

“Hush Arbor” is part of my One-Match Fire universe, though it is not part of that novel.