A Look Back at Carve's Disaster-Themed Stories

To help tide you over until the release of Carve’s natural disaster-themed spring issue on March 15, we’ve compiled a selection of similarly-themed offerings from the Carve archives. These following stories give us a glimpse, from a safe vantage point, of literal and symbolic hurricanes, hailstorms, or volcanic eruptions that wreak havoc on the lives of their main characters. Be prepared to be upturned and shaken up by these tales of turmoil:

“Hurricane Emily” by Subhadra Eberly

A single woman, our narrator, is forced to weather the storms of her mentally unstable best friend, Emily, whom she likens to a hurricane, one that doesn’t look like it will blow over anytime soon. Subhadra Eberly’s story from the summer 2012 issue is on the one hand about the inherent selfishness of storms:  They never take into account the damage they leave in their wake. But it is also, rather intriguingly, about those who face storms head-on, despite all signs of danger. “You know I could never leave her, even if I had to,” Emily’s boyfriend at one point says. Will the narrator herself continue to put herself in harm’s way with another storm on the horizon? Find out her fate by reading “Hurricane Emily.”

“Weather Girls” by Marylou Fusco

Teenager Christine is made of hardy stuff, a survivalist in the making. She’s intrigued by natural disasters, in particular because of the resulting “bond that survivors of disasters share, something that brands the skin and extends into forever.” When her classmate Meredith enters the picture, by way of a fortuitous hailstorm, Christine’s attraction to disasters takes on a different dimension. This story from the spring 2009 issue beautifully recounts a girl’s budding awareness of her sexuality, fittingly equating the call of sexual attraction to the arrival of a natural disaster as it upends one’s life (in potentially a good way). Read “Weather Girls.”

“The Last Hours of Pompeii” by Marc Nieson

A touching piece about a man coming to terms with a disaster from his past he was unable to avert—his divorce. Newly “invested in the past” because of the divorce, he uncovers his shortcomings as a husband and father. His regret is amplified by his daughter’s recent precocious interest in disaster documentaries, the latest one about the volcanic eruption that had destroyed the ancient city of Pompeii. As father and daughter watch the unburied corpses preserved by pyroclastic flow, he hangs on to the hope that there is a distinction between “what is extinct and what might still only be dormant.” But he fears his own life may be doomed to the same fate as those of Pompeii. Read “The Last Hours of Pompeii,” the winner of the fall 2008 Carver contest.

You can get three more catastrophe-laced stories later this week when we premiere our spring 2013 issue, featuring the winners of our 2013 disaster-themed Esoteric contest. Order the Premium Edition and you’ll get an additional two — the outstanding honorable mentions.

Carve's 2012 Pushcart Prize Nominations

It’s that time of year again, when we send off our nominations for the esteemed Pushcart Prize, edited by Bill Henderson. The deadline is December 1, but the long wait to hear back doesn’t end until about April or May, when notifications typically go out.

The cover of the 2013 Pushcart Prize.Editors are allowed to nominate up to six stories from the current year’s published pieces, and every year it’s a difficult decision. This year we settled on five stories to send. Our nominations are:

• The Odyssey, by Jia Tolentino

• The Eternal Youth of Everyone Else, by Adrienne Celt

• Carnival, by Scott Atkinson

• Hurricane Emily, by Subhadra Eberly

• Angels, by Jennifer Pashley

We hope these stories get the recognition we feel they deserve, and we look forward to reading the next edition of the Pushcart Prize!

A Carnival of Magic, Mystery and Loss: Our Summer 2012 Issue Is Here

Photography by Alesandra ToninelloToday we publish our summer 2012 issue, featuring 3 new short stories and a beautiful new cover by Italian photographer Alessandra Toninello. The featured stories are:

• “Carnival” by Scott Atkinson

• “The Eternal Youth of Everyone Else” by Adrienne Celt

• “Hurricane Emily” by Subhadra Eberly

The three stories are loosely connected by a carnival-esque feel of magic, mystery, and loss. We didn’t plan to have a “themed” issue, and I hesitate to even call it that. But after selecting “Carnival” in March and then the cover the following month, the other two stories seemed to fall into place and join the theme.

“Carnival” is a short piece, opening with a man alone at a carnival who attempts to help a young girl win a goldfish prize. We can’t help but watch their interactions uneasily; after all, this man hasn’t exactly made clear his intentions. But as the story unfolds, there are subtle hints that reveal more about the man’s past, and we begin to understand the loss he’s endured and the mystery that haunts him. Atkinson writes in a beautiful minimalist style that still manages to pack an emotional wallop. This is his first fiction publication.

In “The Eternal Youth of Everyone Else” we meet Bendida, a nine-year-old girl who has somehow, magically, never aged. We also meet Jessie, her cousin-like companion that continues to harbor a deep love, compassion, and fascination for Bendida even as she herself grows older. This is a longer but intricately woven piece that explores questions to which there are no easy answers—is the idea of eternal youth as glamorous as it seems? How does one actually live if one never ages? The chilling and visceral ending will leave you wanting more. Celt has crafted a tantalizing work of magic.

Our final story, “Hurricane Emily,” spins us through a flurry of vignettes and emotions as told by the best friend of Emily. The gal pals for life have grown up, and Emily is married—but that’s not the problem. What’s rifting the two apart is Emily’s struggle with a myriad of clinically-diagnosed personality disorders. Her best friend is trying to help as much as she can, but the episodes are taking a toll on her too. Eberly’s story is in a minimalist style that’s a nod to early Amy Hempel stories, including “In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried.” But this is truly Eberly’s work, darker, frenetic, and painfully honest. (There’s also no denying this story would’ve made a great entry in the 2013 Esoteric Awards, but we hadn’t announced the Natural Disaster theme before Eberly submitted the piece.)

Lastly, we feature our beautiful cover from Alessandra Toninello which ties our stories together in a fitting way. The merry-go-round of horses brings to mind “Carnival.” The sea-green hair of the girl holding the carousel echoes the namesake of “Hurricane Emily.” And while the girl seems to be a child, at closer glance we can see a tattoo on the inside of her arm, reminding us that appearances can be deceiving, as they are in “The Eternal Youth of Everyone Else.”

And did you notice that there are only three horses, just as there are three stories? A small detail, perhaps, but fitting all the same. It’s rare that an issue’s stories and photo come together in such a synchronous way. I can’t help but feel a bit of magic pulled this issue together too.

Each story in our summer 2012 issue is free to read, comment, and share. We hope you enjoy.