Congruent Spaces Magazine Sample Pack 1

Congruent Spaces Magazine

Issue #1: signposts

Edited by Michael Camarata

Standard Edition

Copyright 2011, Michael Camarata

Cover Design Copyright 2011, Michael Camarata

Visit us online at http://www.congruentspaces.com

Congruent Spaces Magazine (ISSN 2163-7601), Volume1, Issue 1, Whole Number 1, November 2011. Published monthly, or as submissions allow, by Michael Camarata. Individual Issues $1.99, US. Subscription price 12 issues for $18.99, US. Query for availability of subscriptions at subscriptions@congruentspaces.com before sending payment. Subscriptions delivered by email. You may contact our offices by mail at Congruent Spaces Magazine, c/o Michael Camarata, Editor, PO Box 91, Talent OR, 97540-0091. Submissions are currently accepted online only. For our current guidelines, visit http://congruentspaces.com/home/submission/. For general inquiries, contact info@congruentspaces.com Our physical offices are located at 114 N. Madison St., Talent OR. No walk in traffic without appointment.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you.

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Contents

Cover

Title Page

Editor’s Note

Featured Poem:

The Tower by Valentina Cano

Short Stories and Poems:

It Came from the Sea by Barbara Fordham

Visiting Keith by Jim Brewer

Places by Jack Coey

Fate and Fortune by April Avalon

All That by Jack Coey

Facing West by A. G. Synclair

Contributors

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Editor’s Note

Welcome, my friends, to the first ever issue of Congruent Spaces Magazine!

Short-Short Fiction and Poetry have previously been two of the most under-represented formats within the publishing industry. Until now, the availability of Short-Short Fiction and Poetry has largely been hampered by the high costs of printing to a small selection of magazines that accept them (usually only one or two per issue) for publication. With the recent growth in electronic readership, brought about largely by the development of eReaders and reading apps by major book distributors, we now have the opportunity to bring Short-Short Fiction and Poetry back into publication in a major way through the electronic publishing format. It is because of this change in the publishing industry that I have entitled Issue #1 signposts. It is a sign marking the changes of the publishing industry.

As another sign marking the changes within the publishing industry, while the selection process for standard magazines has been made by a small editorial staff, I have chosen to make Congruent Spaces Magazine a community edited magazine. You are now allowed to take part in the editorial process by helping to select which short stories and poems will be published in our magazine through our star ratings process. This means that each issue of Congruent Spaces promises to be a unique experience. To read and rate our current submissions, please visit our website at http://www.congruentspaces.com.

Our visitors have spoken - and so, without further ado, here they are: the first selection of top rated submissions, as voted by our visitors. I am extremely thrilled to be able to bring them to you.

--Michael Camarata, Editor

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The Tower

by Valentina Cano

Rooms tumble in my mind,

pockets with cement walls

meant to hold things, people, in them.

I become small enough to fit,

trailing a tail of thoughts

I will wrap around myself,

a cocoon of gossamer words

that will keep you out.

The doors will close

one by one

in a breeze of sighing wood,

the windows will grow shutters

like wings, nestling me inside.

The rooms will hush and still

and I will bow my head,

hair wrapping me up,

darkness pouring in like coffee.

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It Came from the Sea

by Barbara Fordham

For Sarah Whitright, life could not get any better than this. It was the summer before her senior year, and she was at the beach. She was paddling out to meet the gigantic waves that the recent hurricane had left on the coastline of Florida’s Crescent beach. She was with her two best friends, Skip and Jacob, who were paddling out not too far from her. The waves were off the hook! The biggest she had seen them all year. Life was so good to her. Sarah sat atop her surfboard and let her long, tanned legs dangle in the water as she watched Skip catch a wave. As he stood up, he waved both of his bronzed, muscular arms up and shouted over to both her and Jacob. Sarah watched him in admiration. Skip was eighteen, a year older than Jacob and herself, and he was the best surfer in their small beachside community. She had known Skip her entire life. He was, for all intensive purposes, like the brother she always wanted. He had taught her how to surf when she was only 13, and it was a passion she never wanted to be without. Sarah watched as he finally dove off his board into the water. He came up laughing, he always does.

Sarah looked around for Jacob. Jacob Hale had been in her biology class last year, and he had recently moved to Florida from the Midwest. He was so different than most of the boys she had grown up with at school. He had dark hair cropped quite short. On the first day of school he had been dressed in a flannel shirt and dark jeans. He was skinny, pale and very unsure of himself. Sarah had playfully called him Farm boy, and the two became fast friends. Jacob was like a fish out of water before she took him under her wing. Sarah remembered the first time she had taken him to the beach. He was so awestruck by the sea, not having grown up next to it like everyone else she knew. Sarah had dutifully been giving him surfing lessons along with Skip, and the three of them had been out almost every morning this summer. Sarah waved at him and then began paddling to catch her own wave back to shore.

Seventeen-year old Jacob watched Sarah as she stood up and flew like a graceful bird on top of the water. He would never get over how easy Sarah and Skip made surfing look. His dad had moved them both down here last March from Kansas. It had been bittersweet. Jacob missed his friends, but living by the beach was, well, awesome.

Jacob had been sure when he first got to his new school he would never fit in. He was pale. Everybody here had a tan in March, when it was still snowing back in Kansas. That is when he met Sarah in his Biology class. Sarah was simply gorgeous, with her long wavy blonde hair and huge brown eyes. She was tall, tanned, and always smelled like coconuts. He had developed a fast crush on her. As a bonus, she liked him too. Not in that way, of course, but Jacob still hoped he would get the courage to tell her how he felt. After all, she liked him enough to hang out with him and give him surfing lessons. She had introduced him to Skip, who was, in Jacobs mind, like a Golden God of the beach. The first day Jacob had met up with them for his first surfing lesson, Skip had been standing next to his Jeep waxing his board. He had skin the bronze color of a movie star, rippling muscles, and long blonde hair. There had been a mischievous twinkle in his blue eyes. The kind of guy every girl wanted.

Jacob sighed, as he sat on his surfboard and watched Sarah get out of the water to join Skip. Jacob was still unsure if he should tell Sarah how he felt. She would probably laugh at him. He paddled furiously to catch an upcoming swell, and stood up for two seconds before wiping out into the salty sea.

Skip Brewer stood on the beach with Sarah as they watched Jacob fall into the water.

Wipeout! Skip yelled, Oh and here I thought he was doing so well! He stood laughing as they watched Jacob come out of the water and fight the surf to get back to shore.

Give him time! Sarah laughed too. Then she looked out at the crowds gathering on the beach. It looked like they would have company soon. We should head up the coast a bit. I heard the Jetty was a great place for waves this week

I got one better, said Skip, looking excited. Conch Point will be slamming. Nobody will be there. Nobody ever goes there. It’ll be rad!

Nobody goes there because it’s like totally raw! Sarah looked at Skip, Like, you have to walk through scrub just to get to the water!

Skip looked back at her. Look, nobody goes there, and that’s a good thing right? Everybody and their mother will be out here soon for these ‘cane waves. He pointed to the three cars that had pulled up, I hate it when people are dropping in on my surf!

Sarah frowned. Let Skip have his way. He preferred a private beach, where he could surf in peace. She couldn’t really blame him. It was hard out there when surfers competed for waves.

Well here comes Jake, let’s pack up and move out, She finally agreed. She loaded her board into the back of the car.

Jacob came