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Portland Review – Fall/Winter 2006

Volume 53 Number 2

Fall/Winter 2006

Annual

Danielle LaVaque-Manty

This issue of Portland Review showcases “innovative fiction,” beginning with two pieces selected from the FC2 Writer’s Edge workshop for experimental writing that was held at Portland State University last year. There are hazards to publishing work selected from a pool as small as a workshop, which is not to say that these two stories aren’t interesting, but rather that other work that appears in the journal is better. Martha Clarkson’s “Water Filter,” for example, tells the story of a family that acquires gills (through surgery) and moves into the pool for a few months to get away from Dad.

This issue of Portland Review showcases “innovative fiction,” beginning with two pieces selected from the FC2 Writer’s Edge workshop for experimental writing that was held at Portland State University last year. There are hazards to publishing work selected from a pool as small as a workshop, which is not to say that these two stories aren’t interesting, but rather that other work that appears in the journal is better. Martha Clarkson’s “Water Filter,” for example, tells the story of a family that acquires gills (through surgery) and moves into the pool for a few months to get away from Dad. It’s a surreal but effective approach to describing a family’s dissolution. Also of note: Mark Wagenaar’s sestina, “How to Start a Cult (for Tom Cruise),” Eric Mohrman’s mournful “Reincarnation” (“your song is creeping / past the tombstones / again”), and Perry Glasser’s piece (I’m not sure if this one is fiction or nonfiction) called “Hey Joe—The Jimi Hendrix Experience: A Riff,” which outlines the history of the narrator’s relationship with his ex-wife. The issue also includes three black and white pieces of abstract art by Guy Beining. Portland Review could use a better proofreader—some missing author bios and a garbled sentence in the editor’s introduction were annoying slips. Nonetheless, this journal is recommended for those looking for something out of the ordinary.
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