N C L R ONLINE
Submit, Subscribe, Support: Keys to a Thriving NCLR
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north carolina miscellany
Margaret D. Bauer, Editor Each year, NCLR receives numerous books for review consideration. When we send books out to potential reviewers, we share this criteria for determining if a book should be reviewed: is it worth your time and our space? Much more often than not this year, the answer we received from reviewers was yes, and some of these books’ authors are new to us; or the reviewer chose writers both new and familiar. Such reviews are here in the North Carolina Miscellany section, where we reserve space for material that either does not fit the current special feature topic or that introduces a new writer (even if only new to our pages). Read, for example, John Hoppenthaler’s review of three new poetry collections from LSU Press, a press consistently reliable about publishing high-quality poetry (and it comes as no surprise to us that often those books are by North Carolina poets). In this section too, we include a third story that received honorable mention in the 2012 Doris Betts Fiction Prize competition, Kathryn Etters Lovatt’s provocative story set in a sleep clinic. As we prepare to launch this issue of NCLR Online, the deadline is pending for the 2013 competition – with our new, more user-friendly, online submission manager, Submittable, which has allowed us to simplify our submissions process, as well as provides writers the opportunity to subscribe to NCLR when they submit, enabling writers to support a publication in which they would like to see their work published. Remember that Betts submission fees are lower for NCLR subscribers, and the submission fee for NCLR’s James Applewhite Poetry Prize competition is waived for subscribers. As in years past, another option for subscribing to NCLR is to join the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association and receive both NCLR and the North Carolina Historical Review. NCLR solicits readers to also become a Friend – on Facebook, yes, but more important, through making a monetary donation to our account with the ECU Foundation. During these challenging fiscal times, such donations are particularly welcome and vital. Finally, I would like to use this space to express my appreciation to Our State magazine for David Hall’s story about NCLR in December 2012. Since that issue’s release, we have received about two dozen new subscribers and another dozen orders for NCLR 2012, echoing my experience at literary events: when people find out about NCLR, they want to participate in our efforts to preserve the state’s rich literary tradition. The NCLR staff is devoted to this mission – but our resources (time and money) are limited. Your subscription and tax-deductible contribution would help us to add a marketing component that will help us to spread the word about what we do. So please, let us hear from you! n
112 “Have you found out how to be anything but young?” Catherine Carter, The Swamp Monster at Home Claudia Emerson, Secure the Shadow Katherine Soniat, The Swing Girl a review by John Hoppenthaler 116 An “incorrigible flirt” and an “underground mission” Julie Suk, Lie Down with Me a review by Catherine Carter 117 2012 Roanoke-Chowan Poetry Award 118 Means of Survival Kathryn Kirkpatrick, Unaccountable Weather Leslie Williams, Success of the Seed Plants a review by Susan Laughter Meyers
120 “O, multi-colored, multiform” Mike Smith, Multiverse a review by Leah Miranda Hughes 122 Gloss and Glossolia: Poets of Wit and Transformation Michael McFee, That Was Oasis Daniel Nathan Terry, Waxwings a review by Jake Adam York 126 A Giant in the Making: New Fiction from Susan Woodring Susan Woodring, Goliath a review by Tanya Long Bennett 129 Josephine Humphreys Receives 2012 Thomas Wolfe Prize 130 The Business of Dreaming a story by Kathryn Etters Lovatt art by George Scott
also IN THIS ISSUE 4 n North Carolina: A Changing State, A State of Change poetry, fiction, essays, and an interview 46 n Flashbacks: Echoes of Past Issues poetry, fiction, nonfiction, book reviews, literary news, and an interview