Hello again!

Here's another weekly update from Necessary Fiction.

Our featured fiction on Wednesday was "Barnum" by Colton Huelle. You can't go wrong when a story begins, "I was standing outside the Mall of New Hampshire, waiting for the 8 bus…"

And earlier in the week we shared Rosalia Scalia's review of Scenic Overlook, a novel-in-stories by Anne Ray published by Awst Press. I believe this is the third review Rosalia has written for us — she also wrote about Snakes of St. Augustine by Ginger Pinholster, and Hope for the Worst by Kate Brandt.

I spent some time in our site archives recently fixing errors on past book reviews caused when we moved from one publishing platform to another, and it was so nice to see the names of reviewers repeatedly as well as to see the names of some of our previous reviewers who have gone on to write for bigger venues. I've been wrangling Necessary Fiction since April 2009 and it's always a humbling honor to consider all the writers who have trusted us with their work — reviews, stories, and more. Perhaps this newsletter could be a good way to highlight some of those earlier pieces.

I've also spotted some upcoming books by past contributors to be published in the days ahead:

On January 26, Thirty West will publish Tender Hoof, a story collection by Nicole Rivas. Then on January 30, Brandi Wells' novel The Cleaner will be published by Hanover Square Press.

If you're a past contributor with news to share, please get in touch to let me know — I can only include the news I know about!

Thanks for reading,

Steve Himmer