Good morning, everyone. I hope you've got some time for yourself this weekend and to do the things you want to be doing. My plan for the day is to mangle some mandolin tunes with a sleeping dog pressed against me, so if you're passing my house with a fiddle or banjo or accordion or anything musical, really, stop by. (And if you're wondering why this newsletter is arriving a bit later than usual, it's because the dog and I got started early this morning and lost track of time.)

Here's what we've got for you this week at Necessary Fiction:

Davis MacMillan returned to our pages, reviewing Audition by Pip Adam (Coffee House Press).

And Miriam Gershow discussed her novel Closer (Regal House Publishing) with Laura Hulthen Thomas. You might remember that Robert Long Foreman reviewed Closer for us back in July.

And this week's featured story was "Skin Rips" by Tamara Rogers, who we're pleased to publish for the first time.

Elsewhere, contributor John Cotter's story "Open Mic Night" was published by On The Seawall this week. This is the third and final story in a trilogy comprised of "The Gold Thread" at Joyland, "Poets of Fishers Drift" here at Necessary Fiction, and now "Open Mic Night."

And Ilana Masad, whose story "Climate Change" appeared in our pages last year, has a novel titled Beings forthcoming in a few days from Bloomsbury.

Thanks for reading,

Steve Himmer