This is our fourteenth newsletter, and we have much to share with you. Throughout the year we publish guest-edited issues online and also in print—as well as new and/or noteworthy pieces in our Asterisms section. This month check out two short stories by Yvette Benavides and Keya Mitra, poetry by Araceli Esparza, nonfiction essay by Olivia Walton, and a book review by Lorgia Garcia Pena
As many of you know Aster(ix) is a work of puro amor devoted to writers, artists, thinkers and activists committed to social change. It runs on crazy midnight-oil kind of energy and thrives on word-of-mouth. So thank you to all of you who tweet, instagram, and subscribe to our newsletter, who like our FB page and cite us in your work.
BOOK REVIEW: RITA INDIANA’S LA MUCAMA DE OMICUNLÉ | LORGIA GARCIA PENA
Though her work is always in dialogue with the current social and political concerns, La Mucama paints a clear yet scary picture of what will happen if we do not stop the path of dehumanization and violence.
THE ETERNAL PURSUIT OF THE WHALE’S SONG | KEYA MITRA
“Yes,” I said. “And it’s insane to pretend you have a relationship with him. Insane. Insane.”
MICROEDITORIAL: ARE WE IN TROUBLE? TURKEY SUMMER 2016 | OLIVIA WALTON
This was not a sound moving through the air but a force that shifts objects and will leave your ears half-deaf; after all, air is a physical thing too, and this thing rips it, tears it, shoves it around. Unsure now – bombs or pure sound?
THE CHOICES WE MAKE | ARACELI ESPARZA
Pero. I’m looking for small / pieces of my face in their faces. / Isn’t this where I belong?
POOR THINGS | YVETTE BENAVIDES
“Otro pobrecito, thought Rita, shaking her head. She decided she would worry most about him when the hawks returned.”
Image Credits: John Gallagher
