There is a great amount of pressure in the current market for storytellers; though some writers would be forgiven in thinking there is no such thing as quality control. One need only look at the best seller lists form time to time and soon enough a trend will start to emerge. A trend that shows mediocrity or outright trash succeeding, and talent is pushed aside. Yet for all the “50 Shades of Grey” there the market is still teaming with young writers itching to publish. Competition has never been hotter and many publishers have no time to deal with writers who don’t have a grasp of storytelling basics. Fortunately magazine like The Boston Review exist to provide young writers a venerable study guide on those fundamental techniques.

Serving as a nonprofit press, The Boston Review is an online magazine that offers a massive collection of news, articles, poetry, and most importantly, short stories. In the end, it is the fiction that shines the brightest. For in the shadow of titanic publications and hot bestsellers The Boston Review gives young writers a chance to browse a collection of truly great fiction. One need only click on the short story tag and they would get a whole slew of contemporary literature, for absolutely nothing. For indeed it is the fiction that truly stands out amongst the vast collection of articles, poetry, and reviews. Multiple stories of different subject material and genre all with one common thing linking them together; they all come from some the best contemporary urban authors.

Better yet these are authors that take a different approach to storytelling. Writers like Kirk Nesset and Edmundo Paz Soldán whose story “Three Shorts” is proudly featured in the fiction section. Telling three standalone tales that all seem to share a common thematic effect, Nesset and Soldán are exactly the kind of innovative authors young writers should read. Individually the three stories “The Legend of Wei Li and the Emperor’s Palace”; “Nonexistent City”; and “Dictator and Cards” are fun enough tales about the loss of a simple life. Together though, they create an interweaving narrative about abstract thought and the very human desire to embrace it, for better or worse. “An officer told him the palace was everywhere, that the palace was the country. Your bare feet tread even now on one of the palace’s corridors, he told Wei Li; your hut’s in one of the palace’s gardens; the whole village, he said, is a piece of the palace. There’s no reason to go to the capitol to look for the palace because the palace is here.” At this point we see Wei Li of “The Legend of Wei Li and the Emperor’s Palace” embracing the abstract idea of the palace being everywhere. He changes his worldview and in doing so decides to obey his Emperor by staying home; his hut is part of the Emperor’s home after all. In the end however he’s beheaded and put on display for disobeying his Emperor’s command. What’s intriguing about this short is that it leaves it up to the reader to decide who is right and who is wrong. Did taking on a new philosophy truly help Wei Li in the end or did it make him more open minded, and if so is the Emperor the one that has a narrow view of the world. These kinds of questions lead in perfectly to Nonexistent City” and “Dictator and Cards” where the same abstract thoughts are brought to the readers attention only to then step back, and let the reader make sense of it all.

Nesset and Soldán is not the only author to use the human experience to full effect. He is but one of several authors found on just the very first page of the fiction section. Continuing on readers will be treated to James Pouilliard, a much more long winded writer to be sure, but one that captures that same essence of the human condition. His story titled “Deer,” is one of the most hauntingly real stories to found on the list. One that calls to mind Tobias Wolff’s classic “Hunters of the Snow.” Rather than reinventing the wheel Pouilliard takes a more traditional stance on storytelling, delivering a chilling narrative of love and loss. The main character of “Deer” is a jaded man, whom like Tub in “Hunters of the Snow” feels like he’s the object of everyone’s scorn. The world has heaped so much onto him and he has to fight his way through a mountain of problems just to accomplish his goal. A goal that is pretty simple, he just wants to be a good Dad after his wife passes. Here we have a story told through multiple lapses in time about a single dad trying his best to do things right. Soon enough though he loses his son Nathan to a surrogate grandfather who whisks him away to a life of excitement and hunting in the wilds. Tempers rage and soon enough the age old conflict between father and son rears its ugly head as no more words are spoken, and silence falls between them.

If “Three Shorts” proves you can tell separate stories and still have them all link up, then “Deer” proves that you can take influence from the old masters and still come out original. For young writers, learning these two lessons would be paramount to their success in this world of competition. What’s truly amazing is that these are just the first two stories on page one of six. This reviewer was attracted to them to be sure and he won’t dare give away spoilers about the others, but sufficed to say that these are not the only stories and this is certainly not the last issue.

In the end these are just two examples of stories found in the Review, two examples that attracted this critic’s eye. Young writers overall need to understand the market is ever changing, and online magazines are swiftly becoming the new standard medium for truly talented authors to escape the shackles of big budget publishing. In addition, the freedom of these sites offer new opportunities for writers to explore new forms of storytelling. It is for those qualities alone that should motivate young writers to read The Boston Review and absorb everything they can, either from reading countless short stories or reading up on what novels to check out. For what is education if not following an example, and there are many examples to follow in this magazine. One need only type in the URL.

© 2013 Jared "I.J" Steinberg. All Rights Reserved.

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