My newest story — and my newest character — appears courtesy of guest editor and incredible writer/essayist/novelist/activist Ryka Aoki and the beautiful, brave James Franco Review:
That You Were Meant For Great Things — Dream Big, Hope Bigger
Published by Stephanie Barbé Hammer
Stephanie Barbé Hammer is a magical realist prose fiction writer, novelist, occasional essayist, and a committed, intermittent poet, as well as a passionate instructor of writing. A 7-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize she has published work in Hayden's Ferry, Pearl, CRATE, Rhapsoidia, NYCBigCityLit, the East Jasmine Review, Apeiron, Inlandia, Literary Alchemy and the Bellevue Literary Review among other places. She is the author the fabulist novel THE PUPPET TURNERS OF NARROW INTERIOR (Urban Farmhouse Press), a novelette, RESCUE PLAN (Bamboo Dart Press), a prose poem chapbook collection, SEX WITH BUILDINGS (dancing girl press), and a poetry collection, HOW FORMAL (Spout Hill Press). Stephanie's new novel PRETEND PLUMBER is available for order from your favorite bookstore, and her poetry chapbook CITY SLICKER appeared in July 2022. Stay tuned for her novella, JOURNEY TO MERVEILLEUX CITY, coming out in 2023! View all posts by Stephanie Barbé Hammer
Stephanie Barbé Hammer Writing (Un) Real 
“but I’m still not used to that. If I don’t go through the mail, and if I don’t throw away their stuff, they are still alive somehow.”
That line is very poignant to me. My father still lives in a teetering Ikea shelf in my closet—all his university math books, and a strange Kurta device (mechanical calculator) that he almost fetishized about, winding it up and counting it down. So much that belonged to my father I had to put into storage, because it’s true, the objects keep such nods and pinches of pain alive each day.
Sent from my iPad
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Thank you for commenting. Yes, objects have a magical power. This makes me think of EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED and the collector character and how he handles all the things he collects as a way to remember and manage memory. Thanks again.