The theme of the fall 2009 issue of On Spec seems to be family. Stories touch on the various permutations of parent-child- sibling relationships. From the Sea by Brent Knowles examines the regrets of a father whose son has learnt all the wrong lessons from him. It throws mermaids and strange puritan women into an intriguing mix.Joanna M. Weston's Every Witch Way looks at broken families and the limits of witchcraft. It has a nice set up but the ending didn't quite work for me. Favourite is a disturbing little piece about a mother struggling to keep her family together in unusual circumstances. Wooden stakes feature quite prominently. Julia by Erin Thomas is a heartbreaking look at the choice a mother has to make when one of her children falls ill. No, it's not soap opera territory, but a smart little dystopian yarn.
The pick of a strong bunch is the final story, Wrenning Day. It's the most atypical story here in that it bucks the familial theme and opts for a crow's point of view of plague and apocalypse. At first I thought it was going to be too contrived to enjoy but I found myself pulled into a literal bird's eye view of a world falling apart. Andrew Bryant will make you believe that a crow can read Marx.
This is another strong collection of stories, poems and interviews (including an interesting piece on the cover artist, Cristy Road) from the wonderfully named Copper Pig Writer's Society. Their website can be found right here
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