Sunday, February 24, 2008

Latest Edition of One Story

On their website, One Story is described as "a literary magazine that contains, simply, one story. Approximately every three weeks, subscribers are sent One Story in the mail. This story will be an amazing read."

I just received my first issue, a story called "Beanball" by Ron Carlson. The story is about a former baseball player, who after receiving a career-ending injury, became a baseball recruiter who travels the world looking for young prospective players. The main plot line surrounds a particular Guatemalan recruit named Alberto Molinas, but there are several smaller subplots contained within the story that make professional baseball seem both beautiful and grotesque.

The story is one that follows all the rules of good literature: plot twists, strong character development, a web of relationships that gets thicker and thicker as you progress through the story. And what is most amazing is how much story Carlson packs in to 61 pages.

You can only get the stories through subscription to the journal, but you can see an excerpt and author interview here. And judging from the quality of the first issue I received, $21 for 18 issues is a steal.

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