TERSE. Journal

Anamorphosis by J.Y. Tan

Everyone I meet is someone else entirely. I’m convinced there’s something larger than life in the greenish-yellow fog around your neckline. Are you home yet? I think about my friends 3 years away & hope they’re fine. If given a chance to be anonymous, I wouldn’t take it because apart from these roundabouts there’s nothing…
Chouette: A Review by T.S. McNeil

Things are not always as they seem. What appears normal, even ordinary, can turn out to be a dream. Prose fiction is particularly tricky, particularly in terms of the narrative. The oddest things put in the most casual ways. Chouette by American author Claire Oshetsky is the strangest sort of weird. The one that comes…
13! by Alisson Madrigal

Kiara’s name is “Kiara Kariri.” Read this in my 6 y.o. voice. Fiamma is a title (one has a form to quickly announce, tell others, and also to pressure these into a utility for the larger whole of the territory-in-construction).It’s more like a role than an individual, implying a level of uniqueness. Initial development: ‘Finally,…
365 Books in 365 Days – Episode 161 by Annie Walton Doyle

Pure Color by Sheila Heti “What do humans go to art for, but to locate within themselves that inward-turning eye, which breathes significance into all of existence-for what is art but the act of infusing matter with the breath of God?” If you’ve ever read Sheila Heti before, the themes and questions of Pure Color…
Bizarrely Beautiful: Derek Weisberg by Jason Collins

Derek Weisberg is an American sculptor that creates ceramic sculptures that resemble the human anatomy yet do not fully look human. His humanlike ceramic creations have garnered Weisberg many awards while studying and has allowed the world to see his artwork. Below we will explore the bizarrely beautiful artworks created by Weisberg and who he…
The History of Rain: A Review By T.S. Mcneil

When is a war not a war, or when does a war really end? Can the impacts ever really be shaken off until every person who remembers it is dead? For Canadian novelist Stephens Gerard Malone, the answer is no, at least if his novel The History of Rain is anything to go by. Written…
Braving the Days: It Was Grace by Jordannah Elizabeth

It began, an hour ago, while I was doing everything I could not to think. I’ve been to the doctors, and when folks believed I slipped away, the psychiatrists said, you’re clairaudient. They were respectful enough to acknowledge it, so when I hear opinions, plans, love and complaints of others, I’m likely attuned. Tonight, I…
365 Books in 365 Days – Episode 151 BY Annie Walton Doyle

The Employees: A Workplace Novel of the 22nd Century by Olga Ravn “My human coworker sometimes talks about not wanting to work, and then he’ll say something quite odd and rather silly. What is it he says, now? There’s more to a person than the work they do, or A person is more than just…
Final Spin: A Review By T.S. McNeil

There is nothing new under the sun, every story a take on an already established theme. Sometimes an excuse for the uncreative, this is mostly true. Combining sources and influences in a new way is where true originality comes, often reverse-engineering that which already exists, taking it down to brass tacks. One person who combines…
Broader Depictions– The Art of Wes Bishop: an Interview by Mauve Perle Tahat

What are your thoughts on being a self-taught artist? It’s something I am a bit self-conscious of actually. I started off in college as an artist, wanting to become a studio artist and to have my “paying job” be a graphic artist/cartoonist. That was kind of my thinking through much of my high school years.…