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February 2008 Fiction Issue

 
THLR staff are especially proud to lead off this issue with the works of Houstonian Paul Eckert.
 
Paul Eckert lives in Houston, Texas with his wife, Melanie.
Paul has a BBA in accounting from the University of Houston
and currently works at a local used bookstore. He is studying
to take the CPA exam, though he holds onto the elusive dream
that one day his writing will pay the bills.

Paul enjoys writing music, reading, and writing stories. He is one half (reportedly the evil half) of the band Balloonist Sleepy (www.myspace.com/balloonistsleepy).
Paul is inspired by the way people choose to handle their lives and the reality they create for themselves.
His literary inspirations include Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Coupland, Stephen King, Bret Easton Ellis, and Chuck Palahniuk.

His fiction has most recently appeared in Nano Fiction and Word Riot.
He welcomes reader comments at pauleckert3@yahoo.com
 


Daniel Gallik has had poetry, fiction and books published throughout
the U.S. and elsewhere. Currently, a novel-A Story Of Dumb Fate is
available through publishamerica. deepcleveland is published an odd
book of poetry, Linn's Poems this fall. And his pic/stories are doing
well on the internet.

 
 
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Gwendolyn Joyce Mintz is a fiction writer and poet.
Her work has appeared more than 200 times in various online and print journals, in eight anthologies, on coffee can labels and coffee mugs and is also available through the Amazon.com Shorts program.
 
 
Mintz received degrees from New Mexico State University. She is a former news writer and college writing instructor. In other incarnations, Mintz is an actress, a comedienne (once opening for Colin Quinn) and a teddy bear artist. Visit her blog at http://www.gwennotes.blogspot.com
 
 

 

 

Luther Ortega Luper, also known as Luke Ortega in San Antonio, writes business plans for University of Texas at San Antonio in their Economic Development outreach.

Luke is from Houston, spending his earliest 25 years there, including all his schooling at Channelview, San Jacacinto and University of Houston.

 

Ortega has lived in San Antonio for the past 17 years. He originally wrote a novel called “Otto and Raquel” - about his now deceased parents and their illicit interracial affair that ultimately produced him. Someone critiqued the novel and suggested he remove the entire two chapters about his Zepplin and Ludes adventures because it was too far away from the main characters and main story, and it was a great story on its own. He did, polished it up and presents it here. This is his first publishing anywhere.

 

the fiction of luke ortega

 


 

 

I have eluded the long arm of the laws of gravitation for many years by moving around the country. My fiction is published in the South Dakota Review, Tampa Review, Weber Studies, VerbSap.com and others. My poems in Minnesota Review, Threepenny Review, Fine Madness, Potomac Review and others.

 

 

the fiction of sarah sarai

 


 

Paul A. Toth lives in Sanibel, Florida. His first novel Fizz and its successor Fishnet are available now. Short fiction credits include The Barcelona Review, Night Train and The Mississippi Review Online. His poetry has featured by The Potomac, Nth Position, Piker Press, Arabesques Review, and others. See www.netpt.tv for more information.

 

 

Paul’s work is often as influenced by minimalist musicians like Steve Reich and cubist painters like Paul Klee as it is by authors. Rhythm and repetition become key parts of the story. Literary influences in this direction include the Joseph Heller of Catch-22, David Mamet at his best, and, of course, Gertrude Stein. However, Paul says, I try to remain an accessible writer, so that more formal stylists like E.M. Forster have also left their mark.

 

the fiction of paul toth

 


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