As White Oleander author Janet Fitch explains in
the introduction to Women on the Edge: Writing from Los Angeles, the stories in this collection
achieve the ultimate outland status in the point of their creation, which is the edge of the continent — Los Angeles. “For Los Angeles writers, the boundariness is taken to the furthest extent — for what could be more peripheral than serious short stories written in a town known predominantly for its big screens and action figures and silicone-enhanced placticine femmes?” writes Fitch. Some of the women who have contributed to this collection are well-known figures in the literary landscape — Aimee Bender, Carol Muske Dukes, Lisa Teasley, Rachel Resnick - while others have little publishing
experience. All, however, contribute compelling stories that are fresh in their approach, immaculate in
their execution. This exciting, unexpected anthology is not a "best of" but rather a gathering of escritoras, a handful of voices singing in Los Angeles at a particular moment in time, their characters walking wide, weird worlds with an ear to the shifty ground.
About the Editors
 SAMANTHA DUNN is the author of Failing Paris, a finalist for the PEN West Fiction Award in 2000, and the memoir, Not By Accident: Reconstructing a Careless Life. Her most recent memoir, Faith in Carlos Gomez: A Memoir of Salsa, Sex and Salvation, is published by Henry Holt & Co. Her essays have appeared in numerous national publications including the Los Angeles Times, O Magazine, and Ms.
JULIANNE ORTALE has an MFA from UC Irvine and her stories have appeared in Alaska Quarterly, Salmagundi, The Malahat Review, Stand, Paris Boulevard, and Gobshite Quarterly, among others.
| |
|
