Letter from the Editor

For quite a few years now, my dream job has been reading novels. I don’t know of many jobs where you can actually do this, but a guy can dream. This issue of Fathom is devoted to stories—the stories we tell, the psychology of stories, a few short stories, and so on.

Short Story Competition

Opening up this issue is the short story competition winner, “Once in This Bread,” and runner up, “The Bathroom Tile.” “Once in This Bread” kept me absolutely scintillated the entire time I was reading.

Poetry

We have a few poems in this issue, like always. The first is a poem called “Of Sin” by Patrick Pace. It’s a different kind of poem from what we normally publish, so you know it has to be good! We also have poems from Abby Perry, Jed Ostoich, and Ikem “Na-Chi” Ukeka. All of them have a good story to the poem and all of them are worth a read and a mull. 

Articles

We of course have our rounds of articles. We have a few pieces on women’s apologetics by Wendy Alsup. We’re going to be publishing these over the next two weeks, so keep your eyes open for that. We also have one of my favorite pieces of the entire issue in “Parenting As Narrative” by Abby Perry. It’s a look on what we tell our kids and the importance of the stories we tell them.

We also have a look at The Message Bible by Jed Ostoich. Jed and I had a semi-disagreement on The Message on Twitter a few weeks ago, so I just asked him to write a formal article and here it is. As always, Jed nails it. I’m hoping to write an article on my opinion of The Message soon.

We also have a piece by Dr. Sandra Glahn on the story of the Reformation. I went to seminary and thought I already knew about the Reformation, but this story had so many incredible tidbits and details that it really made the entire story come to life so that I could see what actually happened much clearer. I’m indebted to Dr. Glahn for that. It’s a great article.

We also have a articles about stories being the framework of our lives, about conflict and change, a few interviews (here, here and here) from people who are making it their lives to tell good stories, as well as a story about a Frida Kahlo gathering where a woman wrestles with her own beauty.

Artist

I am very excited about our featured artist, Dan Stevers. I don’t know Dan, but I found some of his work when I saw it listed as an editor’s pick on Vimeo. That’s a big deal, for those of you who don’t know. I emailed him after I had watched (and was blown away by) some of his other animation and artwork. I am beyond thrilled to have Dan as the artist and I hope you enjoy his work.

Reviews

Have we got reviews for you. The first is of the novel Moonglow by Michael Chabon. Tommy Welty does a fantastic job of dissecting the book and of writing an absolutely perfect lede (it’s honestly one of the best first sentences to an article that I have ever read).

Drew Fitzgerald, our podcast guru, wrote up a review of Master of None explaining how the ambition of the show is short-lived when you realize it lacks any kind of depth when tackling actual and real issues. Drew’s a fantastic writer and thinker, and it’s worth a read.

We also have a review from Jed Ostoich of The Storytelling Animal, a book written on the psychology of story. And I wrote a review on one of the best movies of the year that you probably haven’t seen yet, Blue Jay. That movie blew my socks off.

Podcast

Save the best for last. Seriously, I’m not a huge podcast guy, but the podcast is always one of my favorite things about the issues of Fathom. They’re amazing, and this one is no different. 

We’ve got a few more pieces that I’ll let you discover on your own. Thanks for reading!