Sometimes at this time of year it feels as though the coming spring is holding its breath, waiting to make up its mind as to whether or not it’s going to arrive. It’s inevitable, isn’t it, that spring follows winter? And yet even the inevitable can feel impossible at times.

Writers are often directed to bring this element to their own stories, to make their endings “surprising yet inevitable.” The weight of that contradiction is executed so well in each of our stories this edition, with the reader joining these characters as they make small decisions that will have huge impacts on their lives.

The narrator of “Red Gash,” by Samia Ahmed, is trying to make decisions in the wake of a horrific riot during the partitioning of India and Pakistan. Ahmed’s surgical descriptions heighten both the terror of her characters and the way the unimaginable can quickly become a new reality.

Kenny, the narrator of “Surrender at the Korean Store,” by Zenith Knox, also contemplates a new reality in the wake of violence. Kenny has information that could help Ju-hee, his girlfriend, find out who hurt her father. One of the delights of this story is its careful attention to the details of what can be found in the Korean Store, and how everything in there–Ju-hee included–is alternately foreign and familiar to Kenny.

Meanwhile, in “Baton,” by Amita Basu, a student is holding life-changing information. The story is filled with memorable peers and mentors and their inescapable influence when it comes to survival.

Finally, with a dose of humor, the narrator of “The Magician,” by Alison Moretta, decides whether she will keep taking her husband’s complaints and put-downs. As the couple fights over meatloaf and she contemplates the generations of women who have fought over meatloaf with their spouses, she must decide her own path into the future.

As spring finally arrives—like it does every year—we hope you’ll enjoy reading these stories.

Carolyn Abram
Guest Editor
The Citron Review