McSweeney's Issue 18 (McSweeney's Quarterly Concern) (Paperback)

by Dave Eggers (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
McSweeney's began in 1998 as a literary journal, edited by Dave Eggers, which published only works rejected from other magazines. But after the first issue, the journal began to publish pieces written with McSweeney's in mind. Soon after, McSweeney's attracted works from some of the finest writers in the country, including David Foster Wallace, Ann Cummins, Rick Moody, Heidi Julavits, Jonathan Lethem, William T. Vollmann, and many new talents.

Today, McSweeney's has grown to be one of the country's best and largest-circulation literary journals. The journal is committed to finding new voices, publishing work of gifted but underappreciated writers, and pushing the literary form forward at all times.

McSweeney's publishes on a roughly quarterly schedule, and each issue is markedly different from its predecessors in terms of design and editorial focus.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: McSweeney's (December 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932416382
• ISBN-13: 978-1932416381
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #667,900 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

• This item is part of The McSweeney's Quarterly Concern Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure Content, July 10, 2009

By	Matt M. Martin "No, One" (Fort Collins, CO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

McSweeney's Issue 18 isn't much to look at, granted, with a pleasant-enough maze design accounting for its sole visual flair, but it is one of the strongest issues in terms of prose.

Surprising first of all is the amount of nonfiction in the pieces here. One of the strongest is Edmund White's memoir about a lifetime of illicit affairs, which is engaging and quotable throughout. There's also a flash nonfiction self-titled piece by Deb Unferth (what could be called a metafictional exercise, but only if you were being dishonest), and some straight-up science writing from Lawrence Weschler.

Nonfiction also informs Daniel Orozco's story of Paraguayan dictator Anastasio Somozo García. Orozco's story is rich with detail, the work of a linguaphile loving his subject, poetic and impressive.

As goes pure fiction, Chris Adrian's story of a large group of siblings evaluating their various stepsfather is funny, astute, and quietly unnerving. Roddy Doyle's "New Boy" is just what you want Doyle to be--very quick, very readable, and possessive of a great ending. The story does hamper itself slightly with forced topicality, but so be it. Elsewhere, Adam Levin writes a perceptive untrustworthy-narrator story about a tough guy and his smart-set girl (novel because that relationship has only ever been told from the other direction).

Also superb is Rachel Himmelheber's "Happiness Reminders," a convergence story that executes well that often-treacherous style. It's a cops and robbers story, essentially, exploring how the lives of the main cop and robber transect each other unbeknownst to either character. And it has a terrific ending. Joe Meno's story about a man whose wife can't stop turning into a cloud is a sharp, undislikable piece of absurdism.

There are also strong stories from Philip Meyer, about an estranged son trying to prevent his father's suicide, Alan Ackman, about a superstitious man and his trophy wife avoiding demons, Yannick Murphy, about a mother and son reconciling the loss of their husband/father in the face of a bear, and Nelly Reifler, about a nurse undergoing a harrowing final exam, including a vivisection.

In fact, the only dud of the issue curiously belongs to Joyce Carol Oates, and illustrates the hazards of accepting just anything from a big name. Like a band who submits an unmastered, tossed-off B-side for a charity compilation, it's hard not to think of this story coming from Oates' bottom drawer.

But oh well: the story is a tiny fraction of the whole, and the rest is pure quality. The short stories in 18 are quite long too, giving them a chance to develop, to explore themselves and their rich topics. This issue is again chockful of great material, another shining example of some of the strongest fiction being written nowadays, another example of why to befriend Timothy McSweeney.

0 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Yeah, July 29, 2007

By	G. Arguelles "killbot24" (miami, fl United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've only read the first story so far,
and it was a joy to read.

Whoever it is that wrote it-- I'll be looking for books by you.