Home for the soul: 'ABQ inPrint 8' gathers the best short form in fiction, essays, memoirs and more

If “short” is the operative word for the length of what you like to read, you will be sure to find ample pleasure in “ABQ inPrint 8: An Occasional Publication.”

In fact, it is a magazine with prose writings that are two to three pages in length, which is shorter than what is considered short.

Home for the soul: 'ABQ inPrint 8' gathers the best short form in fiction, essays, memoirs and more

Some might categorize the writings in “ABQ inPrint 8” as microstories, in other words, somewhere between short and flash; flash being about 300 words or fewer.

The collection of writings contains fiction, essays, memoirs, creative nonfiction, a personal reflection and an entry titled “Forecast.”

“Forecast” plays with appears to be a real Storm Prediction Center advisory, but instead refers to “severe thought storms.” Thought storms, huh. Maybe the author, Kent Winchester, should explain.

“Forecast” has Winchester’s photograph of a cloud formation above the mental weather advisory.

You will also find poems scattered throughout the magazine. Most fill one-half of a single page.

Most of the poems are freestanding, not linked to any of the writings. And you will encounter works of art peppering the pages.

Another Winchester photograph of clouds stands by itself on a page at the end of the magazine. It is labeled “The Last Word.” Funny, there are no words accompanying the photo.

Besides photographs, you will encounter paintings, sketches and graphics. Over five pages are color images with accompanying text, breaking down the “shortness” rule. Jesse Lee Kercheval wrote the text and painted the images in this entry titled “A History of Water.”

“Our idea with the magazine is for people to sit down with it and take it all in one or two sittings,” said Lynn C. Miller, a co-publisher and co-editor. “It’s a complete experience in a short period. It’s kind of fun (for the reader).”

And, Miller added, it’s an interesting form for writers.

Miller should know. She herself contributed “At Home with Story,” a two-page work of fiction in the issue.

The issue’s theme is “What the Soul Called Home.” The theme also happens to be the title of a poem in the issue by Hilda Raz, a co-publisher and a co-editor of “ABQ inPrint 8.”

It is the eighth issue of ABQ inPrint since 2016, Miller said. Each has a distinct theme.

The themes, she said, “have prompted people to write a lot, encouraging them to create things.”

The third co-publisher and co-editor of the issue is Lynda Miller, who is also its art director. She also contributed art to the current issue — the cover image and several images inside, including a Pablo Picasso-like cubist work.

The images balance and complement the written word.

Miller said most of the issue’s 40-some contributors live in the Albuquerque area, though several are from Santa Fe and others live outside of New Mexico.

An Albuquerque resident, Laura Furman, wrote the essay “Flocktown Road.” Furman said she grew up in a house on that road in Washington, New Jersey.

“It’s an essay, not a memoir. A memoir is always something about memory. That piece explored living memory, recapturing the feelings in the past,” Furman said in a phone interview. “It was a great experience being asked to write and have a limit. … and going back to that very safe place and time.”

“The challenge was to bring the reader into that without going into huge amounts of detail.”

Furman said her parents had bought a house on Flocktown Road and a nearby schoolhouse, all on seven acres, back in 1945 or ’46.

“The schoolhouse was about a couple of acres away from our home … It was this separate place that was great for children,” she said.

Before retiring, Furman was the Susan Taylor McDaniel Regents Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Texas at Austin. She is quite familiar with writing short. She is the author of four short story collections, two novels and a memoir. And she was the series editor of the O. Henry Prize Stories from 2003-2019.

Anyone interested in having their work — writings and/or art — considered for the next issue of ABQ inPrint should contact Miller at bosquepress.com.

“Usually I do a call for submissions in March,” she said.

The theme of the next issue is “Out of Time.”