Vito Gulla's Blog, page 2

A Review of “Here is a Place to Be” by Joseph Graham in Molotov Cocktail, Volume 6

I think I was twenty-three at the time, having a ginger ale with Kaylie Jones and Nick Mamatas, talking about my favorite books. We went through the list: The Death of Artemio Cruz, Rosa,Rules of Attraction, Notes from Underground, The Great Gatsby, Tell Me a Riddle,Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, A Moveable Feast, Portnoy’s Complaint. Mamatas picked up on the theme throughout. It seemed I preferred narratives that had, what he called, “alienated monologues.” After some thought, I real...

A Review of “Going, Going” by Anton Rose in Spartan

I was introduced to Spartan via Twitter. I’m not sure how exactly, but I’m glad I was. The magazine’s aesthetic is clean and sparse, both in prose and in design. It’s clear the editors want to put the stories at the fore, and that’s an approach that is much appreciated, not too mention rarer than ever.

One of the stories I read was “Going, Going” by Anton Rose. It’s a slice-of-life, maybe a little over one-thousand words, and for the most part, it’s flash fiction done well. I know I’ve been c...

Criticized to Death: How Race and Gender Criticism Too Often Gets It Wrong or An In-Depth Analysis of “Tennis’s Top Women Balance Body Image With Ambition”

It seems that the loudest voices in our most important communities are the ones who value hyperbole and polemism more than naunce and reason. They choose not to elaborate or explain. They believe their points are self-evident and beyond reproach, protected by the type of progressivism we all aspire to. That is not to say there aren’t any reasonable, intelligent people who deal with these issues. (If you need an example of thoughtful conversation, listen to Our National Conversation About Our...

Review of “Cardboard Graceland” by Matthew Fogarty in Sundog Lit, Issue Seven

“Cardboard Graceland” evidences many of the problems found in trendy short fiction. It’s replete with pop culture references and has an aimless plot that owes as much to its form as it does to its unclear direction and lack of narrative drive. Even the story’s first line isn’t all that appealing or interesting. Yes, it creates a problem for the character, but the conflict is buried, lost under the wave of description. Furthermore, Fogarty doesn’t use the basement in any meaningful way. He cou...

A Review of “Goings-Ons and Happenstance” by Nick Gregorio in Driftwood Press, Volume One: Issue Four

Nick Gregorio’s “Goings-Ons and Happenstance” really shouldn’t be as good as it is. A story like this, with an opening like that, could have quickly veered into Lifetime territory. That’s not to say that the first line isn’t a good hook—it introduces the conflict, gives the protagonist a problem, and pulls in the reader, so it is—but how many terrible stories open with such a situation? But fortunately, Gregorio’s care and grace as a writer shines through his prose and avoids any sense of tri...

Crafting a Talisman

It’s always been a part of our nature to notice patterns and assign them meaning. Take the constellations, for example. People looked up at the night’s sky and saw shapes and figures in the random order of the stars, and with one stroke, they connected the dots to reflect their own understanding of the world. It was one of humanity’s first attempts at art.

We had created symbols, an object meant to represent something else. It’s been a western tradition ever since. Just look at the book of Ge...

Reading, Because If There Was Another Way to Get Better, Someone Would Have Figured It By Now

My first semester as a grad student, everyone thought I was a douche, and to be fair, they still do but one with whom they don’t mind having a drink and sharing their lives. Back then, however, I was the odd man out. For one, I was the youngest of my cohort. Furthermore, I was probably the most prentenious of the bunch by far. But the thing that bothered my peers the most was that I seemingly had read everything. That’s no mere boast, mind you. My knowledge of the classics was so extensive th...

Short Story Review: “Shadowboxing” by Matthew Doffus in Buffalo Almanack 8, June 2015

Truth be told, I’m not very familiar with the work of either of Matthew Doffus or The Buffalo Almanack. The most I could find about the former was a poem he had published in Barrelhouse, and as for the latter, the most I can say is that I submitted to them once in the past. But that’s about all I know, and frankly, I prefer to keep it that way–at least, for now. I can’t even tell you how much the magazine awards the winner of their Inkslinger contest. But I’m trying to stay purposely ignorant...

Where It’s At: Why Setting Matters

Depending who you talk to, you’ll either here one of two things when it comes to setting: “It’s not important” or “OMG! It’s TEH most important thing EVER!!!!111! It’s like a character!” I like to think it’s somewhere in the middle. More like, “It’s alright.” Alone, it doesn’t really matter all that much. Just think about some sci-fi or fantasy stories that begin with a whole bunch of world-building. Do you read it and enjoy it? Or do you toss that book away and find another that doesn’t wast...

What They See is What You Get (Part 2)

First Person

First person is probably the most natural of all point of views and often establishes the most immediate sense of empathy. We instantly connect to theIon the page because we recognize this as a symbol for selfdom. It is an idea that we identify with because we are all theIof our own consciousness.Just look at the following passage fromThe Adventures of Augie Marchby Saul Bellow:

“I am an American, Chicago-born–Chicago, that somber city–and go at things as I have taught myself, f...