Overwhelming is the only word to describe these past few vernal weeks. A lot of this emotional ride is not worth going into. But maybe this pithy list can sum up what the May of 2016 had in store.

• “Blue of the World”—which won Glimmer Train‘s “Family Matters” contest in 2014 and appeared in their 94th issue —both earned a Maine Literary Award in short fiction, and was selected for the 2017 Pushcart Prize anthology.
• “Hyacinth & Waxwing“—which last year won the Stoneslide Corrective‘s annual short story contest—appears in their newest online issue.
• “Yellow Cake“—a sequel of sorts to last year’s “Toledo“—appears in the newest issue of carte-blanche.

These three bullet points do not even come close to demonstrating the depth and stagger of my joy and gratitude. I love all of these stories. From haunted farmlands to the inscrutable middle of our continent. I’m very proud to have them out there in the world, continuing to have lives beyond my knowledge.