SmokeLong Weekly His Mother the Rubble by Jesse Eagle, January 30, 2012 His mother sat next to his bed while he slept, her eyelids swollen, and hummed an old song. She hummed and fought sleep and downstairs fire spread; and soon her eyes closed and dreams and she drove west again. She drove with the sun overhead, the asphalt melting to tar, dry air seeping through the cracks, the engine bending. Dashboard needles rose and soon something broke loose and both pedals shook and steam gushed from under the hood. She pulled to the shoulder, sliding on the gravel, her hands tight on the wheel. The car clicked and banged and finally settled. She cracked the window, smelled its disease. Read more. SmokeLong Quarterly Issue Thirty-Four (December 19, 2011): Batman #12 by Barr Bielinski «» The Normal Thing by Mickey Laurence Cohen «» Gray Dogs by Chauna Craig «» Xenoliths by Joseph Gross «» The Fifth Way of Wearing Vermillion by Kathleen Hellen «» Out of Many by Anne Hensley «» Bus Driver by Alex Higley «» Zong by Emily-Jo Hopson «» The Worst Shark Attack Ever by Trevor Houser «» A Disagreement between Gentleman Hunters by Geoff Kronik «» Squall by Susan Rukeyser «» Master of the Art of Longrange Tenpins by Fortunato Salazar «» One Truth by Curtis Smith «» Running by R.S. Thomas «» The Freeze by Virgie Townsend «» Broken Bow by Lex Williford «» Interviews: Barr Bielinski «» Mickey Laurence Cohen «» Chauna Craig «» Joseph Gross «» Kathleen Hellen «» Anne Hensley «» Alex Higley «» Emily-Jo Hopson «» Trevor Houser «» Geoff Kronik «» Susan Rukeyser «» Curtis Smith «» R.S. Thomas «» Virgie Townsend «» Lex Williford «» Cover Art "Warhol's Appropriated Soup" by Marty Ison «» Letter From the Editor This Week's Reader Karen Craigo is the editor-in-chief of Mid-American Review. She teaches writing at Bowling Green State University. She is the author of a poetry chapbook, Stone for an Eye (Kent State/Wick), and of a forthcoming chapbook, Escaped Housewife Gets Things Off Her Chest. She is a three-time recipient of Ohio Arts Council fellowships and was a fellow of the Fine Arts Work Center. She will read stories submitted to SmokeLong January 30-February 5. Submit. SmokeLong Feature Smoking with Justin Chen January 27, 2012 This is part of an intermittent series of interviews with the artists who illustrate the wonderful stories we publish. Read more. Interested in subscribing to SmokeLong's weekly newsletter? Click here. An email should be created. Send it as is, and you'll be subscribed. If the link does not work for you, send an email to imailsrv@smokelong.com with Subscribe slq-info in the body of the email (no subject is necessary). You'll receive updates detailing the release of new issues, new reading periods, contests, etc. We do not make our mail list available to anyone else.