Smoking With Simon Jacobs by Stephanie Freele Art by Eleanor Leonne Bennett I admire greatly the structure of "Partners"—how did you decide on this structure and how did you work the driving of this story? For instance, did "the history of their running away" come upon you in a linear fashion? In blocks or segments of location (jungle, sea, volcano, suburb)? Was there a plan all along to have this segmented? I picked several extreme environments to test the footing of these two, places you only get to because something's gone wrong. I knew I wanted them to end up in the suburbs because there was no way they could last there. It is always the aftermath of something, and there is always a plan to get derailed. The inspiration for this story? People who love each other but who at times hate each other too. Prickly people. There are so many terrific lines in your story, but tell me more about this one, "We won't last long before we're discovered." Will there be more about these two? Will they be discovered in another story? They’ll be discovered if they’re not careful. They have a looooong history, so there’s lots more to say. Plus there’s the others, before they met. Oh God, the others. And the folks they’re running from. Yes yes, there will be more. Reams. Where did you write "Partners"—tell us about the setting behind the writer. I wrote it in a hotel room in Israel over the summer and on the bus. I needed something to cheer me up. It did the trick. Now I’m back at school and I need more cheer. So I’m writing LOTS. Read Partners. Eleanor Leonne Bennett is a 16-year-old internationally award-winning artist who has won first places with National Geographic, The World Photography Organisation, Nature's Best Photography and Postal Heritage. Her photography has been published in the Telegraph, The Guardian, BBC News web site and on the cover of books and magazines in the United States and Canada. She was also the only person from the UK to have her work displayed in the National Geographic and Airbus run "See The Bigger Picture" global exhibition tour with the United Nations International Year Of Biodiversity 2010. Issue Thirty-Seven (September 24, 2012): Two Boyfriends by Simon Barker «» Two Days in American History by Patrick Allen Carberry «» What I Told God by Sarah Carson «» Partners by Simon Jacobs «» Wreck by Will Kaufman «» Keep It Down by Harry Leeds «» Ants by Lindsey Gates Markel «» Quantifiable Consequence by Adam Padgett «» The Temperature At Which Paper Burns by Young Rader «» Bad Traffic by Matt Rowan «» Clearings by Joseph Spece «» Texas Vs. London by Jon Steinhagen «» Clichés by Aaron Teel «» When I Was Twenty-Three by Dan Townsend «» Revived by Eugenio Volpe «» Jalapeno Summer by Ryan Werner «» A Collector by Bess Winter «» Interviews: Simon Barker «» Patrick Allen Carberry «» Sarah Carson «» Simon Jacobs «» Will Kaufman «» Harry Leeds «» Lindsey Gates Markel «» Adam Padgett «» Young Rader «» Matt Rowan «» Joseph Spece «» Jon Steinhagen «» Aaron Teel «» Dan Townsend «» Eugenio Volpe «» Ryan Werner «» Bess Winter «» Cover Art by Jennifer B. Hudson «» Letter From the Editor 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.