How to Skin a Cat by Cathleen Bailey – 2:20
Blood a Cold Blue by James Claffey – 11:06
The Man of the House by Mandy Taggart – 16:50
Odysseus & Penelope by Sang Yi (Cindy) Choung – 33:10

Conversation: Joseph G. Peterson and Ben Tanzer – Opening Act
Inside the Whale (Chapter 1) by Joseph G. Peterson – 29:39
Letters to My Immigrant Self: Letter Three by Áine Greaney – 41:34
Photo Album with Missing Pages by Sheldon Lee Compton – 53:35

Music: Undercover Vampire Policeman (Chris Zabriskie) / CC BY
Free Film Music (cameronmusic.co.uk) (Alastair Cameron) / CC BY 3.0
Berimbao (Stephan Siebert) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

CONTENTS:

CREATIVE NONFICTION

• Adam Rabasca Christmassakkah
• B.J. Hollars In Defense of Sasquatch
• Jessica Barksdale The Anarchist’s Mother

POETRY

• Valerie Adeniji Lawrence Telling Stories and Don’t Call Me Strong

FICTION

• Patrick Trotti Accidental Memories
• Seth Harwood What Happened to Everything
  

Adam Rabasca authors the blog Matzoh and Meatballs, and has written a manuscript by the same title. He has been published in The Alarmist and online at Intellectual Refuge, the Newer York, WordPlaySound and The Good Men Project. He can be found on Twitter at @AdamRabasca and on Tumblr at adamsrabasca.tumblr.com. He currently lives in Maine with his wife and two daughters, for whom Matzoh and Meatballs is written.

N.B. Though this issue of WordPlaySound looks back on 2012, “Chrstmassakkah” is a new piece. We couldn’t resist sharing the holidays with you.

Intro Music: Berimbao (Stephan Siebert) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

B.J. Hollars is an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.  He received his M.F.A. from the University of Alabama in 2010 and is the author of the Thirteen Loops: Race, Violence and the Last Lynching in America (University of Alabama Press, 2011).   His stories and essays have been published in North American Review, Ninth Letter, The Southeast Review, among others. His chapbook, In Defense of Monsters, excerpted here, is available at Origami Zoo Press.

Intro Music: Berimbao (Stephan Siebert) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Music: Free Film Music (cameronmusic.co.uk) (Alastair Cameron) / CC BY 3.0

Jessica Barksdale is the author of twelve novels (some under Jessica Inclan) including Her Daughter’s Eyes, The Matter of Grace, and When You Believe.  She is a professor of English at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, CA and teaches online writing classes for UCLA Extension.

Intro Music: Berimbao (Stephan Siebert) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Valerie Adeniji Lawrence, a Third Season Woman, is a writer, Sankofa practitioner,  public historian (oral history) and Lucumi Priest, living, inspiring, creating in and with life and memories in Pittsburgh, PA. She is also a Doctoral Candidate (ABD) in Humanities & Culture at Union Institute & University.

Intro Music: Berimbao (Stephan Siebert) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Patrick Trotti (author) is a native New Yorker who’s scared of tall buildings and large crowds, go figure. He’s a book reviewer for jmww and Specter, Associate Editor at NOO Journal, Founder/Editor of the online lit mag (Short) Fiction Collective, and is the Co-Founder/Co-Editor of the online lit mag THOUSAND SHADES OF GRAY. More of his work can be found at www.patricktrotti.com.

Jesse Prado (reader) likes to write short stories and reviews on movies and books that he likes. Jesse Prado lives in Hayward, California, and hosts blogs at tumblr and blogspot under whatsupwhiteamerica.tumblr.com and ilikebasketballshorts.blogspot.com. Jesse Prado has published stories for (Short) Fiction Collective, Metazen, Pressboardpress and poems for Internet Poetry. A few of his influences are Anton Chekov, Franz Kafka, and Robert Walser.

Intro Music: Berimbao (Stephan Siebert) / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0