A Powerful Tribute

On February 20, 2010, Henry J. Burmeister passed away at the age of ninety-two. He left behind fond memories and two daughters with a deadline to meet.

Susan Burmeister-Brown and Linda B, Swanson-Davies, the editors of Glimmer Train have dedicated Issue 75 to the people who have helped them and the authors who have inspired them. In their father's honor, they have created a very personal volume filled with life and death, love and loss, a fine memorial to the man they loved.

Each short story is preceded by a photograph of the writer as a child, a short bio, descriptive paragraph about he photo. “Last Pages” ends the journal with more of the authors' family photos, offset by short pieces explaining either the source of their story or the photograph.

There are two interview pieces. One of Andrew Porter by Trevor Gore. Mr. Porter is assistant professor of Creative Writing at Trinity University in San Antonio and the 2007 winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award for his short story collection, “The Theory of Light and Matter.” The other interview is of Elizabeth Strout by Ashley Paige and Lindsay Purves Paige. Ms. Strout is the author of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize winning “Olive Kitteridge.” Both interviews concern the writing process used by the authors.

“Silenced Voices: Natalia Estemirova” by Sara Whatt is a call to action. It is the author's plea for justice for Estemirova and other journalists killed for their reporting. Ms. Estemirova was kidnapped, tortured, and shot in Grozny, Chechen on July 16, 2009. As Russian President Medvedev said on hearing of her death, “She spoke the truth.”

To return to the stories themselves, they concern the human condition. Girls come of age in dysfunctional families and young women learn the importance of family and ritual. Three stories of death and loss affected me particularly. Having the same theme, they are clearly differentiated by the author's use of location and description.

“Puff Adder” by Ken Barris is the award -winning South African author's first publication in the United States. The narrator and his friend of forty-five years, Gerald, have driven into dry country to hike a twenty-mile path running along the edge of the gorge dug out by water falls. On the ride up, they encounter a man jogging naked down the roadside and wonder “why?” Gerald is an overweight, gin-swilling, redhead who is singularly out of place in the harsh, ocher terrain they are hiking. Here even a rhinoceros has fallen to his death in the river below.

As they hike, Gerald sheds civilization as he sheds his clothes. “It's the heat,” he says. The narrator responds, “What a waste of grotesquerie to see you wearing clothes.” The narrator slips into an exertion caused daydream and is roused by the sight of a venomous puff adder laying in his path and the knowledge that Gerald is no longer huffing behind him. Gerald is quite dead.

“Elaborate Preparations for Departure” is the first published work of Cary Groner, who earned his MFA at the University of Arizona in 2009. Oren is a quiet Boston musician, married to Emily, a vibrant and erratic costume designer. Emily simply disappeared one day on the tail of a summer rain storm and Oren has flown twelve hundred miles to Petassos, Greece, to identify and carry home the mangled, sea-bloated body of his wife. But then, is it really Emily he identifies, or will he arrive home one day to find his wife begging forgiveness? The Greek police officer and the coroner each have different opinions, but it doesn't really matter, Oren is good at forgiveness.

In “A Difficult Daughter,” we meet Olan, an unassuming bank clerk who married the boss's daughter, Zada. Here, Kim Brooks has created a tale of a traditional society and the death of a woman burned by her own fire.

Whether to South Africa, Greece, or some unnamed place, each writer uses a common theme to take us on a voyage to a strange place and different culture. Each story is striking in its own way, each character lost in the wrong place. As you read, you can almost feel the sun baking your skin, see it glittering on the Aegean, and watch it setting on Gerald, Emily, and Zada.