No, seriously. You do.
Look, there are stories, and then there are stories. It's always a mix, but especially in a writing class. Some submissions you have a hard time relating to. Some you enjoy immensely, but struggle to remember after the class ends.
And some haunt you. Years after reading it, the story creeps back into your mind at odd moments, carrying the ghosts of old emotions.
The haunting ones are rare. I learned that, working in the publishing industry.
A dear friend of mine of mine got published here.
Kimarlee is a completely different writer than I am. A different genre, a different style, a different medium. All of my short stories practically beg to become novels, but hers pack a punch - they feel whole and complete and brimming with raw intensity.
"love story," for instance, takes place during the Khmer Rouge, a period of genocide in Cambodia. It's told by an unnamed narrator ("I") to his unnamed beloved ("you"), who immigrates to America to escape. It spans the day before "you" left to the day "I" was executed. Yeah, it's really that intense and awesome.
The first draft came out of our Senior Composition class during our last year at Vassar. We both knew that her writing had reached a turning point. Every time I remember it, I get the same chills that I got when she read it aloud at our class thesis reading at the end of the year. It was one of two stories that stayed with all of us after we graduated. I'm so thrilled that Kimarlee found a way to share it with the rest of the world.
Congrats, Kimmy!!
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