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I S S U E 10 S P R I N G 2 0 1 3
Bestiary: the best of the inaugural demi-decade
Guest Editor
GINA OCHSNER
FOUNDING EDITOR
Colin Meldrum
FICTION EDITOR
Amanda Lyn DiSanto POETRY EDITOR
Lisa McCool-Grime
COVER & SECTION ILLUSTRATOR
Anna Bron
A cappella Zoo (ISSN: 1945-7480): a magazine of magic realism and slipstream. A cappella Zoo was founded in 2008 as an independent, labor-of-love publication.
Contributions to this special issue were selected by award-winning author Gina
Ochsner (www.ginaochsner.com). All illustrations were done by artist Anna Bron
except where otherwise credited to contributors Cheryl Gross and Gavin Faherty.
Support A cappella Zoo and its contributors by sharing your favorite stories and
poems with friends and colleagues. Enjoy.
Copyright 2013 All rights retained by authors/artists of respective works.
www.acappellazoo.com

Contents
5
a conversation with GINA OCHSNER
F I C T I O N P O E T R Y
Aquarium
11
The Creature from the Lake
Ginny
16
HAYES MOORE
ELIZABETH OBRIEN
17 The Life Story of a Chilean Sea Blob Versions 27 THEODORE CARTER ALI LANZETTA
30 The Sand Ship selections from In the Circus of You
NICELLE DAVIS &
CHERYL GROSS
33 CLAIRE MASSEY
40 The Collector of Van de Voys
EDMOND CALDWELL
46 Brunhildes Escape
DANYA GOODMAN
Phylum
49
Proximity
Dialysis
63
JOSH DENSLOW
PATRICK SUGRUE
64 Postcards from Home three Conrad poems 72
JOHN JASPER OWENS KRISTINE ONG MUSLIM
75 The Sacrosancts
RACHEL ADAMS
The Story of Jimmy
Draws-So-Small
84 81 Larva
RANDOLPH SCHMIDT ROBIN PATRIC CLAIR

86
When the Weather Changes You
AMBER SPARKS
93 War Crumbs Reintroduction 97
JOE KAPITAN
JEFF PEARSON
Shelter
101
part one of Atomic Summer
Flowers, Shears
108
ANTON BAER
MICHAEL SCHMELTZER
109 Requiem for a Glass Heart from The Centipede Love Songs 113
ROXANE GAY
DANIEL PORDER
115 Oldjohns House This is the House That 123 MICAH DEAN HICKS
SHELLIE ZACHARIA
124 Three Times Red an excerpt from the human-suit series
JESSICA YOUNG
127 A. A. BALASKOVITS
130 Stain
MARIA DEIRA
Topiary
133
Take Up the Bonnet Rouge
an excerpt from
Liliths Extra Rib ALANA I. CAPRIA
139 CHANTEL TATTOLI
141 A Theory of Music WALTER BARGEN
144 The Watchmaker Beauty School 149 ERIC SCHALLER MARY LOU BUSCHI
150 The Legs Come Off Easily The Adventures of Starfish Girl 157 EMILY J. LAWRENCE LINDSAY MILLER
160 The Wooden Grandpa Man without a Wishbone 162 KURT NEWTON
PRARTHO SERENO
Crematorium
165
When the World Ends
Leaving La Dulce Vida
177 NICOLE MIYASHIRO
MARTIN OTT & JOHN F. BUCKLEY
179 Trouble in Mind Eclipse 192 JULIA A. ROSENTHAL FENG SUN CHEN

193
The Rocket in the Sky
Teaching a Post Lunar World
201 ANDREW MITCHELL
CAITLIN THOMSON
202 Dearest Dirty Dig 218 TINA HYLAND & GAVIN FAHERTY MARGARET BASHAAR
219 Poppers Choice The Gun Game 221 ROBERT EDWARD SULLIVAN
BENJAMIN CLARK &
COLIN WINNETTE
222 Transaction
REDFERN BARRETT
Sacrarium
243
What Follows Us
In the Emily Dickinson Museum
247 ADAM MCOMBER
MARGARET WALTHER
248
The Paranormal Guide
to Wedding Etiquette
Kentucky-Fried Christ
261 PEDRO PONCE C. E. CHAFFIN
262 The End of the Objects Tale of the Avian Saint 273 JACK KAULFUS WILLIAM KEENER
274 Finding Your Way to the Coast Ballad of Conjure 284 JULIE DAY
FELICIA ZAMORA
285 La Chanson de lObservation Beelzebubstomp 296 BERNARD M. COX
M. P. POWERS
Aviary
299
Showtime
Circling of Cranes
306
NANCY GOLD
CHARLENE LOGAN BURNETT
307 Birds Every Child Should Know Sigilism 315
KATE RIEDEL
JOHN MYERS
316 Calling Rain The History of Sexuality 330
LORA RIVERA
JOSEPH HARRINGTON
332 Old Myths Magic Realists in Love 335
COLLIN BLAIR GRABAREK
LINDA ANN STRANG
Notes on Contributors
336

5
a conversation with
GINA OCHSNER
Gina lives in Oregon and divides her time between writing and teaching at Corban
University and with the Seattle Pacific Low-Residency MFA program. She has been
awarded a John L. Simon Guggenheim grant and a grant from the National
Endowment of Arts. She speaks at universities, retreats, conferences, schools, and
book clubs on creativity, magic realism, flash fiction, prose poetry, the intersection
of art and faith, and other topics related to writing. Her stories have appeared in
The New Yorker, Tin House, Glimmer Train, and The Kenyon Review. She is the
author of the short story collection The Necessary Grace to Fall, which received the
Flannery OConnor Award for Short Fiction, and the story collection People I Wanted to Be. Both books received the Oregon Book Award. Her first novel, The
Russian Dreambook of Colour and Flight, was published by Portobello Press and
Houghton-Mifflin-Harcourt.
COLIN: Based on your selections for this collection, how would you
describe A cappella Zoos landscape?
GINA: Im struck by the frolicsome, mischievous nature of so many of these pieces. Though the subject matter of much of the work is deepdark eventhe treatment rarely is and I think that this suggests a profound love of language among these writers.
COLIN: One of my favorite of your stories, How One Carries Another, is a contemplative, unique sort of ghost story, and its certainly not the only one youve written. Weve seen zombie and vampire fads dominate popular media lately, but would you agree that ghosts have kept a more
consistent seat at the story sharing table? Why dont we tire of ghost
stories?
GINA: I would agree that ghosts do in fact inhabit a more consistent seat.
Ghosts will outlast any bloodthirsty vampire or brain-deprived zombie
because the idea of ghosts being present among us speaks to a collective
desire between both living and dead to remain connected. I dont know of any culture that doesnt have some kind of a position as to the presence and meaning of ghosts (either as the subject of rumor and tales or as
accepted witness of another time/day). I dont think Ill ever tire of ghost stories because I find them fascinating forays into the world of the
speculative. What happens when a person dies? Where does the soul go?

6
What happens if someone were to become stuck for a time between two
worlds? What reason would a person have for hanging around and making
noise? Is it just noise or is there some larger message meant to be pieced
together? I suspect magic realists Gabriel Garca Mrquez and Isabel
Allende found ghosts to be useful manifestations of history, of adding
complexity and texture to the narrative and to other characters. And what
better way to show the contradictions inherent in living than by rousting a
ghost who can hold up the mirror, so to speak.
AMANDA: In a 2005 interview with Writers Digest, you mentioned a special love for the short story form. Since then youve published your first novel. Now that youve experienced writing in both short and long
forms, has your view of short stories changed? What do you think the
short story form offers readers?
GINA: I dont think Ill ever abandon the short story form. In fact, when Im feeling quite stuck on a longer project (and this happens more often than I
like to admit) I go to the creative sandbox, a soup of words and images, that
place of wonder and astonishment and surprise. I go to play, to have some
low down messy fun. And inevitably Ill emerge elbow deep in story. Short stories are like a burst of fireworksenergy only momentarily contained. I cant think of a more fluid, malleable form.
LISA: Unlike many literary journals, A cappella Zoo is fiction heavy.
While we hope to appeal to a broad range of readers, our intended
primary audience is fiction readers, an idea we keep in mind even when
considering poetry for publication. Whats in store in this anthologys poetry for readers who dont normally seek out poetry?
GINA: I think that the mark of a successful piece, whether fiction, drama,
essay or poem rests in the strength of the imagery and language. The poems
in A cappella Zoo are particularly image rich, image driven. Because of this,
I find the poetry evocative and yet, accessible. These pieces are built of
blood, bone, skin, and dreams you can sink a fork and knife into.
COLIN: You were a keynote speaker at Western Seminarys 2011 Faith and Culture Writers Conference and you teach for a private Christian
university. Does being a person of faith play a role in your sense ofor approach tomagic realism?
GINA: Being a person of faith

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