THE
MASTERS REVIEW VOL III
Storied
selected by Lev Grossman. Edited by Kim Winternheimer and Sadye Teiser. $9.99
paperback (125 pages) ISBN: 978-0-9853407-2-8
To MFA
or not to MFA. The debate over the necessity of graduate-level creative writing
has been bubbling the past few years and shows no signs of stopping, and that’s
okay. One thing that graduate programs have going for them is talent like that
in The Masters Review: Volume 3. The collection of ten pieces, chosen by Lev Grossman (author of Codex and The Magicians Trilogy), is an
attempt to highlight some of the best work being produced by graduate level
writers. Thankfully, this attempt is a successful one.
What
makes this collection so strong is that the stories, when taken together, are
reacting to the human experience in such different ways. We are not seeing the
same thing over and over. Instead, we are dropped into ten different worlds
with ten different sets of characters that are shouting for us to pay attention.
The
opening story, “The Behemoth,” begins “A giant person fell out of the sky.
That’s the best we can explain it.” Immediately, readers are transported to
another place, reminiscent of Marquez’s “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings.” We as readers believe that a giant has fallen
from the sky because the author, Drew Ciccolo, makes the story not about that.
We believe it because we see the people exhibiting real human emotions in
regards to the giant. They gawk and they wonder. Their experiences are palpable
and that is what makes this an engaging piece.
In just
the span of a few pages, The Masters
Review manages to transport readers across space and time. In “The Turk,”
we meet a 1780s chess master who, for a very long time, played the game from
inside a machine—the Turk. Following his career inside the machine, the man
resorts to tutoring the rich. Alone for so long, the chess master eventually
commits an act that ends his career.
There is directness in the prose that speaks volumes of Andrew
MacDonald’s understanding of the human condition. He allows us to pity and
revile in equal turns. Nearing the end of his life, the man wonders “how many
souls the Turk will have before its death, and what a shame it is that I’ve
sold mine to a machine.” MacDonald’s character knows the repercussions of his
life and is left, in the waning hours left, to ponder them. He is alone and
broken and that comes through beautifully.
To MFA or not to
MFA. This collection may not sway a person either way, but what The Masters Review does do is show us
that contemporary prose is alive, growing, and evolving with every person that
steps into a classroom. The Masters Review shows that there are great
things on the horizon for readers of contemporary literature, it is just a
matter of time. (October 2014)
Purchase
The Masters Review Volume III HERE.
Reviewer
bio: Sam Slaughter is a writer based in Central Florida. He's had fiction and
nonfiction published in places such as Midwestern
Gothic, McSweeney's Internet Tendency,
and elsewhere. His debut chapbook, When
You Cross That Line will be published May 2015. He holds various roles for
Atticus Review, Entropy, and Black Heart Magazine. He can be found online at www.samslaughterthewriter.com
and on Twitter @slaughterwrites.
