On "Something More Interesting" by Tara Laskowski (2435 words) ****

Heidi is out to make some changes in her life. What is interesting to me about this is that we get to see her make those changes. She's suffered a breakup with a boyfriend, who has offered her various reasons. It seems we'd more likely, in a story, get the things leading up to the breakup. Or we'd get a story about someone coming to terms with the breakup. Instead, Laskowski sets up her character with a self-improvement regimen, of sorts. Heidi's life is changing, but what that means we don't really know. Read the story here at Corium.

On "The Etiquette of Adultery" by Tara Laskowski (1140 words) ****

Written like portions of a how-to manual, the creatively wrought piece tells a story of longing. It's about a woman with a lover she can't bring to social functions and whose celebrations she can't share.

The other day I was on the phone with an acquaintance of mine, and she was bemoaning the fact that I didn't celebrate the major holidays. That makes it hard to date, she noted. I had to agree. Times past, I've known many a nice woman, but our core customs and values were not the same, and so a relationship beyond friendship wasn't really in the offing, even if we spent lots of time together, even if we claimed to love each other on some level.

Reading this story, I see that the situation of the adulteress is in some ways similar. Hooked to this man, she feels a desire for family, for shared times, for things she cannot have, and yet she spends hours with him, days, parts of her life. He's there for her, and he's not. Read the story here at Necessary Fiction.