Last year I spit out a filthy little story called “A Trench is No Place for God,” reappropriated, for a good cause, from one of my novels-in-progress. The cause: the 2008 Nefarious Muse short fiction contest. And although this heavy little taste of that novel did not win, I am proud to say the good folks over at Cause & Effect recognized something redeeming and accepted it for their issue 12.

Author’s note:

This story fits snugly in a war-themed novel that I am working on, inspired by the Tom Waits song “Hoist that Rag.” During a 2007 writing intensive with the brilliant Craig Clevenger (The Contortionist’s Handbook, Dermaphoria, and upcoming-not-soon-enough, Saint Heretic) I reached back into this novel for a chuck I could modify as a stand-alone story. “A Trench…” was that chunk.

The best part, Clevenger had some positive things to say (“I love the exchange, a “priest” out of his depth in a very real sense, and a war victim who’s much more in control than Million would have expected… his trivial wounds in the heat of battle, his audacity to seek help in the midst of so many other more seriously wounded soldiers… I like it”), sandwiched by some genuinely helpful direction. This Cause & Effect version represents that direction.

Visit Cause & Effect, buy a copy of issue 12. Only $7.50. Consider it an investment; you can use your copy as toilet paper when the world’s supply inevitably runs out.

Last, but perhaps most important, I will take a Dremel tool to your cochlea if you do not also read Nik Korpon’s “Glass Bubbles.”

About Caleb J Ross

Caleb began writing his sophomore year of undergrad study when, tired of the formal art education then being taught, he abandoned the pursuit in the middle of a compositional drawing class. Major-less and fearful of losing his financial aid, he signed up to seek a degree in English Literature for no other reason than his lengthy history with the language. Coincidentally, this decision not only introduced him to writing but to reading as well. Prior this transition he had read three books. One of which he understood.