Women on the edge, writing from the edge


On one of my weekly treks to the Noveltown postal hub where big puffy packages arrive full of books, I opened Women on the Edge Writing from Los Angeles, edited by Samantha Dunn and Julianne Ortale. Dunn sent the book of short stories for N.L. Belardes of Noveltown to read and review. Good thing he never got the chance.

The title, Women on the Edge, and the Andy Warhol-style pop art faces of the women authors on the book cover called out to me as if they knew what I needed to know: revelations in writing and life from women writers.

I discovered compelling literary stories from women who have experienced hard lives, emotional times, strange events, unexpected turns and twists, and women who were unafraid to face obstacles. After reading such haunting stories I can easily say Belardes is not getting this book back.



Janet Fitch, author of White Oleander, wrote the foreword for Women on the Edge.

I pondered one of her quotes:

“Out here on the perimeter, there are no stars. Out here we is stoned, immaculate.”~The Doors, from L.A. Woman

Not a huge Doors fan, I wondered how a rock music quote could encapsulate women on the edge, writing from the edge. With each story I read, the subtle nuances, the profound moments, the hard emotions, and Fitch’s words in the foreword about these stories and women authors echoed true. Women on the Edge stories were about women at varying stages of life experiencing the beauty of life at its messiest.

I found myself living through the characters as if their experiences were my own. I understood Mrs. Poovey’s need to feel useful and needed again in Julianne Ortale’s Milk, and Debbie’s ostracization as a school girl in Aimee Bender’s Debbieland, or having to put a grandmother away in a home in Dylan Landis’ Rose, or wanting to know if love is somewhere in your future in Liz Gonzalez’s Destiny, and dealing with the loss of a loved one in Jody Hauber’s Between the Dog and the Wolf. These were stories from the heart about women whom I felt I was or had been at some point in my life.



The characters haunted me. So did the writing. I was just as enthralled with the language, beautiful prose and fine sentences expertly disguised within the hard, dark and emotional circumstances of each story.

In the end, I realize the beauty of Women on the Edge is the stories within tell a tale of what it is to be a woman. And that story links the contributing women authors and characters to women everywhere out on the edge, which is life.


Samantha Dunn - Photo by: Lupe Fernandez

You will want to read these stories!

Women on the Edge Writing from Los Angeles
Authors/Stories:
Karen Horn, Levinium 241
Julianne Ortale, Milk
Erin Julia McGuire, Crowfeathers
Aimee Bender, Debbieland
Samantha Dunn, Going Green
Lindsay Fitzgerald, Hunger
Dylan Landis, Rose
Lisa Teasley, Magda in Rosarito, Beached
Lisa Glatt, Ludlow
Abby Mims, Me and Mr. Jones
Michelle Latiolais, Boys
Rachel Resnick, Meat-Eaters of Marrakesh
Liz Gonzalez, Destiny
Anita Santiago, Flying Blind
Carol Muske-Dukes, Contraband
Rochelle Low, Where Angels Tread
Jody Hauber, Between the Dog and the Wolf
Mary Rakow, The Memory Room

Recently, I had the opportunity to talk with Samantha Dunn about Women on the Edge Writing from Los Angeles and how this wonderful collection of short stories came together.

(Read the full blog and the interview with Samantha Dunn on Noveltown's blog Papaerback Writer.)

Labels: literary fiction, Los Angeles, Noveltown, Samantha Dunn, short stories, The Doors, women on the edge, Women on the Edge Writing from Los Angeles, women's fiction, Writing, writing from the edge

  posted by Matildakay at 7:32 PM