The sentence is the building block of story, and of course a first sentence carries an extraordinary burden. We found that, as we read through these opening lines, our affection for each story was re-awakened. Something of the full work is there, almost like a miniature model of the whole. Maybe it’s the voice of the protagonist, the hint of a critical relationship, the introduction of a distinctive conceit. Reading them all together, we are deeply appreciative—and a little amazed—that we had the opportunity to publish them all in these first ten months of Stoneslide.

As we near the year’s end, we wish to thank you, readers, for spending time here reading the awesome stories by the writers we’ve been lucky enough to work with. We also want to thank those writers; in the coming days we will revisit work that has graced these electronic pages since Stoneslide began on […]

With the year coming to a close, it’s natural to take a look back and assess what’s gone right and what’s gone wrong. Who are we to fight human nature? We’ve tried before and learned that it’s a bad idea. Especially when human nature could also be called “our wives.”