Rachel Sherman, "The Reaper"

A girl born with unhideable birthmarks on her face pins her fancy on her dirty-minded soldier-pen pal.

(from N+1, number 2)

Kind of a sad little story with no subplots but plenty of moments that leave you wondering and invested. Not much more to say, except it was well-written and left you rooting for and understanding the main character better than the other people in her life.

I had never heard of this magazine (web site here), but Lori Hill gave me a copy because, hey, it's got some fiction in it. Not too shabby. N+1 describes itself as "a twice-yearly print journal of politics, literature, and culture." Of course it is based in New York City, because very few people who write or publish also want to ride a bike to work. Man. Look at that big ugly generalization.