Juncture 25 Very Good Stories and 12 Excellent Drawings

After the seventies, after a celebration of "post-modernism" which reflected the experimentation of the times— American fiction returned to a more literal form. Juncture is a book of writers (inter alia Jonathan Lethem, Heather McGowan, Colson Whitehead, Alex Shakar, Carl Hancock Rux, and Ben Marcus) who have skipped a generationa nd embracd literary experimentation: absurdist, stream-of-consciousness, science fiction, based in rhythm with the influence of poetry. This collection reflects not only the jagged rhythms of contemporary American writing but also of American life itself with all its hyphenations, its immigrants and its migrants; their editors are Filipino-American and Mexican-American respectively.
The inclusion of original art and drawings reflects the kinds of cultural hybridization that has driven many of these writers in the first place. Although the inclusion of art is commonplace in America’s leading literary journals, no contemporary literary anthologies have seriously attempted to emulate this tradition.

Lara Stapleton was born and raised in East Lansing, Michigan and lived for some time in Manila, Philippines. She received her M.A. from New York University. She currently is a part-time faculty member in the English Department at Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus and is working on her first novel. Her work has appeared in numerous journals. Lara co-edited Juncture: 25 Very Good Stories and 12 Excellent Drawings with Veronica Gonzalez and edited Thirdest World: Stories and Essays by Three Filipino Writers. She is the recipient of the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation Grant for writers and a two-time winner of the University of Michigan’s Hopwood Award for fiction. She is also the winner of the Columbia Journal fiction prize. The Lowest Blue Flame Before Nothing is her first collection of short stories.

Veronica Gonzalez Peña is a writer and filmmaker. Her latest film, Pat Steir: Artist, is an intimate and poetic first-person, character driven documentary. She is currently working on a film about Lawrence Weiner.