Congratulations to each of you, who made it into this issue. I hope that your work continues to find good homes, and that Volney Road Review grows more rapidly under the incoming editors. 

-McKayla Anne Rockwell, Assistant Editor”

While visiting friends we hadn’t seen in five years, they gave me two self-published books. The first, If I Can Help Somebody by Ceola Brown Loan (2020) was such a delight, I couldn't stop thinking about who I wanted to share it with. Her uplifting true stories about chance encounters that changed hers and others’ lives are what the world needs more of. I gather there is a round two in the works. It’s a fast read that’s better than xx.

The second gift, Fever! And Other Stories from the Land of Mobutu by Peter Loan (2020) is a step into another time and place: formerly Zaire, in the 1970s. These short fiction pieces about the Peace Corps are based on the experiences the author had working over 35 years in 45 countries. Although the unfamiliar names and places were confusing at times, the gist of each story came through clearly. There were and still are good people doing good things all over the world. It’s also a quick read that left me wishing for more.

Finally, in the we-like-what-we-like category, I put Laurie Halse Anderson’s Forge ((2010) on hold and it came to my branch library as a 7 CD set. I immediately recognized it as the sequel to her riveting Chains (2008). It’s the kind of book that I would have devoured, but for whatever reason, I didn’t have the patience to listen to.

blog post. https://rokeefehistory.com/blog #amreading; #RochesterNY; #VolneyRoadReview;  #ceolaBrownloan; #PeterLoan; #Forge; #LaurieHAnderson;