(PRE-ORDER) midnight & indigo - Issue #11

IN THIS ISSUE

Short Stories

In “In the Company of Remembrance by Candace Bacchus Hollingsworth, a married mother of three heeds her therapist’s advice to return home to her roots in Mississippi. A long weekend presents an opportunity to remember stories long forgotten and, most importantly, to heal.

“What Can You See” byDamilola Omotoyinbo revolves around a family and divorce. It explores the intricate balance between ordinary struggles and extraordinary abilities.

In “Virgo” by Shinelle L. Espaillat, a woman visits her estranged sister, who wants to re-enter the family after nearly two decades of silence.

“Ocean Belly” by Sabine Wilson-Patrick follows a girl living in a remote village that caters to tourists obsessed with the misconception that the residents are living in the last century. When she becomes pregnant with a child she cannot claim, the village’s ideology surrounding purity culture and colorism surfaces.

In “Betty’s Benediction” by Tonesa Jones, Betty has been cleaning up after men her whole life. When a message comes from the sky, she heads to a hilltop revival for salvation.

“The Limits of Math and Life” by Chinwe I. Ndubuka, introduces a retired mathematician and grandfather whose journey home for Father’s Day celebrations is hampered by a temperamental navigational system and a heart attack in the air. During the experience, he reflects on his life, which, unlike math has been anything but orderly.

“Migration” by Cuba Ukoh is told in three parts. It follows only child of an affluent businessman and political aspirant who has recently been imprisoned for embezzlement. As her family migrates from one city to another in hopes of escaping the humiliation of the national scandal, her journey forces her to seek her own identity.

In “Love and Sachet of Joo Joo” by Shari Lynn Poindexter, Ree Ree, wakes with a vision and decides to use any and everything at hand to keep her man. All her life, Ree Ree watched desperate women seek get-him-back remedies and knew exactly what she needed to do. But when she finally gets her hands on the joojoo, she has an awakening.

When Taci finds out her husband is also married to another woman, she decides to divorce him, but the locals—her father, a judge, and the elders—stand in her way, in “Jaana” byBanchiwosen Woldeyesus.

In “Mother’s Love” by Chalise Latimer, a mother isn’t always who birthed you. What does it mean when the one who did, tells you the truth?

Essay

On a work trip to Tokyo, Nathania Seales Oh met and visited with an aging Japanese man who had been her Jamaican grandmother’s pen pal for over forty years. After connecting on a Greyhound bus traveling across the United States that took her grandmother away from her disappointing marriage and him toward his future schooling, they would never see each other again. Her essay, Porcelain Dolls, explores her experience, halfway around the world, acting as emotional surrogate for them both.