Author: Briana McGuckin

Cat Links Poor Yorick Blog

“This Piece Just Didn’t Grab Me:” Reflections on Rejection from the (Former) Editor

Posted on Briana McGuckin

As the Poor Yorick Editor, I didn’t want to wear an ermine cape. I went into the experience steeled against the allure of a power trip, but I didn’t need to worry. When I ascended those steps on which I’d been kneeling and turned around to survey submissions, I realized I couldn’t see for crap. The clearest sense I had was of my limitations. … Continue reading“This Piece Just Didn’t Grab Me:” Reflections on Rejection from the (Former) Editor

image of chain link fencing hanging between two cement posts, over slate path
Cat Links Nonfiction

“4 Objects, 21 Lessons,” by Steven Wingate

Posted on Briana McGuckin

“Freshly divorced, I drive from Miami, Florida, to Durham, New Hampshire, with my new girlfriend, who is headed for grad school there. We arrive a day early and decide to spend a night at Ogunquit Beach in southern Maine, a place I’d enjoyed greatly with my ex-wife and now want to reclaim as a single man. A depressed man. A browbeaten man. But a single man, choked with possibility.” … Continue reading“4 Objects, 21 Lessons,” by Steven Wingate

Cat Links Art & Photography

Excerpts from THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF ADMIRAL DOT, by Nance Van Winckel

Posted on Briana McGuckin

This series, which I call The Further Adventures of Admiral Dot, combines two sources. One is a set of newspaper illustrations published in 1915 as part of a publication called “How Man Learned to Fly.” (I found these on the PBS website.) The other source is Wonderful Balloon Ascents, by Fulgence Marion, published in 1870. These pages I found on the Public Domain Review website – my go-to place for source materials. … Continue readingExcerpts from THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF ADMIRAL DOT, by Nance Van Winckel

Cat Links Fiction

“My Brother’s Brother,” by Austin Adams

Posted on Briana McGuckin

At 4:44 a.m. on Monday, May the 2nd, as many as four or as few as two assailants forcibly entered 1319 Paige Ring Court, smashing a plate-glass door at the back of the house to gain entry. Once inside, they rifled through drawers, dressers, closets, at some point overturning three chairs in the den, elsewhere toppling an armoire and credenza – ‘credenza’ is misspelled on the report – and, on or around the hour, murdered Jim, Marianne, and Arianna Thompson, 58, 56, 14, by strangulation. … Continue reading“My Brother’s Brother,” by Austin Adams