Â鶹¹ú²úAV

Horsemouth and Aquariumhead by Elizabeth Horner Turner ’98

September 20, 2024

Tags Alumni Book

This literary chapbook of flash fiction — essentially a short book of 12 very short stories — includes tales of longing and desire for escape. “Whether the characters yearn for a different, unknown life, or they wish themselves out of something else, Turner’s surreal yet relatable collection offers glimpses to the depths beneath, above, or in-between our own domestic realities,” notes the publisher.

For example, one woman purchases a train ticket to a town that may or may not actually exist. Another discovers her life’s purpose through a burgeoning friendship with earnest dry-cleaning bags. A failing circus is organized around the sole act of unstoppering bottles of laughter.

As one review writes, “When Elizabeth Horner Turner takes our 21st-century malaise and loneliness and blends it with her particular kind of fable, the result, Horsemouth and Aquariumhead, is medicinal. Working with the bizarre and fanciful, Turner builds realms — the milk-stained playground, the relationship checkout stand — that return texture and color to a world gone gray. A woman turns into a snail and watches her family from the garden … A car parade of amphibious girls leaves behind spiky seashells instead of exhaust … To me, these stories are asking again and again, Can we reach each other? And I think behind every sentence Turner is saying yes, yes we can. Although communion is rare in these stories, the effort to connect is made muscularly, magically, over and over. Such a beautiful collection!”

The author's work has been published in journals such as Cutbank, Fairy Tale Review, Gulf Coast, Lost Balloon, and trampset, and it has also been selected for inclusion in Best Small Fictions and Wigleaf’s Top 50 and Long List.