McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, Issue 21

McSweeney’s

Never mind that the cover art alone is always worthwhile. Inside each issue of McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern is magic waiting to happen. If literary journals aren’t usually your cup of tea, the Concern, Issue 21, represents a good time to make an exception. Highly original pen-and-ink storyboards, works by Roddy Doyle, Joyce Carol Oates and Arthur Bradford, and the stories—of fistfighting Mormons and a guy named Trang—are undeniably modern. In the tradition of The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Granta, and other literary magazine staples, McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern is making stellar contributions to the American short story catalogue. The young publishing house is still paying its dues, but its journal consistently contains enough talent to be worth following.