In April 2015, B.K. Stevens debuted the blog series “The First Two Pages,” hosting craft essays by short story writers and novelists analyzing the openings of their own work. The series continued until just after her death in August 2017, and the full archive of those essays can be found at Bonnie’s website. In November 2017, the blog series relocated to my website, and the archive of this second stage of the series can be found here.
For the final “First Two Pages” of the year, I’m thrilled to welcome Angel Luis Colón, a writer whose work I’ve admired for many years. The first of Angel’s short stories I read was “First Timer’s Club” in All Due Respect, which also published “Separation Anxiety,” the story he discusses in his essay here. Both stories are now part of his collection Meat City on Fire (And Other Assorted Debacles), just released by Down & Out Books.
Angel’s No Happy Endings was a finalist for last year’s Anthony Award for Best Novella, alongside “The Last Blue Glass” by B.K. Stevens, who originally started the “First Two Pages” blog series. In addition to that book and his new collection, Angel is the author of the Blacky Jaguar novellas. Find out more about his work on his website, or follow him on Twitter at @GoshDarnMyLife.
Please use the arrows and controls at the bottom of the embedded PDF to navigate through the essay. You can also download the essay here to read off-line.
Colon Separation Anxiety
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