The Final Issue Is Big and Fat and Full of Goodies

Some time around the Y2K scramble my daughter gifted me with a copy of Tin House Magazine: Issue 11 if I recall. Since then I have acquired and buried one wife, experienced one pesky stroke, gained a son-in-law and two delightful grand-children, read a few books, received social security, surrendered my driver’s license, and moved to northern Florida (certainly apostacy for a Southern California boy).

I filled in those earlier issues of Tin House and have several shelves next to my bed dedicated to all twenty years of the publication.

Sad to see it go.

Editor’s note on the final, double issue:

After two decades of publication, Tin House releases The Final Issue, featuring new stories, poems, and essays by Tin House writers from throughout our twenty-year history.

“Twenty years ago I believed that stories, poems, and essays could build bridges and save lives. I still believe this. Thank you for sharing the dream with us. I can’t wait to read what you write next.”

Table of Contents

Fiction
Karen Russell
THE GONDOLIERS

Anthony Doerr
THE MASTER’S CASTLE

Kelly Link
THE GIRL WHO DID NOT KNOW FEAR

Aimee Bender
BLAME

Etgar Keret, translated by Sondra Silverston
LADDER

J. Jezewska Stevens
THE FURNACE ROOM

Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Jennifer Croft
DRESS REHERSAL

Marie Helene-Bertino
CAN ONLY HOUSES BE HAUNTED?

Elizabeth McKenzie
DOGPATCH

Joan Silber
FREEDOM FROM WANT

Bridget Chiao Clerkin
ABYSSAL GIGANTISM

Nonfiction
Matthew Dickman
FROM ABC

Lewis Hyde
FROM A PRIMER FOR FORGETTING

Poetry
Matthew Zapruder
ROSEANNE BARR
POEM FOR HARM

Sharon Olds
ANIMAL CRACKERS
THE FIRST TIME
I THINK MY MOTHER
LANDING IN SAN FRANCISCO ON THE WAY TO THE COMMUNITY
WRITERS (WITH A LINE BY TOM WAITS)

Lucie Brock-Broido
FOREHEAD, AFRAID, OVERHEARING ITSELF

CJ Evans
WHAT THE SEAS WOULD MAKE US

Nick Flynn
I WILL DESTROY YOU

D. A. Powell
BACKSTAGE WITH KAREN BLACK
AT THE DELUXE
WIND AND FOG GARDEN

Ruth Madievsky
THERE IS NO LAKE
THE LONELINESS IS COMING FROM INSIDE MY BODY

Louise Mathias
IN THE POEM NO ONE KNOWS IS ABOUT ME, I’M PRETTY MUCH PREY
THE ROAD IS THE SICKNESS AND THE CURE

Rebecca Lindenberg
ODE TO ANTHONY BOURDAIN

Maya C. Popa
AMERICAN COWBOY

Colson Whitehead
THREE HAIKU

James Tate
THE COW AND THE BUTTERFLIES
SECOND CHILDHOOD
O JOSEPHINA

sam sax
MEMORY

Brenda Hillman
(PEOPLE’S EMOTIONS IN ONE CITY BLOCK)

Christopher Soto
TWO LOVERS IN PERFECT // SYNCHRONICITY

Antonio López
AUBADE EN PORTLANDIA

Elizabeth Dodd
SOOT PARTICLES CONTRIBUTE TWICE AS MUCH
GLOBAL WARMING AS PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT

John Kinsella
WILD SOUNDS!

Khadijah Queen
I SLEPT WHEN I COULDN’T MOVE

Janée J. Baugher
ANDREW WYETH’S FOOTNOTES TO MARRIAGE, 1993
ANDREW WYETH’S FOOTNOTES TO CHRISTINA’S WORLD, 1948

Katie Condon
PRACTICING DIGRESSIONS
PARABLE

Matthew Kramer
YOGA SOLILOQUY

Joshua Marie Wilkinson
BIG HORN RIVER, MONTANA

Aimee Nezhukumatathil & Ross Gay
FROM SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT TREES

Daniel Johnson
INSHALLAH

Adrian Matejka
HEARING DAMAGE
HEARING DAMAGE

Derrick Austin
IS THIS OR IS THIS TRUE AS HAPPINESS

Arielle Greenberg
PASTORAL: RE-PLEAT
PASTORAL: DID YOU HAVE A MIDLIFE CRISIS ON TOP OF YOUR MIDLIFE CRISIS

Nathaniel Dolton-Thornton
WONDER

Iris Jamahl Dunkle
HISTORY OF THE INDIAN WARS AS SEEN FROM THE 1980S
FIELD GUIDE TO THE LOST SPECIES OF CALIFORNIA

Joanna Klink
ON ABIDING

Alison Pelegrin
MY SNATCH IS PRETTY GOOD

Victoria Chang
OBIT: VICTORIA CHANG
OBIT: MEMORY

1999
Vanessa Veselka
FUCK ’90S NOSTALGIA

Michelle Orange
VIVE LA VIE

Brian Blanchfield
THE YEAR IN LETTERS

Joshua Cohen
ANALOG 1999

Nam Le
THREE SCENES

Ander Monson
OUT OF TIME

Elena Passarello
PRE-MILLENNIUM TENSION

Lost & Found
Fran Tirado
ON DR. CHARLES SILVERSTEIN’S THE JOY OF GAY SEX

Danielle Evans
ON BETTY SMITH’S A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN

Matthew Specktor
ON MICHAEL ONDAATJE’S IN THE SKIN OF A LION

Karen Shepard
ON LISA SHEA’S HULA

Manuel Gonzales
ON BOB SHACOCHIS’S DOMESTICITY: A GASTRONOMIC INTERPRETATION OF LOVE

Last Word
Elissa Schappell
TROUBLE MAKER