I thought the title worked: it seemed a bit oblique, but that was the way it had to be.
I was extremely impressed, wowed by, the production quality: everything from the binding to the cover illustration and design, to the layout and editing of the volume. This was a beautiful, tough, well-edited and beautifully presented professional publication, with the production quality of a book published by a major publisher. I think the writers published in BR are lucky to have their work brought out in such a publication, a real tribute to the hard work and vision of the editors, the editorial team.
All the stories were well worth reading. It was amazing to have Dennis McFadden's final story included in the collection, and it was an interesting tale. I especially enjoyed the edgy stories by Feyisayo Anjorin, taking us into the nightlife of Lagos. Very well narrated. I immediately read this story a second time. I also enjoyed the Brett Easton Ellis-sharply narrated High Desert by Matt Graham: I thought his prose really had that propulsive quality that worked for the subject matter. Lost Time didn't quite work for me, but I did find it interesting to read how the writer tried to make the time travel tale work--it was an accomplished effort. I was highly amused by the Learning to Cook story by Karen Regegn-Tuero, even though I was able to predict the ending, because it was just so amusing to see things happen that way, with all the past guys showing up in a new present: highly amusing. After the Rain fit nicely with this overall theme of Rouge, of the old romance returning: sometimes it happens that way: we are ready for the person the second time around. The same goes for Let's Go Back: the thematic unity of the volume was again reinscribed by this story of the old lovers coming bouncing back and this story captured our ambiguous feelings about these reencounters. I thought Beyond the Boundaries, too, was an interesting take on these romances, and it captured a very unusual couple of characters bound by an unusual love that does not conquer sterner realities about responsibility, but it reminds us that love itself does not know boundaries, not the affection, even if our moral sense is forced to take precedence, to assert a higher boundary. Three Summers at the Villa took us into an old worldish sort of setting that didn't resonate with me, but the writer skillfully laid out the progress of this romance and the uncomfortable way we try to adapt to the relatives of our lovers. I enjoyed the New York setting and the standup background of "Boxes" and also the idea that we do live in boxes and put others in them, trying always to get 'beyond the box' and be free of it and them.
Overall, this was a very interesting collection of stories bound by a theme that is universal and very human.
