“I am four when the door at the top of the stairs is opened to me for the first time. Mother has invited friends over—men who smell of tobacco smoke, women who reek the scent of too many flowers stuffed into a glass jar. They clutch handbags and hats, and fill up the front parlor with a mix of cigarette smoke and fear. I am too young to understand when I walk into the blue-papered room.
Their eyes are sunken, desperate, dead.”
“Beatification of the Second Fall” is live at Apex Magazine. I am so excited and happy and scared and proud. This story sold last June and I’ve been looking forward to it coming out since then. I am so humble that the folks at Apex picked it up, worked with me through edits and are putting it out. Did you SEE that cover? And the other folks in it?
Beatification started while I was in Graduate School. It grew out of a class I went to taught by my friend Devin. It’s a little southern gothic. It’s a lot about making peace with your parents (a theme of mine) and mothers in a big-picture kind of way. It’s finding your purpose and being comfortable in your own skin. It’s about holding onto hope when it seems pointless.
I hope you enjoy it.
You can check it out online here:
http://www.apex-magazine.com/beatification-of-the-second-fall/
Sean R. Robinson 
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