aaduna folks are working round the clock to construct the spring 2016 issue and will be doing “such work” for the next few weeks.   Mid-late May is the timeline for us to bring to you another diverse array of poets, writers, and visual artists.   As quiet as we try to keep it, we are tripping over each other with excitement because this issue’s content will challenge, inspire, captivate and prompt re-reads. Team aaduna preparing for launch!  Photo by:  Lisa Brennan Ready?   Let’s kick-off what we want to share from the pending issues…bits and pieces, snippets, observations, and more.       Out of Canada, comes a voice that captivates… Philippe Desruisseaux’s story, “An Adventure with Archibald.” Here is a snippet from the start of the story:     Mike, a teenager with black and purple under his left eye, was in a very dignified neighborhood of well-landscaped lawns without any toys in them. The only unkempt lawn was David Mercer who only minded his lawn twic

Now we are not trying to hype a piece of fiction by comparing it to the fight of all fights that left many boxing fans disappointed and lawsuits flying.   What we are saying that Marc D Regan’s fiction, “Goin Up the Country” offers a story rooted in cultural and social nuances that many of us may never experience.   The story packs a punch with “down home” language.  It jabs with literary nuances and a boxer’s prizefighting stance.   You will have to decide whether or not it hits below the belt.   With a provocative style and realistic framework, here is how  Regan’s story kicks off in aaduna's upcoming issue: Sparky: First the pivotal fact:   I was burned.   Severely.   At my sixteenth birthday party.   Monkey business gone awry, involving a group of unknown assailants, flammable liquid, and actual fire.   Probably a discarded cigarette butt.   That was four years back.   A twisted road stretches between that fateful July night and this September night, a road littere

Delve into an atmosphere of deceit, silence, acceptance, and transformation in Sarah Khan’s story, “A Knotted Piece of Rope” in aaduna’s spring 2015 anniversary issue. Ms. Khan weaves a story that is timely and full of denial, mis-understanding, abuse, and love. Here is a short excerpt:   I was always hyper sensitive to my father’s approaching footsteps, all the time wondering what it was this time that I did wrong and how he managed to get it done right. My mother, a teacher in a government school was a hand to mouth sort of person who seemed to live under the family’s same roof like some deaf or dumb entity. How could she be so insensitive? I wondered that whenever I looked at her busying herself in the kitchen cooking dinner while father rampaged throughout the house like an angry ox, looking for some misplaced possession of his. She seemed to have sewn her lips together whenever father bellowed at her over silly pointless things. With me standing in a corner watching the

“Medina Kids,” by Enrico Gaveglia (© kikontheroad.wordpress.com)  www.aaduna.org As aaduna, Inc. looks to its fifth year of publishing aaduna in 2015, we are pondering and reflecting on how we conduct business.   What do I mean?   Well, we avoid doing the self-aggrandizing promotions that a variety of online publications put in the public arena.   We do not publish testimonials.   We put our contributors first, and always position them in front of the public’s eye, keeping the journal in a secondary but important role.   We tell the story about who we are solely in requested interviews.   We make a conscious attempt to grow our influence on a grassroots effort, one person at a time, one community at a time, one country at a time.   OK, we do try to “blow up” the number of countries where the aaduna community has a readership and have made no pretentions about our goal of being in every country on the globe.   And even with that, until we are able to publish in multiple

Lindsey Ferrentino (photo provided) Last week, The Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award announced a special citation of excellence,   its first such honor, for playwright Lindsey Ferrentino and her new work, “Ugly Lies the Bone,” which will be staged in the fall at the Roundabout Underground in New York City.   Ms. Ferrentino will receive $25,000 and the Roundabout Theater Company will receive $50,000 for production costs.    Lindsey’s short story, “ Dragon Woman” was published in aaduna’s winter/spring 2013 Second Anniversary issue.   Her fiction also appeared in New York Magazine . The aaduna community extends its Congratulations and Best Wishes to Ms. Ferrentino on this prestigious recognition! Lindsey's bio:   http://www.lindseyferrentino.com/biography.html

“Where’s Waldo?” “Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?” We don’t know about Waldo or Carmen!   But currently, aaduna is read in 80 countries around the world!   We've been discovered in the following countries thus far: Argentina, Austria, Australia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Benin, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Canada, China, Columbia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Saint Lucia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, United Arab E

We always like names that are mysterious enough that you really don’t know what that name actually represents.   Let’s be real…I mean is Kat Kruse the name of a luxury yacht, a hip boutique hotel in a fun city, a destination spot in the Caribbean, the name of the latest after hours club for the trendy set, a modernistic tattoo etched across someone’s lower back? Knowing that this is aaduna , you probably surmise that the name is somehow connected to a literary or artistic genre. Well, in aaduna's forthcoming issue, you will find out all about Kat Kruse. Here is an excerpt from her fiction work, "Rashad Sees the Future" to whet your appetite: A respected neighbor had read Rashad’s palm when he was two. The seer proclaimed loneliness, obesity and longing, though no one ever told the boy. At sixteen, fair-skinned and surrounded by friends, his parents shipped him off to America to live with a cousin. They wanted to spare themselves the pain of watching his f

The wait is over!   Breakout the Champagne! ~ Photo by:  Lisa Brennan, aaduna visual art editor/website manager   aaduna Volume 4/Issue 2 Cover Art "Untitled," oil on canvas, by Judita Pamfil (c) 2014 The aaduna 2014 summer issue, Vol. 4, No. 2 is now available. Visit www.aaduna.org and enjoy! aaduna-Inc  Visit regularly for updates ! @aadunaspeaks