A little behind the curve of awareness, but I found this review by The Fix, a short fiction review site, that went over the Art Issue, where my story, Even Songbirds Are Kept in Cages was included.
Here’s what they had to say about it.
““Even Songbirds Are Kept in Cages” by Josh Vogt, one of two non-art inspired stories in this issue. An unnamed first-person narrator recounts how his father buys a “mockingbird lady,” part bird and part human woman, and locks her up in the attic to sing for the family. The narrator, a young boy with a kind heart, determines to free her, despite his fear of his father and his concerns over what became of his mother.
The relationship between missing mother and forbidding father is actually the main weak point of “Even Songbirds Are Kept in Cages.” Contradictory hints are dropped, and the narrator’s father never quite gels as a character. The narrator, his brother, and the mockingbird lady, on the other hand, are all vividly written, and the narrator’s relationship with the mockingbird lady is affecting. He comes up with an interesting plan to free her, and the ending of the piece indicates he might have freed his family from the weight of their past as well. That part of the resolution might be stronger if that past weren’t quite so vague.”
The full review can be read here.
I see that smile.