July 2024

My short story, “Superstars of Today,” about an incompetent journalist undermining his brutal boss, was published this month in the Spring 2024 (Vol. XXXIX, No. 3) edition of The MacGuffin, a literary magazine from Schoolcraft College in Michigan that’s been around since 1984. The piece was initially written in 2016, but I reread it earlier this year and decided to do a major rewrite.

In the case of this story, the setting is key to the narrative, and I needed a tough, legitimate location and a period setting that made sense. My intention was to lampoon those top-tier glossies and underline the devalued status of staff writers. They are the beating heart of publications but are forever fighting for recognition. New York City was the obvious place, and the 1980s felt like the ideal period. In fact, I can’t imagine it taking place anywhere else.

I didn’t experience NYC until much later, but the research side of things is always fun. My story became long, rowdy, and provocative, but fortunately, the judicious Managing Editor at The MacGuffin was happy to include it.