The Princess of All Princesses
So glad to see that Best American Nonrequired Reading 2014 editor David Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) has named Alice Stern’s “The Princess of All Princesses,” published last year in Santa Monica Review, as a notable story! It’s one of the finest pieces of fiction I’ve seen in years.
I was lucky enough to be in a workshop with Alice at Squaw Valley in the summer of 2012, when she brought this story in. Last year, I wrote this blog post about the excitement I felt upon reading it–and seeing it published not long after.
I mean, c'mon, how often does a single story get you that worked up?
(Alice Stern has other fine work in several literary journals, including a prize-winning piece, which I also saw in draft, forthcoming in Roanoke Review.)
I highly recommend Santa Monica Review as a literary journal focusing on prose, and listed it in my Standout Reads 2013 post. You can’t go wrong ordering the Spring 2013 SMR issue, where Alice Stern’s story is featured.
