Punching Jackie

3.5/5 ( ratings)

In Matt Sumell's “Punching Jackie,” he exposes a broken promise to a dying mother: never abuse a woman. Sumell carefully unties and catalogs each thread that is woven into a moment of violence. In this forensic act, he quantifies the multitude of forces that move Alby, his alter ego, to punch his sister. How many moments lead to that moment? How many old feelings, wounds, frustrated ambitions, petty slights, rivalries, and even neurological and biochemical processes fed into that sudden fire? - Andy Hunter, Electric Literature

About the Author: Matt Sumell is a graduate of UC Irvine’s MFA Program in Writing, and his short fiction has since appeared in The Paris Review, Esquire, Electric Literature, Noon, McSweeney’s, One Story and elsewhere. His first collection, Making Nice, is forthcoming mid-February, and he’s currently working on a non-fiction piece for Esquire.

About the Publisher: Electric Literature is an independent publisher amplifying the power of storytelling through digital innovation. Electric Literature’s weekly fiction magazine, Recommended Reading, invites established authors, indie presses, and literary magazines to recommended great fiction. Once a month we feature our own recommendation of original, previously unpublished fiction.