Journey to Merveilleux City

Almost teaching credentialed graduate student Mackinnon Flores sets off on a vintage train from Narrow Interior Massachusetts to Merveilleux City, Quebec to attend a pipe band convention. Barely underway, he feels obliged to help an aggravating, but intriguing young woman named Allison, who may or may not be a goth, and who may or may not be able to turn into an octopus. Allison claims she has lost her travelling companion, an elderly gentleman named Gabriel whom she met on the platform. No one else on the train remembers seeing him. As they search the compartments for this possibly imaginary acquaintance, Mack and Allison find themselves careening towards a confrontation that seems at once artificial, familiar, and dangerous.

About the author
Stephanie Barbé Hammer is a 7-time Pushcart Prize nominee in fiction, nonfiction and poetry. She recently moved to Santa Barbara with her husband, writer Larry Behrendt, and she rejoices daily in her ability to walk to coffee and Trader Joe's.