By Lookout Staff
October 9, 2025 -- Sadness and longing run through the 11 stories and two essays in the latest issue of the Santa Monica Review (SMR), the esteemed literary journal published twice yearly by Santa Monica College (SMC).
The pieces, which "also communicate a possibility of redemption and insight," were written by a mix of longtime contributors and established writers, mostly from the West Coast.
Among the characters in the stories is a "hapless young influencer whose quest for stardom is assisted by a natural disaster" and an undertaker who "confronts a larger than death life in the allegorical medical case study of a cadaver."
“We might call this the death, disappearance, and disaster issue,” says Review editor Andrew Tonkovich. “There are ghosts, dead bodies, and lost people in these stories and essays.
"I like to think they’re mourned, resuscitated, and celebrated. As usual, our contributors have their fingers on the pulse of the zeitgeist, or in this case, their artistic finger on its corpse.”
Tonkovich will serve as the Emcee of a launch party on Sunday, October 26 that features a special welcome by writer Stephen Cooper ("River of Angels") and readings by four contributors to the current issue.
Tickets for the event -- which takes place from 5 to 7 p.m. at The Edye at the SMC Performing Arts Center on 11th Street and Santa Monica Boulevard -- cost a suggested donation of $10 and are available at smc.edu/tickets.
Refreshments will be served, and copies of SMR will be available for purchase, event organizers said.
Reading at the launch party are Abby Walthausen, Garrett Saleen, Mona Leigh Rose and Diana Wagman.
Garrett Saleen's short story in the current issue "expands perspective and empathy to nonhuman creatures where love transcends ownership."
Meanwhile, acclaimed Los Angeles novelist Diana Wagman "considers, wryly and hilariously, our obligations with and responsibilities to the dead."
“I did not arrive at a body count until I reread the entire issue," said Tonkovich, who hosts the weekly show Bibliocracy Radio on KPFK (90.7 FM).
"Many stories are comic, of course. All are smart and often offer moral instruction," Tonkovich said. "The contributors to this issue insist on an honest accounting of our moment.”
Additional events scheduled to celebrate the new issue are listed on the SMR website and include the Alabaster Anniversary: Celebrating 37 Years of the Santa Monica Review.
The event, which features readings by recent contributors, takes place on November 22 at 2 p.m. at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, 681 N. Venice Boulevard in Venice.
Founded by SMC English instructor Jim Krusoe, a novelist, poet and short story writer, Santa Monica Review is the only nationally distributed literary magazine published by a U.S. community college.
Santa Monica Review is sold online at the SMR website (smc.edu/sm_review), and in print editions at the SMC Campus Store and select area booksellers, as well as via mail. The publication costs $14 per issue or $25 for the two issues each year.