Recommended.

Like Water Burning is a new independent literary journal published by a crew who affectionately refer to themselves as “The Hot Water Squad.” The editorial team seems to reside in Long Beach, California. Issue one is 184-page perfect-bound affair that sparks with flair and promise. It contains seventeen works fiction and non-, though mainly the former.

As with any collection by varied authors, some stories are bound to appeal to a particular reader’s taste more than others. David Cristofano writes a story titled about two men searching through the bureaucratic technicalities of the afterlife that starts with tremendous promise but loses its way toward the end. I enjoyed Peter Selgin’s “The Sinking Ship Man,”’ about the last survivor of a famous wrecked ocean liner, as well as Miki Howald’s “Mono No Aware,” about love lost. Gregory Spatz’s “Reason Given” is a very, very good tale about an awkward man pained by his own lack of genius, and the highlight of the collection. Sarah Bartlett pulls off second-person narration in her story “Domesticity” without seeming showy, which is a notable accomplishment.

At ten bucks from likewaterburning.com, Issue One is a good deal. It’s available in two page color options — ‘virgin white’ and ‘cream pudding’ — a fact unknown to me as I read my white review copy. The virgin nature of its pages failed to eroticize the reading experience in any discernible way.