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The Standard

The Measure of Fine Fiction

Vol. I · No. II · Spring/Summer Issue

The Vortex Edition

Five masterworks and two essays on the force that will not be reasoned with. Poe's fisherman is pulled into a whirlpool that has already taken his brother and his boat, and his terror does not deepen: it converts, into curiosity, into attention. Every figure in these pages is inside a vortex of their own.

Published
June 16, 2026
Volume
I · No. II
Extent
110 pages
Pieces
7
Cover of The Standard, Volume I, Number II: The Vortex Edition

Contents

Five Masterworks

  1. The Birthmarkby Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by James Russell Lowellp. 8
  2. On the Indispensability of Reading and Writingby Frederick Douglass, edited by Self-editedp. 12
  3. Neighbour Rosickyby Willa Cather, edited by Gertrude Battles Lanep. 18
  4. A Descent into the Maelströmby Edgar Allan Poe, edited by Self-editedp. 42
  5. “Miss Grief”by Constance Fenimore Woolson, edited by John Foster Kirkp. 68

Two Essays

  1. Unintentional Crueltyby Tim Grahl, edited by Shawn Coynep. 58
  2. Reaching Toward The Standardby Shawn Coyne, edited by Tim Grahlp. 82

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