The summer 2011 issue of Sphere Literary Magazine features poetry, fiction, and nonfiction that illuminate simple subjects with precise details. Feeling overshadowed by a brother, a young soldier’s first battle, and even a drive down the highway all find new resonance in storytelling here through the observations of our contributing writers. Undergraduates run into the telling detail time and time again, and this issue features a commanding group of voices who effectively call those details to order and make them work in refreshing ways. Our writers have transformed everything from spiders to church hymnals, and they’ve given us a better appreciation for the nuts and bolts of what we do.