For the tenth year in a row, we’re kicking off the reading year with a set of short stories hand-picked by longtime contributor Pravesh Bhardwaj.
Fiction
Posted inQuotes
The Unlikely Hero in George Saunders’ Short Story, ‘The Falls’
And he “…stopped in his tracks, wondering what in the world two little girls were doing alone in a canoe speeding toward the Falls, apparently oarless.”
Posted inQuotes
Going into Starbucks to Order Butter Tea
“Pema wants to ask Jamal, Have you seen the news? But of course he hasn’t. He’s got other things to think about and now so does she.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Books, Commentary, Current Events, Fiction, Science & Nature
This Week in Books: An Everlasting Meal
The book that’s been the most help to me during lockdown is a book I’ve never read.
Posted inBooks, Fiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story
‘I Want Every Sentence To Be Doing Work’: An Interview with Miranda Popkey
“Something I did learn writing this book is that being impressed by something doesn’t mean you should try and do it.”
Posted inFiction, Highlight, Quotes
Sit Back, Relax, and Try Not To Think About the Hole We’re Making In Your Skull
You can understand how the dura mater connects to the arachnoid mater, but that doesn’t mean you understand the mind.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books, Fiction, Highlight, Quote Posts, Quotes
N.K. Jemisin: ‘I am still going to write what I am going to write.’
Hells to the yes, says I.
Posted inStory
10 Outstanding Short Stories to Read in 2020
Stories by Edwidge Danticat, Etgar Keret, Valeria Luiselli, and more.
Posted inBooks, Fiction, History, Profiles & Interviews, Story
‘By Choice, and Not By Choice…Time Is Going To Change You.’
Nina MacLaughlin discusses her retelling of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. “[In] my very vague high school memories…there was no discussion of the fact that this book is just rape after rape after rape.”
Posted inBooks, Fiction, Story
‘I’m a Big Fan of Writing To Find Out What You Don’t Know.’
Mark Haber discusses “Reinhardt’s Garden” and its protagonist’s quest for a true understanding of melancholy: “not a feeling but a mood, not a color but a shade, not depression but not happiness either…”