Short Stories
Brian Evenson’s Writing Is as Brutal as It Is Beautiful
Evenson's universe of psycho-cerebral horror is so unsettling that it has the ability to make something about the room in which you read him seem off.
Examining the Dark Side of the American Housewife
In her short story collection "American Housewife," Helen Ellis picks apart the myths of what makes a housewife in a hilarious, compelling, and often unhinged way.
Author Ottessa Moshfegh on Phoniness, Power, and Aligning Yourself with 'Rich White People'
We caught up with the author to talk about her new novel and how she sees her popularity as similar to how people like cronuts.
John McManus Wrote the Best Short Story About a Thomas Jefferson Clone You’ll Read This Year
We spoke to the author of "Fox Tooth Heart" about his long break from publication and why shame is the most powerful and revealing emotion.
'Advice for the Haunted': Fiction by Rachel Swearingen
In this new story from Rachel Swearingen, a young couple buys a Lincoln Park flat and lives among the deceased former owner's belongings... and spirit.
Padgett Powell Is American Letters' Oddest Elder Statesman
We met the author to talk about his new collection 'Cries for Help, Various,' the absurdity of the publishing industry, and his position as a literary veteran.
Read 'My Life in the Bellies of Beasts' by Surrealist Author Lincoln Michel
This short story about a young man growing up in the stomach of a fox, a bear, a shark, and a whale is from the author's debut collection, 'Upright Beasts.'
John Keene’s 'Counternarratives’ Rewires History with Imagination
We spoke to the author about his vividly imagined and vitally timed collection, 'Counternarratives.'
Joy Williams Captures the Absurdity of America in Her Stories
The dark, funny-sad stories in her new collection ;The Visiting Privilege' are both a warning and an offering to a country in distress.
'Beneath the National Palace of Culture': Fiction by Garth Greenwell
One of the hardest stories to write is a love story. It's difficult to render chemistry in writing, and it's particularly difficult to capture one-way obsessions, or unrequited love. This story does.
Read These Four Very Short Stories by Osama Alomar
The Syrian-American writer has a sly, economical yet incisive way of upending conventions and exposing hypocrisy and injustice.
Read a Story from Lucia Berlin's 'A Manual for Cleaning Women'
A story from the new collection by the great but not widely appreciated writer.