1. The nurse woke me at four-thirty in the morning to take my blood. Someone else had taken it less than six hours before, in the emergency room, but pointing that out seemed disrespectful because he was a nurse with years of schooling behind him, and I was just another suicidal senior in high school. After he left with five vials of my blood, and I was sufficiently drowsy, I rested fitfully until it was time for the morning devotional at six. Wrapped in a beltless robe and wearing … [Read more...] about Things American: Treatment vs. Healing
Every Notebook, Photograph, and Letter: An Interview with Jan Ellison
Jan Ellison’s debut novel, A Small Indiscretion, came out in paperback this spring. The book takes readers across decades and continents—from Berkeley to London and back again—to show us what happens to a happily married mother of three when the mistakes and youthful transgressions of years past unexpectedly turn up to meddle with the present. As with her O. Henry Prize-winning story, "The Company of Men," Ellison demonstrates her ability to render without apology the not-so-nice sides of her … [Read more...] about Every Notebook, Photograph, and Letter: An Interview with Jan Ellison
Pride Is Every Month: A Short Reading List from Our Editors
In 2016, there's something almost anachronistic about creating a list of your favorite LGBTQ books. What kinds of books might qualify for such a list? Must the author identify as gay, bi, lesbian, trans, asexual, or agender to be included? In putting together such a list, don't you run the risk of unintentionally ghettoizing "LGBTQ books" and further marginalizing authors? These are questions our editors and staff asked ourselves as we set out to celebrate Pride Month by building a list of book … [Read more...] about Pride Is Every Month: A Short Reading List from Our Editors
Seeing Backward: An Interview with Whitney Terrell
In the novels The Huntsman and The King of Kings County, Whitney Terrell tackled politically charged problems like housing segregation and institutional racism. Both novels are set in his hometown of Kansas City, Mo., the near epicenter of the United States, where these issues have erupted on a national stage. Terrell’s third novel, The Good Lieutenant, features a protagonist from the same landscape, Emma Fowler, who attempts to escape it and the burden of family by becoming an officer in the … [Read more...] about Seeing Backward: An Interview with Whitney Terrell
Web Exclusive Interview: Kathryn Savage
Kathryn Savage's "Lesser Missiles" grabbed us from the first, spare, and startling sentences. Whenever this happens, we might cross our fingers and tense up a little, carried away by the momentum of the story but still conscious that we are rooting for the narrative to sustain that opening power, to not let us down. Kathryn's story succeeds beautifully, and its final moments deliver us gently, without apology, to the vastness of our own vulnerabilities. Erin McReynolds: This story has that … [Read more...] about Web Exclusive Interview: Kathryn Savage
Starting with the Problem: An Interview with Sara Majka
Sara Majka’s Cities I’ve Never Lived In is my favorite kind of story collection—one that strikes many, many delicate balances. It’s both comforting and spooky, dreamlike and surprisingly frank, clear-eyed and slyly supernatural, and often all simultaneously. Majka’s stories follow a common narrator—recently divorced and adrift in a reflective, tonal sadness—into new towns and old relationships, through recalled and overheard stories of death and doppelgängers. “Settlers” and “Four Hills,” both … [Read more...] about Starting with the Problem: An Interview with Sara Majka