This month's online fiction interview is with Jake Wolff, author of "When a Woman Thinks That her House Is on Fire." In this lyrical tale of one family's double-loss, we learn that Nasya and Ned have lost one son and we watch as they lose their house to a fire. More than a story of loss, though, the piece looks at the things that tragedy leaves in its wake. There is the memory of Henry. There's Nasya's subsequent dedication to serving the members of her synagogue. There's Nasya and Ned's … [Read more...] about Online Fiction Interview: Jake Wolff
When a Woman Thinks That Her House Is on Fire
Nasya Beckman wakes to the smell of smoke. She rolls onto her side and swats clumsily at her alarm clock, as though this is the source of the disturbance, as though this is some new technology for waking heavy sleepers—the release of gas. In fact, the alarm clock is an antique, a six-inch double-bell with a little copper hammer. It was a gift from Nasya’s rabbi for her one hundred volunteer hours as a kiddush hostess, minyan attendee, and Bikur cholim coordinator. Her rabbi said he’d never seen … [Read more...] about When a Woman Thinks That Her House Is on Fire
Online Fiction Interview: Courtney Sender
In Courtney Sender's "The Solidarity of Fat Girls," three sisters raise their younger brother following abandonment by their mother. The story traces their little family's trajectory only in the broadest sense, noting the major events of their lives, including the illness and death of one sister as well as the engagement of the younger brother to a fat girl who "doesn't assume that people's brothers should love her." A spare yet lyrical mediation on loss and loyalty, the story seemed a fitting … [Read more...] about Online Fiction Interview: Courtney Sender
The Solidarity of Fat Girls
It is your luck to be the brother of three fat girls. They have insisted on the moniker. “We are fat girls,” Elsie has told you. “If you don’t accept it, who will?” “Don’t say that,” you have replied, hopelessly. “You’re beautiful,” and she has kissed your forehead wetly, like an aunt—she is thirteen years your senior; she relishes that word girls—and said, “Exactly.” Elsie is the fattest of the three fat sisters. She once tried to be a plus-sized model, but size 18 was too large, so … [Read more...] about The Solidarity of Fat Girls
Online Fiction Interview: Lincoln Michel
Lincoln Michel's "The Supervillain Stalled in His Lair" kicks off our 2015 web exclusive fiction, and it's a lovely and bizarre look at the placid, boring world through the eyes of an ambitious and anxiety-rattled super villain named, uh, the Supervillain. As satires go, this one's less send-up than human interest piece. Told from the point of view of an admittedly diabolical (but amazingly amiable) malefactor, the story's part of a novel that Michel's calling DOOM MOOD. We emailed the author … [Read more...] about Online Fiction Interview: Lincoln Michel
The Supervillain Stalled in His Lair
There is nothing that occupies the Supervillain’s mind more, nothing that is a more constant source of obsession and angst, than his secret lair. Even the Superhero, his great nemesis, manifests as an afterthought compared to his lair (although the threat of the Superhero is, of course, a prime source of the anxiety the Supervillain feels about his hidden home). His worst moments of worry occur at times such as these, when the Supervillain is working in his laboratory. He has been perfecting … [Read more...] about The Supervillain Stalled in His Lair