In June's Web Exclusive story, "Between the Shores," two people seem to move in parallel throughout their lives, always a hair's breadth away from interacting directly, only feeling the ripples of each other's actions but never knowing each other. We spoke with author Shoshana Akabas about this idea, about interconnectedness and empathy, and how our treatment of refugees right now doesn't bode well for either. Erin McReynolds: In “Between the Shores” two people move through their lives … [Read more...] about Web Exclusive Interview: Shoshana Akabas
NOTEBOOK FEATURE
Announcing our American Short(er) Fiction Contest Winners!
We are delighted to announce that Justin Torres has chosen the winners of our 2017 American Short(er) Fiction Contest. The first-place prize goes to Claire Robbins, for her story “Arms Out.” Of the story, Torres said, "Everything about 'Arms Out' impressed me: the punchy voice, the wayward chronology, the gender troubling. This story is fine and clear and tough and winsome." Claire Robbins is an MFA candidate at Western Michigan University where she teaches creative writing, works in the … [Read more...] about Announcing our American Short(er) Fiction Contest Winners!
Web Exclusive Interview: Daisy Johnson
April's Web Exclusive, "A Bruise the Size and Shape of a Door Handle," is a haunting story whose slow, creeping tension evokes the likes of Edgar Allen Poe and Shirley Jackson. And yet it is so thoroughly modern, an enlightened study of unhinged, potent adolescent-female sexuality. Its author, Daisy Johnson, is surely destined for great things, so we're thrilled to have her story and interview here. Erin McReynolds: The collection from which this story comes is called, FEN, referring … [Read more...] about Web Exclusive Interview: Daisy Johnson
Novelist of the Appetites: An Interview with Ashley Warlick
Ashley Warlick spent ten years on her latest novel, The Arrangement, a fictional retelling of the life and loves of famed food writer MFK Fisher. With lush, clean prose and pitch-perfect dialogue, Warlick lays bare the many appetites of a woman and writer ahead of her time. The novel spans the early years of Fisher’s career, a period marked by profound hunger as well as conflicting desires—for food, for recognition, for her husband Al and, later, for Al’s best friend, Tim. The book came out in … [Read more...] about Novelist of the Appetites: An Interview with Ashley Warlick
Web Exclusive Interview: Michael Powers
In February's Web Exclusive, "Lake House," a couple has retired to a remote location. We know there is tension between them, and between the narrator and his adult son, but the origins and causes of this tension are only hinted at, the way a painting focuses its composition by suggesting some elements and detailing others. Our more detailed image is that of a drone silently making its way across the treetops of this new territory, reporting strangeness, even its own failure, to the lonely man … [Read more...] about Web Exclusive Interview: Michael Powers
Ex Marks the Spot: a Review of Mary Miller’s Always Happy Hour
Always Happy Hour, Mary Miller’s second collection of stories, opens with the strangest dedication I have ever read: "For my exes." Why would one dedicate anything to one’s exes? And not just one ex–not, say, “The One I’m Still Friends With”–but all of them, wholesale? At once blunt and tender, impersonal and twistedly sweet, these three words set a tone for the sixteen stories that follow. Exes–the crowd, the mob, the mass–preoccupy Miller’s aimless heroines. They trail behind the narrative … [Read more...] about Ex Marks the Spot: a Review of Mary Miller’s Always Happy Hour