In November's web exclusive, "America," a white teenager in Ohio finds herself awakening in the body of the Puerto Rican "Marisol" from A West Side Story. The story is beguiling at first because of its voice and given the comic richness inherent in the world of high school theater. But then layer upon layer quickly opens up, revealing truths about identity via the innocence and volatility of adolescence. We chatted briefly with author Erin McGraw about appropriation, empathy, and identity in … [Read more...] about Web Exclusive Interview: Erin McGraw
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Web Exclusive Interview: Jeanne Jones
In October's fiction web exclusive, "Choose Your Own," author Jeanne Jones explores a familiarly adult dilemma in a familiar childhood format. She takes you (well, you take yourself) on a labyrinthine journey that's designed to reflect just how existential this whole finding-love thing can be. We talked with Jeanne about interaction; what Julie Otsuka, George Saunders, and Kanye West have in common; and how liquid intake is a sign you're doing a-okay. EM: First of all, I love the interactive … [Read more...] about Web Exclusive Interview: Jeanne Jones
Web Exclusive Interview: Bryan Washington
In September's web exclusive story, "Lockwood," a young boy gets a new neighbor, with whom he shares a brief friendship. The story's brilliance is in how clearly it manifests in the mind, as if happened to you. And in many ways, it has—each of us has experienced a similar convergence of moment, setting, and person that formed something like an enduring star in our memory. What we look for in fiction is to have our stars reflected back to us so that they shine a little brighter. The magic really … [Read more...] about Web Exclusive Interview: Bryan Washington
Web Exclusive Interview: Heather Wells Peterson
In our August web exclusive story, "Gorman, CA," a couple's car runs out of fuel on the side of the road in a land that is foreign to them both. Heather Wells Peterson indicates lack throughout the landscape and the action as a skilled painter would, in the wilt of the odometer's needle, in the drought-stricken hills, in the protagonist's silence. It's one of those subtle revelations that's so sublime in short fiction: a moment, seemingly insignificant from an outside perspective, that casts a … [Read more...] about Web Exclusive Interview: Heather Wells Peterson
Web Exclusive Interview: Rose Gowen
July's web exclusive story, "The Sun and the Pacific, Flowers," is both a beautiful meditation on the passage of time and a careful, close look at a young person's anxiety that she's not doing or being quite enough. Writer Rose Gowen's images and sensory details are stunning; the story is brimming over with oleander and hibiscus, rosemary, agave, palms, and citrus trees. The smells and sounds of the Santa Barbara coast abound here, as does the sense that, for all of that beauty and bounty, … [Read more...] about Web Exclusive Interview: Rose Gowen
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