Amy Stuber's flash fiction story "I'm on the Side of the Wildebeest" distills a familiar modern dilemma into a crystallized moment. On a road trip, a mother contemplates a very different childhood for her kids than the one she had—one in which technology, the constant deluge of information, and the threat to the planet create anxieties that are harder to escape. But despite these anxieties (or maybe because of them) we feel the sweet gratitude for a moment that is good, one we know will become a … [Read more...] about Web Exclusive Interview: Amy Stuber
Anxiety
Things American: On Quitting the (not so) Great American Novel
I want to tell you, because maybe it’s four in the morning and you’re googling “how to know when to give up on a novel.” How you are supposed to know? I’ve wondered this many times myself over twenty-three months, through a hundred and fifty thousand words, dozens of chapters, three false starts, and too many conversations to count. Then—in a moment—I came to the answer and I gave up on the book. I’ve written three books that came easily. The novel I walked away from was not one of those. The … [Read more...] about Things American: On Quitting the (not so) Great American Novel
Things American: Treatment vs. Healing
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
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