The Laugh
“Neal had believed the myths about hyenas. Until he saw them kill.”
Obreht on how National Geographic shaped her writing career.
PS
A breakup letter to my therapist
McCorkle on happy endings and her irritation with Moby Dick.
Fish Story
“It was a swollen, gasping, netherworld creature. I had to keep it alive until they could kill it.”
Voices of Love
Tales of swingers, seductions, and extraordinary perversions
Furlough
“Colleen was coming home from Iraq. But Moira was like a surrogate mother now, almost a surrogate wife.”
Zentner on the new military family and the fine line between emotion and sentimentality.
Least Resistance
“Our first hug, between thermostats and oil filters, gave me a glimpse of where our friendship might lead.”
Harrison on his former life as a mechanic and his transformation into a writer.
Alba
“Último knew people claimed they’d seen the Virgin Mary. But this was Alba, an ordinary girl.”
Nelson on how the 1960s folk scene inspired him to write fiction.
EDITORS' NOTE
Fiction Matters
GALLERY
Saving the American Auto
GALLERY
In-Matey
GALLERY
Status
GALLERY
Machiavelli's Discourses
POETRY
Homestead
POETRY
Hungry
POETRY
Two Poems
POETRY
Fire Ants
The poet reads his poem aloud
POETRY
Boy
The poet reads her poem aloud
Telling Tails
In fiction, details matter. But only imagination can illuminate the human soul.
Border Crossings
Does a national literature still have meaning in an age of open borders and polyglot cultures?
Eyes on the Prize
Literary awards are inherently subjective, but they are also the most powerful antidote we have to the decline of serious fiction.
