short stories

‘Bliss Montage Is a Surrealistic Meditation on the Human Condition

‘Bliss Montage Is a Surrealistic Meditation on the Human Condition

Ling Ma’s short story collection, Bliss Montage, brilliantly explores the absurdity and alienation of living under late-stage capitalism.

Short Story Collection ‘Transitions’ Sets the Mind in Motion

Short Story Collection ‘Transitions’ Sets the Mind in Motion

Transitions is an exceptional collection of short stories that deserves recognition both for the quality of the writing and its provocative themes.

Latinx Short Story Collection ‘Las Biuty Queens’ Finds Joy Amidst Danger

Latinx Short Story Collection ‘Las Biuty Queens’ Finds Joy Amidst Danger

Iván Monalisa Ojeda conveys complexity with a deft, effective touch in his/her short story collection, ‘Las Biuty Queens’.

John Edgar Wideman’s Short Story Collection ‘You Made Me Love You’ Challenges Beautifully

John Edgar Wideman’s Short Story Collection ‘You Made Me Love You’ Challenges Beautifully

John Edgar Wideman’s You Made Me Love You features an array of impressive, thought-provoking stories of considerable depth.

Peynado’s Debut of Short Stories ‘The Rock Eaters’ Defamiliarizes the Familiar

Peynado’s Debut of Short Stories ‘The Rock Eaters’ Defamiliarizes the Familiar

Pulsing with imagination, Brenda Peynado’s short story collection, The Rock Eaters, is a bold statement of intent from an emerging voice worthy of the hype.

Sergi Pámies’ Short Story Collection ‘The Art of Wearing a Trench Coat’ Evokes Introspection

Sergi Pámies’ Short Story Collection ‘The Art of Wearing a Trench Coat’ Evokes Introspection

Spanish writer Sergi Pámies’ story collection, ‘The Art of Wearing a Trench Coat’, draws readers into deep, psychologically dense first-person narratives.

Short Stories: Solitude and Loneliness

Short Stories: Solitude and Loneliness

Five short stories—by Anton Chekhov, Katherine Mansfield, Bharati Mukherjee, Anthony Doerr, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie—explore various isolation, solitude, and loneliness pathologies from the perspectives of different lives and cultures.

‘F*ckface’ Sums It Up in 12 Short Stories

‘F*ckface’ Sums It Up in 12 Short Stories

F*ckface finds its power in the depiction of Appalachia and its inhabitants. Leah Hampton produces a piercing, debut collection of stories.

‘Adults and Other Children’: The Bitter and the Sweet

‘Adults and Other Children’: The Bitter and the Sweet

The similes in Miriam Cohen's impressive debut short story collection, Adults and Other Children, are perfectly attuned to the essence of her characters.

Short Stories: Beginnings and Endings

Short Stories: Beginnings and Endings

These five short stories—by Naguib Mahfouz, Carmen Maria Machado, Niven Govinden, Margaret Atwood, and Wole Talabi—are about new beginnings. They're also about those unsettling endings that aren't really endings.

Short Story Author Larry Brown’s Big Love for His Small Characters

Short Story Author Larry Brown’s Big Love for His Small Characters

Although his works evoke Charles Bukowski, Flannery O'Connor, Carson McCullers, and William Faulkner, Larry Brown's unapologetic characters were always his own.

‘The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories’

‘The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories’

Jhumpa Lahiri's picks for The Penguin Book of Italian Short Stories may betray her sympathies. She has no problem with this.