short stories

‘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.

‘The Sea Cloak and Other Stories’ and the Everyday Life of Gaza’s Embattled Residents

‘The Sea Cloak and Other Stories’ and the Everyday Life of Gaza’s Embattled Residents

In The Sea Cloak and Other Stories, Nayrouz Qarmout's deft, descriptive prose offers beautiful vignettes of Palestinians struggling to build lives and hope.

Short Stories: Siblings

Short Stories: Siblings

Whatever the plot lines of a work of fiction, if it features siblings as important characters, various rich themes are mined. This issue of Short Stories brings forth the sibling-inspired works of Martha Bátiz, K Anis Ahmed, Jenny Zhang, Lidudumalingani, and Kseniya Melnik.

On Chuck Klosterman’s Latest in Junk-Food Intellectualism, ‘Raised In Captivity’

On Chuck Klosterman’s Latest in Junk-Food Intellectualism, ‘Raised In Captivity’

The best stories in Chuck Klosterman's Raised in Captivity are the ones that most closely resemble his thinly-veiled essays.

Short Stories: Tales of Love in Later Life

Short Stories: Tales of Love in Later Life

In the works of Elizabeth Taylor, Toni Cade Bambara, Lucia Berlin, Amy Bloom, and Yiyun Li, we meet older women protagonists who find potential later-life loves in all kinds of interesting ways.

Ted Chiang’s ‘Exhalation’ Calmly Stares Oblivion in the Face

Ted Chiang’s ‘Exhalation’ Calmly Stares Oblivion in the Face

With his second collection of short stories, Exhalation, master of existential science fiction Ted Chiang explores AI, time travel, and alternate realities with the studious eye of an anthropologist.

Short Stories: Journeys

Short Stories: Journeys

The protagonists in these short stories by Asako Serizawa, Nanjil Nadan, Goli Taraghi, Stephen King, and John Cheever are unsettled, vulnerable, and unmoored during their journeys.

Speculation and Responsibility in ‘A People’s Future of the United States’

Speculation and Responsibility in ‘A People’s Future of the United States’

Speculative futures should go beyond merely reflecting the fears peddled by news and social media. Anthology A People's Future of the United States at times pushes those boundaries.

Short Stories: Animals, Part II

Short Stories: Animals, Part II

The selected stories this month have a touch or more of surrealism and their writers — Daniel Mallory Ortberg, Sarah Hall, Robert Olen Butler, Beth Goder, and Jackie Kay — explore the humanity of our species and our relationships with other living species.

‘The Story Prize: Fifteen Years of Great Short Fiction’

‘The Story Prize: Fifteen Years of Great Short Fiction’

Shape, time, and beautiful vision from some of the best short story collections of the 21st century are collected in The Story Prize: Fifteen Years of Great Short Fiction.

Short Stories: Animals, Part I

Short Stories: Animals, Part I

Animals of all kinds have featured in fiction for as long as we have produced fiction. Here are five engaging stories about cats, dogs, herons, and cows by Sarah Orne Jewett, P. G. Wodehouse, R. L. Maizes, Parashar Kulkarni, and R. O. Kwon.

Irresistible Dark Visions and Sentimental Longing in ‘You Know You Want This’

Irresistible Dark Visions and Sentimental Longing in ‘You Know You Want This’

Short story collection You Know You Want This, a PopMatters' Pick, brings forth a dozen brilliant and beautifully unapologetic dark visions from fearless new writer, Kristen Roupenian.

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