Extinctions
Josephine Wilson
"XXX"
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Excerpts
Prague Spring
Simon Mawer
"It started in a pub. Not unusual for a journey. Phileas Fogg started his at the Reform Club in London, but then James Borthwick was not Phileas Fogg, and this pub was the nearest thing to a club that James knew."
“The Houseguest”
Amparo Dávila, trans. Audrey Harris and Matthew Gleeson
"I’ll never forget the day he came to live with us. My husband brought him home from a trip."
From Adderall to Opioids, the Personal Side of an American Tragedy
On the Silent Spread of a Nationwide Killer
“One Ton Prop”
Christopher Kang
"My plays have nothing to do with performance. The stage is just a place. I do not have actors. I have strangers who collaborate with me to make a new confusion in harsh light while other strangers hide in the pitch-black darkness."
“Love Story”
Yu Hua, trans. Allan H. Barr
"The autumn of 1977 left a mark on two young people. On a day when the sun was shining they boarded a clattering bus and traveled to a town twenty kilometers away. It was the boy who bought the tickets, while the girl took cover behind a concrete utility pole some distance from the station."
In/Half
Jasmin B. Frelih, trans. Jason Blake
"Desire is a rift. Dental floss was stuck between Evan’s teeth. Hot water ran from the tap. Instead of a mirror, a void on the wall. Jars of cream on the shelf. The toothbrush quivered. Steam rose. We are alone and we are all of us strangers."
The Little Snake
A.L. Kennedy
"Some time ago, perhaps before you were even born, a young girl was walking in her garden. She may have been called Mary—that's what most of the stories about her say."
Those Who Knew
Idra Novey
"Right here, thank you, Lena spoke up from the backseat as they reached the narrow street below Olga’s Sublime. The morning clouds were still low and thick over the port, the rundown homes stacked into the hillside still drained of color."
Paradise Rot
Jenny Hval, trans. Maryam Idriss
"There, and not there. Outside the hostel window the town is hidden by fog. The pier down below dissolves into the colourless distance, like a bridge into the clouds. At times the fog disperses a little, and the contours of islands appear a little way out to sea. Then they’re gone again."
The Latecomers
Helen Klein Ross
"That morning, hours after the cock crowed but before the townhall bell chimed eight, Bridey mounted narrow steps leading up from the kitchen, holding tight to the fluted handles of a silver oval on which Mr. Hollingworth’s breakfast quivered."
The Lake on Fire
Rosellen Brown
"For all the years of her life, this was the story Chaya-Libbe told. The missing parts stayed missing."
Two Spooky Tales by Max Porter and Kamila Shamsie
From Eight Ghosts: The English Heritage Book of New Ghost Stories
"'I don’t believe in ghosts,’ Khalid said, his first day on the job as a security guard at Kenilworth Castle."
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