The New Yorker: Awake
by Tobias Wolff
I was highly impressed with Awake by Tobias Wolff all the way through the read. It catches you initially by reminding you of the days when you too had to struggle through the Odyssey. The fumbling while reading through chapters and the flash when the light bulb finally goes [...]

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Mississippi Review: Ski-Doo
by Pia Z. Ehrhardt
Pia Z. Ehrhardt’s short story Ski-Doo leaves much to be desired. How often does a father marry and bear children with his daughter’s best friend and no one has a problem with that?
Don’t get me wrong the story is interesting mid-way through, but from the beginning it seems a bit [...]

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The New Yorker: The Dinner Party
by Joshua Ferris
“I can predict everything that will happen from the moment they arrive to the little kiss on the cheek goodbye and I just can’t goddam do it.”
We’ve all been here before. The Dinner Party by Joshua Ferris summarizes these awkward and well, boring moments we all endure for [...]

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Anotherealm: Zombie Meth
by Adrienne Ray
“Zombie Meth” raises some difficult questions for me as a reader and as someone who loves literature. Maybe that’s why I like it. It’s provocative in that it compels me to question my assumptions about writing and literature. Adrienne Ray’s “Zombie Meth” is not what I’d call literary fiction. It’s speculative, [...]

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Ghoti: Carnivorous
by Don Hucks
After pouring through thousands of pages of conventional, reasonably-sensible literature, sometimes it can be satisfying to find a piece so artfully ambiguous that it borders on incomprehensibility.
Don Hucks’ “Carnivorous” is an intense tale which centers on a lengthy, emotionally-troubled narrative excitedly spiraling to oblivion.
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anderbo: Night
by Jessica Pishko
It’s interesting how much pain can be packed into a human being. We’re dynamic creatures, if only insofar as we can suffer. We can suffer terrible pains and humiliations without even showing it. Youth can hide that pain. A smile can hide that pain. Numbers—just the fact that there are so many [...]

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