Ludovic Debeurme: Lucille
The following is an excerpt from Lucille by Ludovic Debeurme, a 2011 PEN World Voices Festival participant.LucilleExcerpted from Lucille by Ludovic Debeurme. Copyright © 2011 by Ludovic Debeurme. All rights… More
September Fata Morgana
Our storydangles in the air in the nightsister for you do not end it its silken thread holds our life invisibly in the dark he who cuts itneeds not… More
Your Time Has Come
* * *Light from the ferry’s windowmixed along the floor.Alone, we wait to be delivered.* * *Two new sparrows,the tourists don’t knowthey’re new.* * *Too tired to writeand this… More
Somebody Please Tell Me Who I Am
1The knife came out of nowhere.Ben Bright sprang back. His arm knocked the weapon into the shadows and nearly clocked his best friend, Niko Petropoulos.“Nervous, are we?” Niko said.Ben… More
Introduction to 2011 PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories
Every year, after the long process ends of choosing the twenty PEN/O. Henry Prize stories from the many submitted, friends ask me what trends were revealed by all that… More
Ghost in a Red Hat
Ghost in a Red Hat —these cabbages under full sail, these ancient walls smothered in ivy and wisteria with its purple froth: in my middle age and sensible girthI rememberstarving.I… More
Rob Spillman: Eye of the Outsider
James M. Cain’s Mildred Pierce, set in Southern California at the time when the roaring ’20s was turning into the low, depressed growl of the ’30s, captures an era… More
Please Look After Mom
It’s been one week since Mom went missing.The family is gathered at your eldest brother Hyong-chol’s house, bouncing ideas off each other. You decide to make flyers and hand… More
An Accident in August
The worst of it, thought Lou, is that I could just as easily have stopped.She switched off the ignition. She leaned her head back against the headrest, and shut… More