Mrs. Diet Coke

"The whole he-had-his-whole-life-ahead-of-him sob story is such a cliché. The only difference between croaking young and dying old is your adjectives: pretty with potential or wrinkled with regret. At least Bryce looked hot in his casket."

The Perfect Length

The line between life and fiction is blurred when an MFA student turns her writing class into a short story

The King

In this 1921 story by Isaac Babel, a “king” of gangsters is informed of an imminent police raid as he prepares to host a Jewish wedding feast.

Pushkin in the Boiler

In the early days of Mao's Cultural Revolution, a family receives an unexpected visit from their former boiler maintenance man in this luminous story by the award-winning Chinese poet.

Akira Hirata

"Akira knew making love with Faye was textbook betrayal, but a current ran through him that made him feel beyond reproach. After all, Faye had pursued him pretty aggressively. Akira believed there was a big difference between the betrayals you pursued and betrayals that fell into your lap."