Young Peony is sold into a rich Chinese household as a bondmaid — an awkward role in which she is more a servant, but less a daughter. As she grows into a lovely, provocative young woman, Peony falls in love with the family's only son. However,...
While the Women are Sleeping - A Dozen unforgettable stories by "one of the most original writers at work today" (Wyatt Mason, The New York Times Book Review). Slippery figures in anomalous situations — ghosts,...
George Saunders has earned enthusiastic acclaim and a devoted cult-following with his first two story collections and the recent novella The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil. With his new book, In Persuasion Nation, Saunders ups the ante in...
By NASA’s best guess, the crew of Apollo 8 are an even money chance of dying.
A long list of things could go catastrophically wrong as they attempt to park their supersonic spacecraft into stable lunar orbit.
But they get it done, paving...
Fresh from school in June 1916, Lieutenant Oliver Paxton’s first solo flight is to lead a formation of biplanes across the Channel to join Hornet Squadron in France.
Five days later, he crash-lands at his destination, having lost his map, his...
Ignazio Silvio Di Palermo was born in an Italian neighborhood in New York’s East Harlem in 1926. He was born blind but was raised in a close, vivid, lusty world bounded by his grandfather’s love, his mother’s volatility, his huge array of...
Most parents are reluctant to let their children stay home by themselves. When Paul’s parents finally decided to let him stay alone, it was an experience that he’d never...