As a San Francisco co-national, it was inevitable— maybe it was even fair — that Anthony Boucher should be the first to snare the writing talents of Miriam Allen deFord for his publication. But it could not last. The girl was too good to keep...
Radio Iris follows Iris Finch, a twenty-something socially awkward daydreamer and receptionist at Larmax, Inc., a company whose true function she doesn't understand (though she's heard her boss refer to himself as "a businessman").
Gradually,...
Fima lives in Jerusalem, but feels that he is in Jerusalem by mistake, that he ought to be somewhere else. In the course of his life he has had several love affairs, several ideas, has written a book of poems that aroused some expectations, has...
Deep in the Korean mountains, U.S. sniper Caje Cole and his squad are on patrol when they witness a dogfight that ends with an American pilot being shot down over enemy territory. Cole leads the rescue effort that puts him in conflict with a deadly...
When Beth arrives in Washington, D.C., she hates everything about it: the confusing traffic circles, the ubiquitous Ann Taylor suits, the humidity that descends each summer. At dinner parties, guests compare their security clearance levels. They...
Megan, recently out of college and working a meaningless job as a gastroenterologist's secretary, openly hates all of her friends for being happy and successful. She makes herself feel better by obsessively critiquing the behavior of her coworker,...
Abie follows the arc of a letter from London back to Africa to a coffee plantation that now could be hers if she wants it. Standing among the ruined groves she strains to hear the sound of the past, but the layers of years are too many. Thus...
Thurlow Dan is the founder of the Helix, a cult that promises to cure loneliness in the twenty-first century. With its communes and speed-dating, mixers and confession sessions, the Helix has become a national phenomenon — and attracted the...