The Reading Room

page 1

 These stories are not meant to please you; they are meant to challenge you.  They were not chosen simply on the basis of their content.  They  were chosen because (1) they can be  reached with a click of the mouse; (2) they have been published in literary markets that hold to high standards; (3) they (with a few exceptions)  are written by living writers who are hard at work publishing today, and (4) they represent a variety of styles and approaches to story.  That, I believe, makes them more valuable to you than any number of  "how to write" manuals

Yes, I like these stories, but liking is not the point.   I believe you can learn from them.  Don't be afraid.  Plunge right in.  .(The links below take you to other people's web sites.  While you are visiting, take the time to look around and see what else they have to offer.)
 
The Red Fox Fur Coat
by Teolinda Gersão a Portugese novelist and short story writer.  Translated into English and published in the Three Penny Review
A short fantasy about a woman who, well, becomes rather too  familiar with foxes.
 
Read about Teolinda Gersão 
The Snowman


By Hans Christian
Andersen


A 19th Century Classic about a optomistic snowman, a cynical dog, and what happens to love when spring comes.

Read about Hans Christian Andersen
The Everything Goes Garage Sale of My Love
published in the Oysterboy Review

By A.C. Koch,
winner of the 2003  Raymond  Carver Short Story Award
Not an easy story to describe... and that's what makes it good.

 
Read about A.C. Koch
 
The Age I was at Christmas and the Girl I Was With

Published in the Mississippi Review

By Rusty Spell
whose stories have also appeared in the Mid-America Review and the Georgetown Review
Not one but many Christmas stories, and just as many Christmas girls!
Read about Rusty Spell
 
The Bamboo Inn,
By Karen Loeb, author of The Jump Rope Queen and Other Stories

Father daughter story, set in Chicago.

read about Karen Loeb
 
The Girl Next Door, 

By David Sedaris, best selling author of Me Talk Pretty One Day

Creative Nonfiction that will give you something to think about.

from the archives of The New Yorker.

Read about David Sedaris

 
 Fit Mother

By Peter Ho Davies, award winning author of two short story collections

A simply terrific short story written by a man in the point of view of a woman


from Granta
Read about Peter Ho Davies
 Drive by Cristina Henriquez

a story from the Virginia Quarterly Review, summer 2004


Read about Cristina Henriquez
Go to page 2 of the Reading Room