The apartment smells of burnt toast when Marcia arrives home from work. Her husband, Gary, having toasted two loaves that afternoon,... more
I'm functional in the sense that I make it to evening confrontations. At the sushi bar, Gita keeps talking about some girl she works... more
"You played sports?" he asks over dinner. They're having baked chicken and baked potatoes. Clean food is how she thinks of it, only a... more
The hair monster checked out the ass of a handicapped woman. She was standing with her back turned when the... more
She was what his father, who had a Betty Grable calendar in the garage, used to call a bleached blonde, and she was kind of daffy-taffy... more
The earth is deep brown and peppered with crows. Sorry-looking cows nuzzle the frozen refuge. Two mongrel dogs, skinny,... more
Gerry let out a loud belch and tried unsuccessfully to focus on Albert.
"I've got to get her back. I miss her so... more
What was he thinking? Any one of us could've found it. Cards, letters, notes, and worst of all, photos. A woman -- a blonde, of all... more
She had death in her hands, in her heart, in the americ tang of her angry sweat: she was jealous of a piece of bread. It was a dark,... more
I.
Deirdre doesn't talk to Nicole anymore, but she thinks she does. Last winter, six months went by with neither one of them saying... more
1. Ionization
In a city where everything feels a bit belated, where the clever ones... more
Kitty peeled dead flies off the screen. She squinted in the direction of the boatyard. "No boats today," she muttered to... more
Leonard Crank is an ass. He's a beer-in-a-can-drinking, White-Owl-cigar-smoking, wife-beater-wearing, greasy-haired slug. He... more
"Rita, I know you've slept with one of your cousins," Mom told me this morning at brunch.
My stomach kicked. I stopped chewing... more
He sits in his chair, absently running his fingers through his thinning white hair. She hunches on the sofa, quivering, holding a... more
A ticket to watch Cindy do her striptease cost a dollar and an ice cream.
Terms and conditions of business were:
1) The... more
1
My father’s ashes clumped on the way to Smith Mountain Lake—it was probably the humidity. We had transferred his ashes from the... more
The next morning, you get a call from the Days Inn Akron South and he tells you he’s been in an accident. He is unhurt but crying... more
He smokes overhanded like a soldier. She notices that right away. He's hiding the glowing ember in the cup of his hand just like he's... more
“Matsuzaka’s pitching motion is an elegant haiku, beauty captured in three parts separated by two... more
Mark took a pencil out of his royal blue gym bag. He hunted for a scrap of notebook paper, something to write on, but all he could... more
It's the middle of May, and the temperature has leveled off at a balmy 42 degrees at 7:30 p.m . This is why there were only... more
A 400-page collection of poems in fours sections: Nicki Minaj Songs, Bob Dylan Songs, Elliott Smith Songs, and 90s Riot Grrrls Songs.
FOUR NEW ESSAYS BY CHLOE CALDWELL! Plus the original essays that made you fall in love with Chloe!
Saul Stories is a linked collection that explores the relationships between a forty-year-old female artist, her teenaged daughter, and her daughter's friends. With ferocious realism, the book interrogates how children of differing classes and races are treated in the U.S., and the salacious and skeptical ways the current culture views cross-generational friendships. But most potently—in narratives taking place in Denny's and movie theatres and living rooms and cars—Saul Stories wonders what it means to be a woman and an artist and a mother, all at once.
