Featured Stories

Separating

Separating: Short story by John UpdikeMarriage break-ups, especially where children are involved, can be stressful for all concerned. John Updike’s Separating is written from a self-absorbed husband/father’s point of view. Ironically, despite Richard’s inferred infidelity, Updike reverses traditional gender roles by painting him as the weepy, emotional victim and his wife Joan as the heartless, unforgiving partner pushing for separation. The children demonstrate varying levels of understanding and acceptance. Older son Dickie’s “romantic” kiss highlights the confusion among them, and Richard’s shallowness finally shows through in his inability to answer Dickie’s obvious question. Themes: family, marriage, separation, anguish, guilt, confusion, regret.

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The Old Aunt / Boodhi Kaki

The Old Aunt / Boodhi Kaki: Short story by PremchandIn this story by Premchand a Hindu woman is overcome with pity and fear of adharma (divine punishment for selfishness and injustice) when she sees her husband’s disabled aunt foraging for food among banquet leftovers. The aunt, who has no other living relative, had previously transferred her entire property to the woman’s family in exchange for a promise of care. Rather than being cared for she has been treated inhumanely, often being left hungry and alone in her room for long periods. Themes include greed, betrayal, the plight of the infirm, responsibility, neglect, redemption, kindness.

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A City of Churches

A City of Churches: Short story by Donald BarthelmeThis story begins with a woman talking to a realtor about moving to the city of Prester to open a car rental business. As they talk, she notices that every building in the city is a church of some kind. Typical of Donald Barthelme, things get stranger. Nobody rents cars in Prester, but the city has a problem. It needs a girl to work in its car-rental agency to make the town ‘complete’. The girl has a special talent; she can will her dreams. When told she cannot leave, she threatens to dream the life [they] are most afraid of.

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They’re Made Out Of Meat

They're Made Out Of Meat: Short story by Terry BissonAt first read, this very short story by Terry Bisson appears to be a humorous exchange with little substance. Two alien space explorers are discussing whether to make contact with a newly discovered intelligent life form. They are uneasy about it because the life form seems to be composed entirely of meat. The major theme of the story is prejudice: the aliens consider themselves above all other life. How can beings so different to them be capable of such advanced thought? Also, an interesting dietary theme: Is it right that one sentient life form (man) kills and eats others (animals)?

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The Refugee

The Refugee: Short story by K. A. AbbasThis story by K. A. Abbas deals with the social upheaval caused by the 1947 Partition of India. Told from the perspective of an elderly Sikh woman, it compares the community spirit and religious tolerance that existed before Partition with the hatred, bloodshed and displacement of Sikh and Hindu families that occurred afterwards. The compassionate, once wealthy protagonist, who lost everything when forced to flee Rawalpindi, demonstrates neither bitterness nor self-pity. However, she still sheds a tear for the “soft” memories like ripe apricots and fragrant baggoogoshas… Themes include brotherhood and inclusiveness vs. religious hostility, alienation, suffering, identity, resilience.

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A Sunrise on the Veld

A Sunrise on the Veld: Short story by Doris LessingIn this coming-of-age story by Doris Lessing, the fifteen-year-old son of an Afrikaner farmer is so confident in his physical prowess and invincibility that every morning, before his parents wake up, he sneaks out of his house and goes hunting alone. One day he witnesses a negative side to hunting when he comes across a young buck with a broken leg suffering as it is devoured by ants. The experience teaches him that for anyone, including himself, death can come at any time. Themes include hubris, the harsh reality of nature, mortality.

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Usher II

Usher II: Short story by Ray BradburyFirst published in 1950 as Carnival of Madness, this story by Ray Bradbury is also included in his anthologies The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man. A wealthy book-lover, angry about destruction of his extensive library because of fantasy and horror story censorship on Earth, builds a look-alike version of Edgar Allan Poe’s House of Usher on Mars. He invites prominent book-banners to a party at the house, where they meet different Poe-inspired ends. Themes include censorship vs. personal freedom, the importance of speculative fiction, the danger of excess political correctness, zealotry (in this case, taking a protest too far!)

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The Coffee-house of Surat

The Coffee-house of Surat: Short story by Leo TolstoyIn this story from Leo Tolstoy, customers in an Indian coffeehouse overhear a disillusioned religious scholar questioning his servant about the existence of God. This sparks a debate about which religion is God’s favorite. Arguments are put forward supporting most of the mainstream European and Asian religions of the day, as well as some unusual ones like idolatry and fire-walking. The answer (that God is not exclusive to any one system of beliefs) is provided in an allegorical tale from a Confucian scholar about a debate over the existence and path of the sun. Themes: diversity, bigotry, intolerance, religious pluralism.

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