The protagonist in this pioneering cyberpunk story by William Gibson is a data courier. To escape a Yakuza assassin, he must decode a message in a secure storage device implanted in his brain. When the client who holds the password is killed, he turns to razor-fingered Molly Millions, Jones the dolphin, and the “Lo Teks”, Molly’s anti-technology friends, for help. The major theme, given that every major character has some kind of bionic enhancement, is identity (how technology can blur the line between man and machine). Other themes: body augmentation, corporate power, organized crime. More…
The Portrait of a Lady
Published in 1948, Khushwant Singh’s moving tribute to his grandmother was the first story of his long and distinguished writing career. The story spans a period of twenty years, from Singh’s earliest memories of the “so terribly old but always beautiful” woman, to her peaceful passing in almost surreal circumstances. He recalls their close friendship during his early schooling, the “turning point” when they moved to live with his parents in the city, and their growing estrangement as Western influences and higher education demands came between them. Themes: grandmother-grandson relationship (love, devotion), generation gap (education, culture), piety, change. More…
Girls at Play
In this confronting coming of age story by Celeste Ng three rebellious junior high school girls, ostracized by their peers because they come from the poor part of town, respond by playing a sex game with boys every recess. The girls are outsiders, and one day pause the game to befriend another outsider, a sweet, naïve new girl in town, and teach her teenage ways. To their horror, when other students tell the girl about their sex game, she insists on joining in. Themes include friendship, sexuality, social class, innocence, fitting in. More…
Blackberry Winter
This story by Robert Penn Warren is set in rural Tennessee during the 1930s. A nine-year-old boy is affected for life when a menacing-looking tramp with a large switchblade in his pocket, carrying a mysterious newspaper-wrapped package, visits his family farm. Although the surly man is not dressed for farm work, the boy’s mother offers him food and some odd jobs. The tramp is clearly unhappy about the work she offers, and shows no gratitude when the boy’s father pays him and orders him off the property. Themes include innocence, identity, man (farming) vs. nature, poverty, dignity and father-son relationships. More…
Here’s Your Hat What’s Your Hurry
In this story by Elizabeth McCracken, a homeless woman with no family has spent her life traveling the countryside and staying at the homes of people she says are distant relatives. Now in her eighties, she visits a young couple claiming to be the niece of the man’s great-grandfather. While there, she forms an unlikely attachment to a neglected, undisciplined young boy living nearby. When the truth comes out and it is time for her to leave, she considers taking the boy with her. Themes include homelessness, deception, family, loss, connection. More…