Featured Stories

The Beginning of Homewood

The Beginning of Homewood: Short story by John Edgar WidemanThis partly autobiographical story by John Edgar Wideman takes the form of a letter from an African-American man to his brother in prison. The central topic is how their great-great-great-grandmother Sybela escaped slavery with the son of her owner and their two illegitimate children and, after a five-hundred-mile flight across America, established a new community in a remote corner of Pittsburgh. The letter seeks to reconcile Sybela’s flight from bondage with his brother’s incarceration for murder, questioning whether the latter should be mitigated by their legacy of slavery. Themes include race, heritage, slavery, escape, freedom, justice and accountability, the supernatural.

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The Yellow Wallpaper

The Yellow Wallpaper: Short story by Charlotte Perkins GilmanThis partly autobiographical story by Charlotte Gilman describes the experiences of a creative, imaginative woman suffering from post-natal depression. She follows the then (1890s) generally accepted medical advice to spend her time “resting” in semi-isolation. Gilman skillfully uses the setting to turn an otherwise clinical account of a mental breakdown into a chilling psychological horror story. Although living in a colonial mansion amid idyllic countryside, the poor woman spends most of her time in a prison-like room with creepy wallpaper. Major themes include the fallibility of doctors and our reluctance to question them, mental illness, freedom and self-expression, and gender roles in society.

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Everything Is Nice

Everything is Nice: Short story by Jane BowlesIn this story by Jane Bowles an American woman living alone in a Moroccan hotel is befriended by a Moslem woman who appears to know a lot about her movements. On the pretext of taking her to a wedding, the Moslem woman leads her to a dimly lit room where a group of other Moslem women ask probing questions about her life and presence in the city. Uncomfortable about the personal nature of the questions, she rudely refuses their offer of refreshments and abruptly leaves. Themes include women’s independence, identity, isolation and loneliness, cultural division.

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Children of the Ash-Covered Loam

Children of the Ash-Covered Loam: Short story by N. V. M. GonzalezThis charming story by N. V. M. Gonzalez describes life and ritual during the planting season in a Philippine subsistence farming family. The major conflict in the story, where families band together to communally sow each other’s kaingin (slashed and burned fields), is with nature. A feature of the story is the coming of age of a seven-year-old boy as he receives his first farming responsibility and comes to understand how life emerges from the dark womb of the land. Themes include family, community, living in harmony with the land, the cycle of life, superstition and ritual.

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Black Tickets

Black Tickets: Short story by Jane Anne PhillipsThis heavily poetic steam of conscience narrative by Jayne Anne Phillips is not an easy read. Bouncing backwards and forwards in time, a former rapist and now imprisoned drug dealer recalls his obsessive love for and unpredictable, often violent relationship with, his unconventional “boyish” girlfriend. The drugs were pedaled in the seedy movie theatre in which she worked, and it unclear whether she, their “brotherly” hunch-backed supplier, or even the old theatre owner she was “in good with”, set him up. Themes include love, alienation, jealousy, violence, drug dealing and abuse, betrayal.

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Waywaya

Waywaya: Novelette by Francisco Sionil JoséSet in pre-colonial Philippines, this novelette by Francisco Sionil José, begins with a young warrior who yearns for the freedom to determine his own destiny impulsively kidnapping and enslaving a girl from a rival tribe. The girl, whose name “Waywaya” translates as “freedom”, is ironically robbed of hers. The tragic love that develops between the two highlights themes of identity and personal freedom, prejudice, jealousy and sacrifice. Other themes include social injustice, the opportunity cost of cultural hostilities, and corruption (in this case how rulers can entrench their position and enrich themselves by encouraging fear of an enemy).

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The Demon Lover

The Demon Lover: Short story by Elizabeth BowenIn this horror story by Elizabeth Bowen, a woman returns to her large, war-damaged city house to collect personal items. The house had been locked up, nobody knew she was coming, yet there is a letter addressed to her sitting on a table. It had been hand delivered earlier that day and is an anniversary greeting ending with the words: You may expect me at the hour arranged. Someone (possibly the spirit of a former soldier-lover) may be in the house or coming for her. Themes include the trauma of war, gender stereotypes, doubt, imagination and fear, betrayal and revenge.

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The Turning

The Turning: Short story by Tim WintonThis story from Tim Winton includes themes of alcohol abuse, domestic violence, child neglect, shame, friendship and faith. A mother of two whose hard-drinking husband is increasingly violent towards her becomes close friends with a “Ken-and-Barbie” like new couple in town. When the couple share a story of how religious faith helped turn their lives around, she rejects the notion as not for her. Later, the impulsive purchase of a novelty “snow dome” featuring a hunky-looking Jesus walking on water not only provides amusement, but also becomes the catalyst for an epiphany as she endures a brutal marital rape.

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