Stories in the World - Who Even Reads

Photo of a croissant topped with a portion of chocolate chip cookie, resting on a sheet of aluminum foil

Stories in the World

Just "melt everything together": We Try the Sigrid Nunez "Crookie" Technique

Can you really combine two finished, flour-based products using only heat? If Jo in Nunez's "Mother-Daughter Story" is skeptical of the concept of the crookie to begin with, we were skeptical of the feat she performs with the toaster oven, though impressed by her confidence.

Cover of I Am the Ghost Here, featuring a cracked egg with a disembodied mouth where the yolk would normally be, on a gradient teal-to-light-orange background.

Stories in the World

I Am the Ghost Here: Kim Samek and the Ghost of Pandemic Present

Given that many of the stories in Kim Samek’s debut story collection I Am the Ghost Here feature surreal elements, borrowing tropes from science fiction and fantasy, I was surprised to find honest, genuine explorations of the pandemic as a mass disabling event in its fourth and fifth stories.

Cover of Crawl, featuring different colors of gummy bears on pink background, itself against pink-to-orange sideways gradient reminiscent of rainbow sherbet ice cream.

Stories in the World

Max Delsohn's "All Time Low" and the Straight Girl Paradox

Stories in the World is a series in which we explore a particular element of a piece of writing in a broader context. Here, Lisa looks at the phenomenon of women who become involved in relationships with queer women while self-identifying as straight, as featured in Max Delsohn's "All Time Low."