By: Susanna Daniel

She said, “You’re strong, and I bet you can swim like a fish,” and I said, “Better to be a shark than a seal.”

By: Tim Carvell

“Love is a precursor to sorrow.” “Joy fades.” “Pets die.”

By: Susannah Breslin

“ALL AMERICAN OFFICIAL NECKING TEAM,” the pin read. It was hard to reconcile the words with my father.

By: Sean Howe

It’s difficult work, wooing Donna.

By: Rachel Axler

Q: I wonder what his favorite band is. A: YES

By: Nicholson Baker

Everything had a temperature in those days.

By: Chris Adrian

My brother and I could not agree on how to worship the mouse.

By: Matt Brown

Like the cloudberries of Sweden or truffles, Crumpters couldn’t be mass-produced.

By: Kurt Andersen

“But don’t you ever do what I once caught Jimmy doing, OK?”

By: Doug Dorst

On frigid and moonless winter nights, effigies of St. Vralkomir may come to life and begin dancing…

By: Dean Haspiel

“We rolled around and smashed into something so hard it cracked.”

By: Ben Greenman

“Enormous in its diminutive size, menacing in its cheer.”