31 Days of Stories 2023, Day 28: “The Last Kiss” by Maurice Level; Alys Eyre Macklin, trans.
Level was closely associated with Paris's notorious Théâtre du Grand-Guignol.
31 Days of Stories 2023, Day 27: “To Look Out the Window” by Orhan Pamuk; Maureen Freely, trans.
Throughout the story, lies and deception are common factors uniting the various characters.
31 Days of Stories 2023, Day 26: “Perfect Places” by Casey Plett
Plett is not content to let her story act as a didactic tale about cis intolerance.
31 Days of Stories 2023, Day 25: “Cheating at Canasta” by William Trevor
The true effects of grief cannot be diminished with platitudes, they must be respected and honoured.
31 Days of Stories 2023, Day 24: “Jumping Ship” by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Braithwaite's plot is tightly calibrated and it's not until the final third of the story that the crime even materializes.
31 Days of Stories 2023, Day 23: “Letter to a Young Lady in Paris” by Julio Cortázar; Paul Blackburn, trans.
One of the pervasive themes running through the story is the conflict between order and chaos.
Hell on Earth: John Vaillant’s Fire Weather is a sobering, terrifying, and infuriating look at how humans have created the conditions for our own extinction
In describing fire – its properties and its behaviour – Vaillant is at his most enthralling.
31 Days of Stories 2023, Day 22: “Snowblower” by Michelle Porter
Porter's story is as significant for what it leaves out as for what it includes.
31 Days of Stories 2023, Day 21: “The Moment Before the Gun Went Off” by Nadine Gordimer
Gordimer refuses to level judgment herself in the story.
31 Days of Stories 2023, Day 20: “Expecting” by Steven Heighton
Imagery involving implicit threat is threaded throughout the story.