31 Days of Stories 2026, Day 19: Stories by Helen Garner
This is perhaps Garner's secret weapon as a fiction writer: her resolute refusal to explain.
Dying for a job: In his latest novella, writer Nicholas Binge offers a dark, Lovecraft-inflected vision of late capitalism
What begins mildly enough takes a sharp turn toward cosmic horror about a third of the way through.
Historian Christopher Clark resurfaces a little-known clerical sex scandal that has resonance for today’s culture
Clark stumbled across the documents relating to the scandal some three decades ago.
Reality crash: Journalist Megan Garber’s Screen People examines the ways we are watched and manipulated in a digital media saturated environment
The line between American politics and entertainment has long been blurry and malleable.
“They’re coming for you”: Pulitzer Prize winner Daniel Kraus dissects – in minute detail – the film that made a huge impact on him as a writer and viewer
Kraus provides such a deep dive that even people who have seen the film multiple times will find something new to discover in his text.
31 Days of Stories 2026, Day 18: “A Sum of Money” by Colm Tóibín
It is true that Dan has repeatedly violated the eight commandment; it is equally true that the commandment does not put a dollar value on theft.
31 Days of Stories 2026, Day 16: “The Mouse and the Woman” by Dylan Thomas
First published in 1936, "The Mouse and the Woman" is one of Thomas's oddest and most elliptical pieces.
31 Days of Stories 2026, Day 15: “Needlework” by Ch’ǒn Unyǒng; Na-Young Bae and Bruce Fulton, trans.
Pak uses her artistry as a means of control, both over her clients and herself.
31 Days of Stories 2026, Day 13: “How to Be an Other Woman” by Lorrie Moore
The power dynamics at work in the relationship are drawn out teasingly, through language and the specifics of the characters as Moore has crafted them.
31 Days of Stories 2026, Day 11: “Run for Your Life” by Nat Cassidy
In "Run for Your Life," it's not that the Beatles never existed, but that they were prevented from forming and therefore changing the course of music history.