Contents

• Introduction / Ben Marcus
• Sea Oak / George Saunders
• Everything ravaged, everything burned / Wells Tower
• Do not disturb / A.M. Homes
• Gentleman’s agreement / Mark Richard
• Girl in the flammable skirt / Aimee Bender
• Caretaker / Anthony Doerr
• I’m slavering / Sam Lipsyte - - Old dictionary / Lydia Davis
• Father’s blessing / Mary Caponegro
• Life and work of Alphonse Kauders / Aleksandar Hemon
• Paperhanger / William Gay
• People shouldn’t have to be the ones to tell you / Gary Lutz
• Histories of the undead / Kate Braverman
• You drive / Christine Schutt
• When Mr. Pirzada came to dine / Jhumpa Lahiri
• Down the road / Stephen Dixon
• All American / Diane Williams
• X number of possibilities / Joanna Scott
• Two brothers / Brian Evenson
• Tiny, smiling daddy / Mary Gaitskill
• Someone to talk to / Deborah Eisenberg - - Brief interviews with hideous men / David Foster Wallace
• Where I work / Ann Cummins
• Sound gun / Matthew Derby
• Short talks / Anne Carson
• Up the Old Goat Road / Dawn Raffel
• Scarliotti and the sinkhole / Padgett Powell
• Letters to Wendy’s / Joe Wenderoth
• Field events / Rick Bass