By Alexi Zentner He hurried out of the shop, the burlap sack of dried goods over his shoulder, and glanced up in worry: the sky had darkened and the snow, which had briefly seemed ready to let up, redoubled its effort. The other Chinese men had gone, fled south before the approach of winter. He [...]

By Marcy Dermansky Emily tracked down her biological father in a small, industrial town in Northern Germany. Henry Bean had ducked out of Emily’s life when she was only six months old, not long after her mother had left him for another man. “Look at you,” he said. “You’re gorgeous.” They met for the first [...]

By Danielle Trussoni
A fairy tale of great kingdoms, epic battles, wise men and royal families.

By Patrick Somerville
A secret operative home from parts unknown wants to go straight — if only he could convince his wife he’s a different person, and stop those guys from following him in hopes of bringing him back.

By Jess Walter
Darrell’s ex-girlfriend Lisa always wanted him to be more spontaneous. Turns out that did not mean show up at her new, muscular boyfriend’s house just before Christmas and insist that Lisa come back home with him.

By Anna North Jack Powers checked into the Angel’s Nest at six-thirty on a Thursday night. The Angel’s Nest is my hotel.  I saved for ten years and bought it on my thirty-fifth birthday, along with the little house in back. My mom lived there with me until she passed two years ago, helped me [...]

By Ryan Boudinot Every day Susan Gardener tried to walk a mile around her Ballard neighborhood in North Seattle. Today she wore gloves, a woolen hat and the sheepskin-lined boots her son Patrick had given her last Christmas. Patrick had moved out 35 years before, leaving Susan and her late husband Donald an extra room [...]

By Eric Puchner Lyle’s mother had to drive her to work, a universe of suck, because her dad’s car had been stolen from the driveway and he’d had to borrow Lyle’s Renault, which despite having the words “Le Car” stenciled on the door in bubble letters was infinitely less embarrassing than riding with her mom. [...]

By Justin Taylor They met at the mixer the week before their classes started. He seemed like a pleaser; she walked away annoyed. But it was a small program and she was resigned that they would see each other in hallways and at events, perhaps even have class together. They were poets and this was [...]

By Elise Blackwell Luke Mills returned home from the work that paid to the work that did not. After turning onto his property, he down-shifted and took slowly the ascending curves of the long gravel driveway, inspecting the orchard. One winter when he was a boy, his father pointed to a stand of apple trees [...]

By Edan Lepucki In the summer, Kat bought a dress, her first in many years.  She had begun walking to work, and eschewing the elevator for the five flights of stairs to the office where she temped.  She declined dessert, and sometimes even bread, too.  Once she tried sticking her finger down her throat — [...]

Today, we celebrate Tuesday’s publication of Emma Straub’s “Other People We Married” — one of two new collections published this week by FiveChapters Books — by bringing back a favorite from the archives, Emma’s acclained “Puttanesca,” from November 2009. If you like “Puttanesca,” you can buy her collection, as well as Jess Row’s “Nobody Ever [...]