One of the strengths of fiction is its ability to allow readers to live as another person. We not only move with characters through their time and space, but we also sense and feel with them. We learn more about what it means to be human—widening our experience of living—by reading novels. We practice the skill of empathy.
Australian writer Madeleine Ryan’s debut novel, A Room Called Earth (Penguin Books, 2020), offers a delightful and unique character for her readers, one that shocked me not by her strangeness, but by the extreme degree of relation and familiarity I felt for her.
A Room Called Earth follows an unnamed autistic woman getting ready for and attending a party. The events of the book take place in twenty-four hours or less, but the richness of the unnamed protagonist’s stream of consciousness taps infinity.…
Ellen Birkett Morris is the author of Lost Girls, a collection of short stories. Her fiction has appeared in Shenandoah, Antioch Review, Notre Dame Review, South Carolina Review, and Santa Fe Literary Review, among other journals. She is a winner of the Bevel Summers Prize for short fiction, as well as a recipient of an Al Smith Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council.
In this episode of ‘Cover to Cover with . . .,’ Morris speaks with Editor-in-Chief Jordan Blum about the inspirations, processes, and reception of her books, as well as modern feminism, the impact of COVID-19, and more!
The Central Park Pact Series is a romance series comprising three books: Passion on Park Avenue, Love on Lexington Avenue, and Marriage on Madison Avenue. They center on three women—Naomi, Claire, and Audrey—who were all duped by the same man, Brayden Hayes. Claire is the wife, who believed her husband was faithful, if absent. Audrey was the girlfriend, who believed he was going through a divorce and would marry her someday. Naomi was the mistress, who thought Brayden was single, and having a fling. All three find out the truth when Brayden dies in a freak accident. The wife, girlfriend, and mistress connect and become unlikely friends, striving to protect each other in their future romantic endeavors.…
Erik Fuhrer is the author of several books of poetry, including last year’s Not Human Enough for the Census (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press), which is officially described as “an ode to apocalypse as anthem for the environment [that] sees nature as a protagonist fighting to change humanity by exposing its absurdity. This collection finds both beauty in decay and hope in our mistakes.” His upcoming book, in which I take myself hostage, will be published by Spuyten Duyvil Press later this year.
In this episode of Cover to Cover with . . ., Editor-in-Chief Jordan Blum chats with Fuhrer about his latest collections, his inspirations, and plans for 2021.
Lois Ruskai Melina is the author of The Grammar of Untold Stories, which reviewer Rene Denfeld (longlisted for an Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction) described as follows: “Each essay acts as the surface of water, inviting us to explore deeper. Family, children, infertility, and loss are just some of the issues explored in this brilliant book.” After receiving a PhD in Leadership Studies, Melina taught in universities, and her research focused on social movements and leadership. She lives in Oregon with her husband, where she enjoys rowing and women’s soccer; also, she has a grown son and a grown daughter, as well as two grandchildren.
The title essay, “The Grammar of Untold Stories,” was a Notable Essay in Best American Essays, 2018 and a finalist for the North American Review’s Torch Prize and the New Letters Prize for Nonfiction.…
All the boys of my class thought Miss Eliza beautiful and mysterious. Like an American film actress, she had pale skin and wore skirts or jeans. The other teachers wore saris or dresses more concealing than the nun headmistress’s black blankets. She was also kindhearted. For the two slum kids in class, she sometimes brought food. And before going home, she gave everyone a hug.
