Recommended Reading
Recommended Reading is your ultimate source for the best in contemporary fiction, including short stories and novel excerpts from today’s most dynamic voices.
Visit Recommended ReadingHumans Are the Most Alien Creatures
An excerpt from BEAUTYLAND by Marie-Helene Bertino, recommended by Thomas Morris
Perfection Sketches Easily for the Young
“Young at the Time” by Eileen Chang, translated by Karen S Kingsbury and Jie Zhang, and recommended by Karen S Kingsbury
The Family Game I Never Wanted to Win
"Tiptoe" by Laird Barron, recommended by Kelly Link
The Commuter
Poetry, flash, graphic, or experimental narrative arriving every Wednesday morning.
Visit The CommuterISSUE No. 307
The Cancer Is Calling From Inside the House
Jan 24 - G. H. Yamauchi
You Look Like a Skoo and You Smell Like One, Too
"Skoo," a love story by Sandra Newman
In America, I Am Whole Wheat Bread
Two poems by Esteban Ismael
I’m in Love with My Ex’s Absence
"The Space," flash fiction by Christopher Boucher
POPULAR in RECOMMENDED READING & THE COMMUTER
Graphic Narrative
The Cancer Is Calling From Inside the House
Jan 24 - G. H. Yamauchi
Lit Mags
Not All of His Problems Are a Performance
Jan 22 - Kaveh Akbar
Lit Mags
The School
Dec 31 - Donald Barthelme
Lit Mags
My Mom Doesn’t Recognize Me But Neither Do I
Oct 12 - Wendy Wimmer
More Issues
Grandmother Knows All the Devil’s Pressure Points
Two poems by Ivy Raff
I Turned My Lover Into a McRib
"The McDonald's Boyfriend," flash fiction by Tom Kelly
Brotherhood Is a Life Sentence
"Collision" by Bill Cotter, recommended by Halimah Marcus for Electric Literature
The Moon Has Always Been an Alien
Two poems by Hussain Ahmed
A Childhood That Defies Gravity
"The Art of Levitation" from SHADOWS AND CLOUDS by Marcus Stewart, recommended by Clyde Derrick
You Can’t Unsubscribe From Grief
"Replying All on the Death Announcement Email," creative nonfiction by Jenessa Abrams