admin7EyZHDb8HNC8btr3, Author at X-R-A-Y

Spiritual Holes: Stephanie Yue Duhem interviews Audrey Lee

April 9, 2026 · Interviews & Reviews

Audrey Lee’s Utter Goodness (Farthest Heaven, 2026) is a collection of ambitious range. The stories traverse American landscapes from Malibu to small-town Idaho, ventriloquizing fearlessly across gender, class, and generation. Lee, who has previously published two poetry collections, has made a decisive turn toward fiction, trading the mirror of confessional poetry for what she calls the “larger container” of the short story. The result is a book concerned with judgment and redemption, with “spiritual holes” and the dubious ways Americans try to fill them. What follows is our conversation about genre, place, absurdity, faith, and inspiration. Stephanie Yue Duhem:…

admin7EyZHDb8HNC8btr3

Fruit Cutting Factory by Chuckie Smith

April 7, 2026 · Fiction

There are bugs in the watermelon. They’re supposed to be bugless but they always have the little white maggot bugs and sometimes, like today, they have the black scarab weevil bugs even though they’re supposed to be bugless. I never know if I should remove the bugs or not. Nobody else seems to mind them but it bothers me to label containers “bugless watermelon” when they clearly contain watermelon that contain bugs. We’re not supposed to deviate from the label’s ingredient list. But if I took the time to meticulously pull each bug out, the others would look at me…

admin7EyZHDb8HNC8btr3

THE BOARD GAME (33 CONSECUTIVE BLOG ENTRIES FROM GOODSUNFUN.WORDPRESS.COM) by Tyler Plofker

April 3, 2026 · Fiction

July 9, 2025 Today I started a wonderful new project! Im making a board game! The board is made of dirt. The dirt is 300 yards by 300 yards and is outside. there is one piece (so far) and it is a little bird. The little bird is dead. (I did not kill the little bird)!!! July 11, 2025 I was trying to think of rules. I was thinking of rules for the game for how many spaces to move. I thought maybe the player will throw their bird (dead) into a dirt patch (maybe) and depending on which…

admin7EyZHDb8HNC8btr3

‘HIT REPEAT UNTIL I HATE MUSIC’: A SPLIT LIP ANTHOLOGY GROUP INTERVIEW

March 31, 2026 · Fiction

Founded a decade ago as a competition between sad songs known as March Sadness, the tradition of pitting tracks against each other has persisted year on year, mutating in theme, but forever guided by deep music appreciation. Enthusiasts make their argument for a particular song in passionate essays, all in the spirit of friendly combat. Hit Repeat Until I Hate Music: The March Xness Anthology (Spilt/Lip Press, 2026) brings together a selection of essays to showcase the vibes of this enduring contest. With that in mind, I put the following question to a selection of the anthology’s contributors: When was…

admin7EyZHDb8HNC8btr3

DESSINS D’ENFANTS by Tom Snarsky

March 30, 2026 · Fiction

Chauncey skipped five grades. When he took his seat in English 9 with Mrs. Sotomayor he looked like a mushroom in an arboretum. He was very quiet, only answering when called on directly and sheepish in groupwork, but he paid attention every second. At the end of one class he overheard an older girl say smoke in a low voice. Another day he saw an older boy put his hand down his pants, which choreography not even the boy noticed. Chauncey could feel that he was developing an excess of attention. He would notice things that had no causal effect…

admin7EyZHDb8HNC8btr3

RECOMMENDS: DREAM MACHINES by Emmalea Russo

March 24, 2026 · Interviews & Reviews

Dreams. Dreams. Dreams. Nightmares. Reveries. How do they power us? Take hold? What do they tell us, in their own wicked and unwieldy ways? Lately, they’ve been on my mind, as I’m teaching a yearlong dream study workshop. We’ve been delving deep into dreams from literature, film, and psychoanalytic cases. I often teach long and trippy workshops, but this might be my favorite yet. I chose dreams this year, in part, because in the days/daze of digital-everything and quick AI answers, the dream remains impenetrable. It is remnant, belonging to the world of high weirdness and ungraspable grossness and subtlety….

admin7EyZHDb8HNC8btr3

AN INTERVIEW WITH LEE UPTON by Alice M

March 23, 2026 · Fiction

Alice M: As I read The Withers I was struck by its genre. Even before the narrative mentioned Rebecca, I thought, ‘This is Lady’s Companion Gothic.’ I tumble thoughts in the back of my head as I read books, and at first I defined ‘Lady’s Companion Gothic’ to myself as a perversion of what used to be quite a common practice. But that’s not exactly right, is it? The practice itself seems like a perversion, making it an inherently gothic idea. Even in cases where the employer’s intent is totally benign, the role of lady’s companion is a perversion of…

admin7EyZHDb8HNC8btr3

CHEST by Oliver Land

March 19, 2026 · Fiction

At the work Christmas party I sat with the junior staff, who were all shy and awkward. I made small talk about indie music with the shyest one, then talked to another about video games. One of the senior waitresses, there with her ex-boyfriend, was flirty with me. She wanted me to stay all night, then go home with her. She laughed too hard at my jokes. Every now and then, as she spoke to me, her live-in ex glanced at us. She pretended not to notice. Back at her table, she messaged me, suggesting we leave the party and…

admin7EyZHDb8HNC8btr3

GRAND NATIONAL by Mitch Russell

March 18, 2026 · Fiction

For training, they make you sit in this grey room with a bunch of computers on a grey table. Your boss tells you she’s thrilled to have you on board but she doesn’t exactly sound thrilled. She sounds a little high strung, which is understandable, what with all the security checkpoints and facial recognition scanners and armed guards stomping up and down the corridors, back and forth, back and forth. You’d be stressed too! “This is just a little orientation presentation,” Pam tells you. “This explains all the, um, great things we do here!” A dome camera blinks in the…

admin7EyZHDb8HNC8btr3

THE HUMANE ZOO AND HOLIDAY HOME by Pia Koh

March 13, 2026 · Fiction

When the guests are sitting around the table Lucien’s mom asks Lucien “Do you ever think about your dad?” If the guests weren’t there Lucien would glare bitterly at his mom then turn back to peeling the egg. But when guests are over and Lucien’s mom asks him something like this, he’s obliged to make a thoughtful expression. He says “Sometimes,” as if he’s never considered how much he thinks about his dead dad and this consideration is in itself somehow valuable. Lucien’s mother when they’re in the presence of guests and eating boiled eggs as an appetizer, chopped celery…

admin7EyZHDb8HNC8btr3

12 3…41 Next »