Stories by Ian MacAllen : Contently

PROJECTS

29 projects for 11 clients

littlefiction.com

IanMacAllen_TheSecondRussian

THE coup began just after 1:00 p.m., local time, while we passed obliviously overhead. I was on my third sunrise. Five hours would elapse before I heard anything. There had been no tanks, only bank clerks who drained the President’s accounts. There were no warplanes or missiles, only television airwaves controlled with a flipped switch. There had been no assassins; the rebels simply took control of the president’s social media, his website, his email address. The whole thing ended before anyone could tweet it. By then, the president was as tame as a LOLcat, sanitized for t-shirts sold at Urban

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chireviewofbooks.com

‘Little Disasters’ Is a Harrowing Tale of New Parenthood

The birth of a first child is a seminal moment. Parents prepare as best they can, but the challenges of newborn can destabilize even the most committed partners. Even in the best conditions, maintaining a relationship doesn’t always work, and nothing will prepare a new parent for the death of their infant.
In calamity, people seek solace in identifying some tiny error they’ve made as though by acknowledging it, they can correct the damage wrought. Correcting the mistake doesn’t always work, b...

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jaaronsanders.com

Interview with Chelsea Hodson

I met Chelsea at a book launch party when Lauren Cerand, the publicist, introduced us. I recognized her name from literary events around New York City, but hadn’t heard her read. She promised to send me a copy of her forthcoming book, Tonight I’m Someone Else, and a few days later it appeared in my mailbox.

I began reading the collection with curiosity. My first reaction was how she had captured a certain kind of melancholy. Throughout the essays, we see a constant struggle to fit in, like wh...

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TheRumpus

A Good Day for Seppuku by Kate Braverman

Kate Braverman’s latest story collection, A Good Day For Seppuku, out now from City Lights, offers eight precisely written stories examining the commonplace struggles of modern upper-middle class life. Divorce, substance abuse, and social expectation plagues an assorted cast with narratives that develop slowly, in careful and considerate ways that often uncover their sadness or loneliness.
The characters populating these stories are wealthy and privileged. They discuss plastic surgery like it...

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fictionadvocate.com

Star Witness by Joe Meno

Joe Meno’s Star Witness is an enchanting mystery that meanders through the lives of a motley cast of eccentrics trapped in their rural lives.

Meno, author of novels like Office Girl and Marvel and A Wonder, launched the episodic serial novella through Electric Literature. Serialized fiction published by periodicals is not a new format, but this modern iteration feels innovative and unexpected, and Electric Literature should be lauded for experimenting. Meno does the genre proud with an alluri...

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TheRumpus

The Times Issues Human Family Holiday Guidelines for the Newsroom

The Times has been a dominant force at family holidays for years. The new guidelines underscore our appreciation that journalists are humans and have families, but also call for our journalists to recognize that as their employer, we have a right to meddle in their private lives. We believe that to remain the world’s best news organization, we must allow journalists time with these human families. The guidelines were developed in a collaborative way with our legal and human resources departme...