Indirect Path, story by J. Robert Lennon

INDIRECT PATH

Story by J. Robert Lennon

For many years a large table stood in the center of our dining room, blocking the most direct path from the living room to the kitchen and necessitating the development of an angled walking route that, over time, came to be visible as an area of wear in the dining-room rug. Recently we discarded the old rug and, since our children have grown and moved away and we now eat our meals in the kitchen, transferred our large table into storage. The dining room has been turned into a study, with bookshelves lining the walls and a narrow desk facing the front window.

Despite these changes, we find it nearly impossible to take the newly created direct path through the room, and continue to walk around the edge as if the table were still there. When occasionally one of us must enter the forbidden space, either to sweep the floor or to pick up a dropped item, we find that we wince in discomfort, as if anticipating a painful crash into the missing table. 

Source: Pieces for the Left Hand: 100 Anecdotes by J. Robert Lennon. Available at Amazon.com.

Photo: “Worn Rug” by Deidre Woolard

Short stories are like soft shadows, quote by Haruki Murakami

“My short stories are like soft shadows I have set out in the world, faint footprints I have left. I remember exactly where I set down each and every one of them, and how I felt when I did. Short stories are like guideposts to my heart…”  HARUKI MURAKAMI

New Release: Everything Is Epic, stories by Michael C. Keith

Silver Birch Press is pleased to announce the April 2013 release of EVERYTHING IS EPIC, a collection of 18 short stories by Michael C. Keith.

At Silver Birch Press, we love “eclectic,” and Keith’s stories offer a wide range of delights — spanning a broad spectrum of genres: sci-fi, fantasy, horror, humor, speculative, revisionist, and more. Keith knows how to find the arcane in the mundane — opening a window in our everyday lives to reveal the epic nature of everything.

In the collection, a wife discovers her spouse does not always cry wolf, a son finds his father’s seemingly odd behavior is anything but, a raging sea delivers a young woman’s fantasy lover, an inexplicable event disrupts life on the planet, a long-perished civil rights activist saves a young man from humiliation, and visitors from another world wreak havoc by curing all earthly ills.

“From the relentlessly restless imagination of Michael C. Keith comes his latest collection, EVERYTHING IS EPIC. With his usual outrageous characters, poignant storylines, and exceptional writing, Keith has once again earned his place as one of our very favorite writers.” 

Robin Statton, BOSTON LITERARY MAGAZINE

Find EVERYTHING IS EPIC, a 170-page collection of stories by Michael C. Keith at Amazon.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michael C. Keith is the author of over twenty books on electronic media, among them Talking Radio, Voices in the Purple Haze, Radio Cultures, Signals in the Air, and the classic textbook The Radio Station. The recipient of numerous awards in his academic field, he is also the author of dozens of journal articles and short stories and has served in a variety of editorial positions. In addition, he is the author of an acclaimed memoir (The Next Better Place, published by Algonquin Books), a young adult novel (Life is Falling Sideways), and four story anthologies––Of Night and Light, And Through the Trembling Air, Sad Boy, and Hoag’s Object. He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Pen/O.Henry Award and was a finalist for the National Indie Excellence Award for short fiction anthology. He lives near Boston.

Indirect Path, Story in Two Paragraphs by J. Robert Lennon

INDIRECT PATH

Story by J. Robert Lennon

For many years a large table stood in the center of our dining room, blocking the most direct path from the living room to the kitchen and necessitating the development of an angled walking route that, over time, came to be visible as an area of wear in the dining-room rug. Recently we discarded the old rug and, since our children have grown and moved away and we now eat our meals in the kitchen, transferred our large table into storage. The dining room has been turned into a study, with bookshelves lining the walls and a narrow desk facing the front window.

Despite these changes, we find it nearly impossible to take the newly created direct path through the room, and continue to walk around the edge as if the table were still there. When occasionally one of us must enter the forbidden space, either to sweep the floor or to pick up a dropped item, we find that we wince in discomfort, as if anticipating a painful crash into the missing table. 

Source: Pieces for the Left Hand: 100 Anecdotes by J. Robert Lennon. Available at Amazon.com.

Photo: “Worn Rug” by Deidre Woolard

Thoughts on the Story Story by E.A. Poe

A short story must have a single mood and every sentence must build toward it.” EDGAR ALLAN POE

Photo: Midnight Digital, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Short, Short Story by Stuart Dybek

LIGHTS

Story by Stuart Dybek

 In summer, waiting for night, we’d pose against the afterglow on corners, watching traffic cruise through the neighborhood. Sometimes, a car would go by without its headlights on and we’d all yell, “Lights!”

“Lights!” we’d keep yelling until the beams flashed on. It was usually immediate – the driver honking back thanks, or flinching embarrassed behind the steering wheel, or gunning past, and we’d see his red taillights blink on.

But there were times – who knows why? – when drunk or high, stubborn, or simply lost in that glide to somewhere else, the driver just kept driving in the dark, and all down the block we’d hear yelling from doorways and storefronts, front steps, and other corners, voices winking on like fireflies: “Lights! Your lights! Hey, lights!”

Excerpted from The Coast of Chicago: Stories by Stuart Dybek

Photo: Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, where Stuart Dybek grew up and where many of his stories are set. Photo by Eddie Railway.

About the Author: Stuart Dybek is the author of three books of fiction and two collections of poetry. His fiction, poetry, and nonfiction have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Atlantic, Poetry, Tin House, and many other magazines, and have been widely anthologized. During his career, Dybek has received numerous honors and awards, including a 2007 MacArthur “genius” grant.

Gaze Away

I can’t play bridge. I don’t play tennis. All those things that people learn, and I admire, there hasn’t seemed time for. But what there is time for is looking out the window.”

Alice Munro, short story writer

Photo: Shot by Silver Birch in front of Out of the Closet store, Los Angeles. Find out more about Out of the Closet here.