Featured Stories

The Company of Wolves

The Company of Wolves: Short story by Angela CarterThe early part of Angela Carter’s Company of Wolves comprises background and several anecdotes which build anticipation and atmosphere. The main story, which doesn’t start until one-third of the way through the text, is an adult-oriented adaption of Charles Perrault’s Little Red Riding Hood. Carter reinforces Perrault’s original theme through eroticism. The addition of the wolf choir outside the cabin (“Who has come to sing us carols, she said.” “Those are the voices of my brothers, darling; I love the company of wolves.”) reflects the feminist view (and Carter’s?) that all men have an innate desire to deflower young women.

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The Year of Spaghetti

The Year of Spaghetti: Short story by Haruki MurakamiThis story by Haruki Murakami describes how a reclusive man made 1971 his “year of Spaghetti”. After buying the necessary equipment and ingredients, he set out to cook spaghetti every day of the year. He cooked spaghetti to live and lived to cook spaghetti, comparing it to an act of revenge against his fears and feelings of meaningless isolation. Although he always eats alone, he often imagines someone standing outside about to visit. When his peace is shattered by a desperate phone call from an ex-friend’s ex-girlfriend, he declines to get involved. Themes include loneliness, self-alienation, obsession, futility.

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The Stains

The Stains: Novella by Robert AickmanThe major themes of this unsettling horror story from Robert Aickman are grief, ‘romance’ and death. With many twists and turns along the way, a grieving widower becomes infatuated with an enigmatic, nymph-like girl he meets in the woods. As their steamy romance plays out, he and everything around him begin to be covered in strange, lichen-like stains. In typical Aickman style, rather than a denouement that ties things nicely together, the abrupt conclusion leaves the reader with more questions than it answers. Other themes: innocence, lust, modern vs. rustic lifestyle, denial (of the stains).

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Immortality

Immortality: Short story by Yiyun LiYiyun Li’s story exploring aspects of China’s transition from empire to communist super-power is unusual in that its point of view is not that of a single character, but rather the collective voice of a rural community. Central themes are lack of power of the individual (symbolized by emasculation), and abuse of power by the ruling classes. Secondary themes are the methods adopted by the Communist Party to consolidate its power (indoctrination through cultism, repression and fear), and the changes taking place as modern technology exposes the masses to Western lifestyles and values.

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Escapes

Escapes: Short story by Joy WilliamsThis disturbing story from Joy Williams deals with the difficulty of escaping addiction (in this case a mother’s alcohol abuse) and, for those close to you (her daughter), its consequences. The theme of escape runs throughout the story, from the mother’s escape of her demons through drinking, to the father leaving them, multiple references to the escape artist Houdini, a kindly theatre usher relating his escape from alcoholism, and the daughter’s strong desire to “get out of it”. Sadly, the mother’s escape (and perhaps her daughter’s) doesn’t come until her death. Other themes include alcohol abuse, abandonment, mother-daughter relationships.

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Birthmates

Birthmates: Short story by Gish JenLife for Gish Gen’s Chinese-American protagonist is not looking good. A salesman in a dying industry, he has recently divorced due to different “perspectives” on racism at work and his inability to grieve over his wife’s two miscarriages and a medical termination. Upon arrival at a sales convention, he finds that he has booked into a welfare hotel where playful children assault him the following morning. The kindness of one of its residents and a lost job opportunity cause him to finally face the loss of his wife and “child”. Themes: paranoia, self-esteem, alienation, loss, grief, cultural differences, racism, desperation.

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Old Aeson

Old Aeson: Short story by Arthur Quiller-CouchIn this story by Arthur Quiller-Couch who wrote under the pen-name “Q” (No relation to the James Bond Q!), a very old man almost freezes to death outside a rich man’s house. The rich man takes the old man in and has him cared for. Nobody knows who the old man is or where he came from, and no one can understand his strange language. However, the old man has a mysterious power. He begins to suck the life out of the rich man, slowly turning him into an old man as he becomes younger and younger.

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The Flight

The Flight: Short story by Kamala DasThere are two “flights” in this story by Kamala Das. The first occurs after a successful sculptor finds city living and her city models devoid of inspiration. Once dependent on her husband, who is now disabled and dependent on her, she has a new sense of control over her life. They move to a dream house by the sea where, re-inspired, she becomes infatuated with a seventeen-year-old nude model. She once again “takes flight” upon finding her husband having sex with the girl, this time into the sea. Themes include marriage, lust, gender roles, control, art, betrayal.

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